The national brass band contest is in Napier, which is about as far east as you can go before getting wet. Unless you head for East Cape of course, but there's not a lot there. Or Kiribati, who wiggled the date line so they could be even further east. But we're not going there today.

I came down with some others from the band and stayed in Rotorua. Rachael spent a few days in a youth conference in Hamilton, then Bronwyn picked her up and headed for Tirau. That's about as far as she got, because the fuel pump died. They had to spend the night there instead. But fortunately the mechanic there used to work with Fords, and knew their problems well. So he had a new pump couriered down, and they were back on the road the next afternoon. They're now in Taupo, making the most of the remaining time. They'll head to Napier later today, and we'll have a few days here before driving ALL the way home. It's pretty wild country between here and Taupo.

The contest is this afternoon. Strains of tubas and euphoniums have been wafting through the motel. There's only three bands in our grade, so we're bound to get certificates, but if we win, we're up to the C grade next year.

We have internet! I have been criticised by the Men's Group for mentioning our technical issues too often. But we've now had Vodafone wireless installed with an aerial pointing out across the valley. The speed is five or six times faster than we've ever had it before. Should have gone for it a while ago!

Nobody else has internet! The line has gone completely. It's under the road somewhere. They're applying for consent to dig up the road. That will take two weeks, and then the digging could take another two. So it could be three or four weeks before everyone else gets connected. And there's a 5 week queue for Vodafone installs. We only got ours early because Bronwyn pleaded through the chain of management.

Now everyone wants to use our internet instead...

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