Queen of the Cavalcade - ‘I'LL NEVER STOP HAVING ADVENTURES'

Lovingly called the Energizer Bunny, Alice isn’t hopping off her horse just because she’s 86!

- Fleur Guthrie

Whether it’s horse-trekking through remote Otago mountain trails, riding her all-terrain motorbike or preparing to grub thistles in the hay paddocks of her Taieri property, it’s rare to find Alice Sinclair sitting still.

The adventure-seeking 86-year-old is well-known around Mosgiel as much for being an Energizer Bunny as a local treasure. But to her five kids, 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, she’s simply “bloody hard to keep up with”!

Alice was set to make history last month, trekking with her Standardbred horse Keira on the 30th Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust’s cavalcade, an epic journey following in the footsteps of the region’s gold-mining pioneers.

As the oldest participant, she is one of just four people who have ridden every cavalcade since the inaugural event in 1991. It is made up of nine different trails, some covering as much as 50km a day and crossing country that usually only musterers would see. Unfortunately, Covid has forced the event to be postponed until next February.

“Let’s hope I’m still there then!” she laughs, adding that she loves the backcountry scenery, the sense of achievement, the people and the food.

Did she ever imagine in 1991 she’d still be doing it more than 30 years later?