Feeding all the animals

Nick suggested we visit a farm or petting zoo seeing as we haven't done that in a while. We stayed last night in a low cost campsite south from Hastings because all the campsites in the area had such bad reviews. This meant we did have a bit of a commute and had to go back on ourselves to get to the farm this morning but we didn't mind too much. We actually got there as soon as the place opened which worked out well because every animal was hungry and pleased to see us walking around with cups of corn, although that did mean we were followed around by all the free roaming birds a lot. They were good at cleaning up all the corn that the alpacas and goats managed to push off your hand and onto the floor at least. The whole time we were there we only saw a couple of families with young children so we had quite a relaxed peaceful morning walking around the park. They had an interesting sheep in with the deer that was born with a set of two extra legs coming out the side of it's stomach. It was a very weird sight and looked as if it was caused by the embryo failing to split properly into twins but it was good seeing the sheep alive and healthy, we were pleased it wasn't just put down because of this birth defect. After we ran out of corn and had washed our hands several times to remove the goat slobber we continued on with our day and visited Te Mata Peak near Havelock North. It's a range of huge hills which has many walking tracks around the area. We made the decision that we need to start heading south pretty quickly so with that in mind we drove the narrow windy road all the way to the top of the peak rather than walking up to save time. This did mean we had an amazing view to sit in the van and eat lunch in front of. I love that they just decided to build a road up the hill. It's nice that it opens up the accessibility to people who wouldn't be able to partake in such a hike up the hills. It also worked well for people like us who are short on time and are being a bit lazy. We explored the top of the hill and admired the beautiful views while trying not to get blown around too much. Soon came the time to slowly make our way back down the little road and continue on our way. We both felt like we needed coffee so headed to a cafe I saw advertised as an attraction for it's sculpture garden. Unfortunately they didn't actually sell coffee but it was nice to walk around the sculptures and buy ourselves some treats in the old English style sweet shop that had on site. We settled on a coffee from McDonald's before heading down highway two for several hours all the way to our next freedom camping spot in Masterton. It was a long drive but we feel glad that we managed to get it done today as well as do quite a lot of things. We are staying at a small reserve which feels a little bit dodgey but luckily the gates get locked at 5pm so the lovely guy asked everyone to leave who wasn't staying the night. When you're inside the van with the curtains closed and it's dark outside you do feel safe in your little bubble so this added bonus of the gate being locked is extra reassuring. Tomorrow will be another big day as we have one place to vist before making it to Wellington to catch the ferry the day after. It feels so weird how close we are to the end but it's exciting as well to be returning to routine and people we know after 3 months of just the two of us. Plus the journey isn't over yet so we are still excited for the next week or so left of our trip.Read more