Totara farrier Malcolm Oakes will be saddling up on Monday morning to take part in his 12th Goldfields Cavalcade. Mr Oakes (57) is trail boss on the Overland to Omakau riding trail which leaves Mt Dasher Station, near Five Forks, in North Otago and arrives in Omakau on Saturday for the 25th anniversary cavalcade finale at the racecourse. He talks to Sally Rae about hitting the trail.
Q Explain to a city person what the cavalcade is.
A group of people ride (and walk, as it includes walking trails) across the countryside. But it’s a controlled group. The way I see it, the farming community prefers it that way too. It attracts all sorts of people ... hard cases to judges, doctors and lawyers and high country farmers.
Q How much planning does being trail boss involve?
Heaps and heaps — that starts straight away, 12 months beforehand. Especially the properties we stay at nights — the sooner we can notify the farmers to give them time to think about it, the easier it is. What I’ve found, if we communicate early and come back to farmers at a later date, they’ve got very good ideas for us for their properties. It makes it so much easier. The farming community is bloody awesome to deal with. The biggest thing is farmers letting us on to their land. If we haven’t got that, we’ve got nothing. The trail boss’ job really is to find the safest and best way from A to B. It’s got to be safe and doable. I wouldn’t be doing it without [wife] Trish’s support. I’ve also got a great bunch of wranglers — Chum Chamberlain, my right-hand-man, Duncan Helm, my first-aider and who has organised half this trail, Les Beattie and Raymond Minehan.
They [Raymond and partner Nicky Robb, who have a farm at Kennedys Bush on the Port Hills] probably need to get out of it after the fires. These guys have gone through hell with the earthquakes — they came down for a week off then, then it’s the same this time. They’ve had major fires but they probably need the week’s break; get their head around things. They are around their friends and the farming community; probably just what they need. We’re proud they want to come — it means that much to them they want to come in those circumstances. And our gofers too ... All these people make up the crew.
Q What keeps bringing you back?
Just the people and to see the smiles on faces. You go through some of that country and it gives them a buzz and it gives me a buzz to see everyone so happy. You’re seeing country you’re never going to see driving down the road. As soon as you get on the skyline, there’s another skyline and another. Sometimes it just blows you away. It’s country that you never get to see and, by horseback, it’s an even better sight. The most important thing I’ve got out of this ... is the people I’ve met.
Q You must encounter some dodgy weather conditions?
You’ve got to be prepared for it. You can go out in the morning and the sun’s shining and, in the afternoon, it’s terrible. You’ve just got to be prepared for it. In our plan, we’ve got an A plan and a B plan. We will not be going on the top [of mountains] if the weather isn’t right.
One year at Leaning Rock, it was awful. Looking behind us, it was just white with snow. There was no dust on the track, the wind was so strong. People were turning around and it was blowing their Driza-Bones open. Some guys tried to walk in it and you couldn’t. It was really, really windy and foggy and wet.
Q Have there been any especially memorable cavalcades?
One of the best ones we’ve done was the one to Ranfurly [in 2014]. We left from Hampden, down to Katiki and right back through the Kakanuis to Ranfurly. It was one of the more memorable ones. I reckon it was as good a ride as we’ve done. There was just so much variation — hill country, tussock country, flat country through the Maniototo Plains, and we were riding 30km-40km a day and I think we did about 7km in total on the roads.
Q What about horses?
I’ve been lucky with horses. This horse I’ve got now [Pete] is extremely good. He’s just a good horse, a good athletic, strong horse. The biggest thing for a good trekking horse is a good walk. He’s got to be able to walk and got to be able to be around 50 horses.
Q Are you keen to hit the trail?
Yes, I’m looking forward to it now. I sat here last night and did the last phone call. Now we can just pack our truck and get ready to go.
