Up the mount

February brought the return of the sun and it was back to school for the kids. At 5am we woke to clear skies full with stars, were we finally in for one of Taranaki's finest?

Our last milking shift complete and thoughts in my head were 'is that it, is my dairy farming career now offically over?' and I must say our udder skills were just starting to improve, slightly!  So after one final tour of the farm the time had come finally for us all to get closer to the mythical mountain that had been hiding behind the clouds for the last 24 hours. With clear skies over Muller Farm, the peak was clearly visable from the milking pit and almost beckoning us all towards one of it's trails. The rest of the morning was spent bush walking, scrambling over rock piles, checking out volcanic peaks, gazing from panoramic view points and drinking water from clear free flowing river ways.  From the view point at the base of the mountain we could see Mount Tongariro and the Ngauruhoe just peeping through a hazey horizon.

We said our goodbyes to the Muller Farmers. We thanked them for having us and letting us get down and dirty on their farm. We really enjoyed our time here. It's really tough to move on when you reach a

really comfortable spot but in the true name of travelling we had to truck on. We had to start our move south towards Wellington, the gateway to the south isle as this is a country that is begging to be explored!

As we made are way east out of Taranaki the mount being ever present on our left had side, we both agreed on what a great find we had come across in a part of country that enjoys a cheery vibe and will think nothing of giving a wave out to passers by. You could easily say we've experienced the real New Zealand. A road trip is much more than the roads travelled more the characters you meet whilst travelling them and if we carry on like this we will be 2 very happy travellers to say the least.