High up on the Hunter Hills is the (world famous in Waimate) White Horse shining brightly in the sunshine. We could see it from our NZMCA camp site and it was calling us to come and see it close up. This brought back memories of our time in the UK when we drove around the town of Devises going up and down hilly roads with a brochure in our hand trying to track down as many of the white horses as we could.
This particular white horse is situated 446m up on Mount John. We followed the signs through the outskirts of Waimate and came to a stand still. A herd of dairy cows were slowly crossing the road in front of us on their way from the milking shed. Edging past these leisurely ladies the road changed to a narrow unsealed track.
Oh goody, a bit of “off roading” for our 4WD. Up and up we drove and came across a gang of men cutting down a stand of pine trees. Parking our car at the top of the hill, I spotted the sign which led to the track the four of us were soon on our way.
We walked, and we walked, and we walked. The wind blew ferociously on top of the ridge and the track took us up and down, through boggy patches and out again into drier terrain. We wandered off the track now and again to peer over the edge of the hill – just where was this white horse? It’s got to be here somewhere! Finally, there’s another sign – but it read the same as the first one. Then it dawned on us, this sign was for the walking track we had noticed at the bottom of hill. The horse wasn’t down this way at all. So back we trudged, sloshing through the muddy track, and puffing and panting as we finally went back through the gate at the top of the hill.
There was a shout of jubilation – there was the horse, right where we had started from. The monument to point us in the right direction was covered by an overgrown tree and we had walked right past it. It was hard to take in when we were so close, the horse was better viewed from a distance. Never mind, at least we had finally found the elusive White Horse of Waimate.
Constructed in concrete in 1968 at the instigation of Norman and Betty Hayman, the monument commemorates the many draught horses which did so much for the development and prosperity of New Zealand. The Haymans were inspired by a statue of a Friesian cow while on a visit to the Netherlands and decided on his return home to honour the stoic Clydesdale. Occasionally someone from Waimate decides give the horse a make-over. In the past it has been painted with black stripes to turn it into a zebra, then once again it was painted bright pink! It so pleased it was back to the original white when we came to visit.
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