TIME ON THE FARM

On Friday, September 28th (in the middle of the school holidays) we made the 6-7 hour drive up to Christine & Murray's dairy farm in the Waikato, and returned four days later. The farm is in a very green and pleasant part of the country, as seen in these shots. Calving time was just about over. (Click on photos to enlarge).

For us the weather was perfect. Whereas dairy farmers like rain, we prefer sun and that's what we got. There were even touches of sunburn - earlier than normal in the season. We swam in the hot pools at Te Aroha, approximately 10 kilometres away, and the kids in the (cold) pool - albeit briefly - on the adjacent farming property. Brian (my brother) and his youngsters joined us on the Saturday and all 10 cousins enjoyed playing together at the domain.

Kelly (my four-legged friend) and I set off for the summit of Mt Te Aroha (950M/3000ft) just before 9 Monday morning. It was a rather steep but challenging climb through relatively thick native bush. Just short of 90 minutes later we staggered out at the top for a full 360 degree view which included the coastline and a glimpse of Tauranga to the east, Coromandel to the north, farmland to the west, and Mt Ruapehu (only just) in the distant south. Well worth the effort!

All good things come to an end, and we were homeward bound on the Tuesday. The central North Island mountains (there are only three of them and two are shown here) were well covered with snow after cold weather that had been experienced a short while beforehand. Note the particularly arid surrounding countryside. The highway through these parts isn't called the Desert Road for nothing!