January 31st 2017: The road

It's impossible to do my job without lots of days on the road. The hard part about it is that I miss my family and friends. And my dog. And the comfort of my comfort zone. The good bit is that I get to have lots of adventures and new experiences. My latest trip this week is back up to a place that has mesmerised me since I first stepped foot on it: Muzzle Station.

I get to Muzzle Station via Kaikoura's coastal road so get a close-up look at the battle the community has faced in the aftermath of the quakes ... and the continuing struggle to let people know the road is open (it's actually very easy to get to), the waves still crank (even Mangamaunu turned on a little brilliance for me on Thursday), buildings are still standing and all the buzz of Kaikoura's whales, dolphins, seals and local businesses are still buzzing away.

The more time I spend on this intriguing coast – framed by the Seaward Kaikoura Range, the more I fall in love with it. And right over those snow-capped peaks is where the Muzzle Station sprawls out like a carpet of grasses dotted by merino and hereford and split by the serpentine blue slither of the Clarence River.

It's remote, isolated, tough living, but wildly normal. The shepherds and station hands swipe through screens of Facebook at smoko between drafting, drenching and immunising 1800 lambs. Then they pull on their boots and climb in the Robinson 44 and set a bearing for the St James Horse Sale. It's about 25mins as the R44 flies. Alice, 19, even buys one of the 27 wild horses for sale ... she's been breaking them in for years. One of the horses fetches $10,000 – a record at this sale, but it's a record I can't see standing for long.

We follow the Clarence back to Muzzle Station to dine with 14 new guests – four-wheel-drive explorers embarking on their own incredible journey. Enough to remind us all that the road is loaded with energy and far from lonely.

See you on the road ... Derek