As I lay

in a divinely hot bubble bath this morning,

yes this morning,

my first day off in two and a half weeks.

Yes I am mental,

increasingly so.

Anyway I was thinking about the whirlwind of the last few weeks.

So much to tell you,

too much really.

So here are the highlights.

I had a great time being a judge at the Young Rural Achiever

(those words are interchangeable)

in Hamilton on June 25th.

Cath Lyall from Otago/Southland won.

Boy it was hard to choose between

three great candidates

but I think Cath will represent us well

and get heaps out if it.

One cool thing is that I got reacquaint myself with

Christine Fernyhough

I met Christine at last year's Grand Final in Gore.
She is one of those lovely people that is generous to a fault
and so this year when I was asked who I thought would make
a good judge alongside myself and Mick Lester
who is the Immediate Past President of the Royal Ag Society,
I thought of Christine.
She was great.

Even funnier was all the older men waiting around
Christine hanging on her every word.
Just like the coolest girl at school.

So when I said I had a group of Hawaiian kids
arriving the next day she kindly invited us to come to her farm
Castlehill.

Castlehill is on the road to Arthur's Pass in the Alps.

I knew the kids would love it there.

One, Narnia was filmed there.
Two, there are tonnes of merinos and working dogs.
Three, there are red deer to feed.
Four, there are huge boulders to climb.
Five, Christine and her husband John are gracious hosts.