Rachel, Bruno and Monty

Rachel lives in a small suburb around Sydney. She owns her own horse. She moved here from New Zealand about a year ago, with her boyfriend who is originally from Sydney. The horse she owns is stabled outside of Sydney, about an hour away, and she rides her every day, otherwise she (the horse) gets a bit nutty. There are no rests for horse owners, the stalls need mucking every day, they need to be fed and ridden every day, at least once.
Rachel and her boyfriend live in a small studio apartment, they pay $375 per week for their flat. ( To buy a  small one bedroom condo in Bondi will run you about $450,000. We looked...).
Rachel was kind enough to chat at us while we sat atop of Bruno and Monty and walked around Centennial Park, a massive green space right in the heart of the city. We went from Circular Quay to horseback in about 30 minutes, which included waiting for the bus.
Interestingly, Rachel actually led us through the park on foot. She explained that except for the very experienced riders, this was usual practice. Between the cars, dogs, swans, doves, soccer balls and traffic, the horses can get a bit unpredictable. My sister and I, neither with a ton of experience riding and usually with years in between, were happy to be led and to chat away.
The horseback riding was a splurge. Not opal-ring-the-price-of-my-mortgage-payment splurge, but at $80 for an hour, it was a good touristy thing to do on a beautiful sunny day.Would I recommend this adventure: in a heartbeat!

Angela and Bruno
Tanya and Monty