Prospectors Dream Horse Pack Trail

Horse, let’s summit that mountain before dinner

Meet your adventure horse team mate, fit your stirrups and equip you for your horseback adventure.

Enjoy a picnic lunch, pack some afternoon tea into your saddle bags.

Pack our blue bags, load the pack horses.

Suddenly, we are all set to climb that mountain heading to an altitude of just under 6000 feet above sea. We are riding on New Zealand’s highest stock route.

Don’t forget your camera you are going to want to remember these views.

Our accommodation tonight as a historic musterer’s hut at the base of “Old Mans Peak,” in the heart of the Dunstan Valley.

There is a shower (sometimes hot, sometimes cold) log burner, small kitchen and a separate bunk room. The hut is off grid so nowhere to charge phones etc. there is no mobile service at this location either.

Explore More or Relax and Read

Today customers have a choice:

i. Saddle up and explore more of this stunning valley together.

ii. Relax at the hut, swim in the river, read a book and soak up the ambiance of this incredible location.

If we are lucky, we will see wild deer, pigs or NZ native falcons, sharing this incredible environment with our horses.

The glacial river threads its way through the valley floor, stitching everything together in an ancient dance.

We are so small compared to these giants that have lived here since the beginning of time.

The night sky in this valley is incredible. With no light pollution you can star gaze with such infinite detail.

Spot a Trout hanging about?

Saddle your horse for a stunning day of horseback adventuring deep in the heart of the Dunstan Valley.

Ride your horse through the Dunstan Creek so many times on this leisurely day.

Trout play in this beautiful glacial river, deer roam freely, and there is so much natural beauty in this “high country” location deep in the heart of the mountains.

There are some very unusual rock formations to the side of the riverbank as we ride, they make you feel as though you are riding your horse in a Wild West movie set.

Riding back in time….

Weather permitting, we ride our horses into town, pack horses at our side. You can feel the ghosts of those old gold miners peering over you shoulder to see what you have in your packs.

As we ride we can see the remains of the old “water races” and sluices that the miners used to bring water into town.

The old gold bank is still in town, this is where the miners used to come to sell the gold they found.

There is such a feeling of achievement as we reach either, St Bathan’s Station woolshed or the Vulcan Hotel.

Tonight we stay at New Zealand’s most haunted hotel the Vulcan.

Swim in the lake, take a walk around the historic buildings or simply relax and celebrate with a nice glass of wine outside the pub.

Taxi to Take us Home

After breakfast our taxi will pick you up around 9:30am.

Some of our riders head to the lake for a swim before they leave, others take a nice walk soaking up the history.

With the memories of the magical mountains we have ridden and the horses that have stolen our hearts, we make our way homeward bound.

You should be back at Queenstown airport by 12:30pm or Station Building, center of Queenstown by 1pm (traffic permitting)

Always give yourself a little time up your sleeve when planning flights.

Till we ride again…. blessings and horsey hugs xx