My boss says I've gone down in his estimation. He thought I was some sort of dare devil, who climbed rocks and jumped out of aeroplanes for a hobby. When I told him that Parachute was a very much earth bound festival (apart from the vertical bungy) and I was only doing the coffee, he said he was really disappointed.

It rained so much on the first night that hardly anybody turned out, and I caught a frog hopping across the grass in front of the cafe. Fortunately they've made improvements to the drainage, so there wasn't any major flooding, although quite a few tents collapsed in the wind afterwards. The other two nights were better. On the Saturday night I came in a little early, and watched the last two acts on Main Stage. Now, I'm of the opinion that music has to stand up by its own merits, without all the special effects. However, with 100 times the volume, 6000 people, three huge screens, enough lights to give Auckland a very happy Christmas, fireworks and ten foot gas flames, I had to admit it was really impressive. Really enjoyed it. Glad nobody got their trousers singed.

Sigrid has been here just over a week. So far she's done two beaches, the Underwater World, haymaking, herding cows, tramping through the bush and several days at college. She's coping really well, and I think the girls will really miss their big sister when she leaves. I'm attempting to learn Norwegian, and she's attempting to learn to read music and play the piano. It's very warm and humid right now, so she's had to buy a whole new set of clothes. We've already fitted her with some gumboots. She'll be right.

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