Yanick arrived from Germany, and he's had a quiet couple of weeks adjusting, feeding lambs, looking after Sarah and getting ready for his 8 month tour of New Zealand. He's got a driving licence and wants to buy a car. However, I don't think he's done much driving on rural roads, and never on the left. So I let him drive home from Silverdale last week. We survived, and I'm glad the roads were quiet. Hill starts are not his speciality, and his technique was to avoid the handbrake, roll backwards, run the engine at about elephant purring speed, and stall. Needs practice.

He's been out and about with us a few times, to church, around Rangitoto volcano, the zoo, and a quick trip to buy a phone and sort out a bank account. Not sure how long he's planning to stay here, but he's wanting to do a bit of fruit picking. Not much fruit about yet, but he'll be ideal, since he's 6 foot 5.

Bronwyn's teaching conference was full on, and she's come back with piles of notes. Alas, it didn't give her time to get to the hot pools, but it sounds like it was all worth the long drive! Her birthday was the day she left, so I smuggled in some chocolates into her suitcase as is our tradition.

Nasya the calf was hardly able to do anything, and it was becoming obvious that she'd had oxygen deficit at birth, and wouldn't ever be right. It was hard enough getting milk down her - she often didn't have the instinct to suck. Grass was going to be a bigger issue. With Bronwyn about to go off to conference, we decided it was probably best to call the vet then, rather than prolong the issue.

But Tom and Jerry are both doing really well, and Sarah has been given the task of training Tom for Ag Day. She has to lead him round in a circle, and up a plank, and then the judge holds her and Sarah has to call Tom to her. He was doing really well this afternoon. Sarah might stand a chance at this one, despite hardly lifting a finger!

I brought home a cornet from band, and Sarah found that hard to blow. So I got a trombone, and she found that easier, but her arm is too short for the slide. So now I've brought home a baritone, which is the equivalent length and mouthpiece, but has valves instead of a slide. If she can play three notes in sequence, she's good enough for the junior band!

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