...I find that 13 can sometimes really be unlucky but everything depends on the point of view...I am about to climb the mighty Mount Taranaki, but I wake up to milky fog all around and give up. I decide to tend to laundry and other pressing affairs..,after breakfast it clears up and there's beautiful blue sky all around so I drive half an hour and 1000m up to the trailhead only to find the same milky fog up there, which apparently has no intention of letting ...

...I get up happy, make some more New Years calls and eat the same huge breakfast. I am surprised to find out everyone in town is up and running, all the stores are open, everything works. Wow. And that on a Sunday!...I set out to my next destination: the Taranaki region, famed for Mt Taranaki, hailed as the country's most beautiful mountain...I encounter something truly unexpected - an American flag with a sign congratulating Trump on winning the election. T...