Drive through Naitai Highland Farm Climb the roughly 7km road and catch your breath beneath a vast sky

After passing the entrance, I found myself smiling when the road just kept going. The road to the top of Naitai Highland Farm is about 7km long. I kept my eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel, following the bends in the hills. Each time I rounded a curve, another stretch of grassland came into view. Before I knew it, I was enjoying the climb for its own sake.

I switched off the engine in the car park, then stepped out into the highland breeze in my short-sleeved knit top. Beyond the low stone-walled building, gentle hills rolled on. When I wasn't behind the wheel, I could take my time looking around. The sky was even bigger than I'd imagined. I stood there gazing up so long that I even forgot to close the car door.

I stepped a little way from the car and clasped my hands behind my back. I stretched slowly, and the tightness eased all the way to the base of my neck. I took a deep breath as the breeze blew a strand of hair across my cheek. I'd really come all this way. The thought that I was standing there at a place that had once been just a tiny mark on the map made my heart swell.

I'd heard this public ranch covers about 1700ha and was completed in 1972. The road I'd just driven is part of this vast ranch, too. I traced the hills from one end to the other with my eyes, but they seemed to keep going beyond what I could see. The number alone hadn't prepared me for how vast this place felt when I stood here in the wind.

At Naitai Terrace, the soft-serve flavors are White, Cow and Black. I stared at the names for a while, wondering what Cow would taste like. I picked one and took a bite; the cold sweetness made me smile. I'd come to see the grasslands, but the soft-serve turned out to be another lovely part of the afternoon.

Before getting back in the car, I stretched my shoulders once more and looked out over the hills. Now I'd be driving back down the road I'd just climbed. Even though it was the same road, I felt as if there was still more of the journey waiting for me, and I found myself gripping the keys a little tighter. I wanted to stay in the highlands a little longer that summer afternoon.