We have had several very long hot days.
Cat has had a team out grubbing weeds for the past 3 mornings.
They leave at 6am to try and beat the heat.
They work till around 10am.
They are really covering a great amount of ground and it is very encouraging to see the map being crossed off after each session.
Tim & Glen got stuck in and tried to use the boat to prise out some piles – using the rising tide and the weight of the boat.
It was a semi successful plan.
He ended up making a call to our mussel company to see if one of their large barges could come help with the job.
When the grubbing team got home Cat got them busy after lunch.
Yui, Kyle & Oskar were busy down clearing away rubbish outside the woolshed.
Dagmar was getting the path ready to line with rocks, the logs that had been there were rotting away.
Here it is now, nearly finished.
Looks much better.
The children all had an early dinner after a spa.
The girls had big plans for Madeline to stay over but Roger was leaving the next day so that wasn’t to be.
She and Oliver ate a quick dinner with my two and then headed off home.
It’s nice to be able to eat outdoors at the moment.
Makes up for the slow summer we have had.
Our two Israeli guys arrived – Edan & Dor.
They got themselves settled in at The Cottage with Kyle & Oskar and then it was finally dinner time.
Cat and Leeann battered & deep fried oysters and onion rings.
Then they decided to deep fry the grouper heads.
They certainly looked very appetizing – not!
There was great laughter and consternation when Oskar decided he would try and eat the eye.
After much gagging from Edan who was sitting right next to him, he smiled broadly and pronounced that it tasted like jelly fish.
None of us thought to ask if he had actually tasted jelly fish before 
I spent most of Monday evening on the phone.
Ruth, Duncan & Sylvia and I were trying to work out how we can have someone with Mum all the time and still maintain our lives.
We all want Mum to be able to stay in her own home for as long as we can.
So the search is on to find the right people to help.
I finished up at 10:30pm having a catch up chat with Jesika.
It was a long night.
Tuesday
While Cat and crew were out grubbing Tim took the Israeli guys on the boat to do float work.
After lunch he took them and Nathan up to Waterfall Bay to do the mussel ropes.
Trouble with having no wharf right now – we have had to relocate the rope conditioning.
They did well and got them all done.
My cousin Michelle and her family were staying at Bulwer.
She had popped around to visit on Sunday but I was out.
So they called in on their way out.
It was so very very cool to see her & meet her family – Wayne, Larissa & Amy.
It would have to be about 20 years since I first met her and then we really didn’t connect so it was like meeting for the first time.
We had a long catch up about who was who before they headed off out to Blenheim and spent another couple of hours with Mum.
As they were leaving their was a lot of hilarity cuz we had some visitors at the gate 
They are meant to be up on the hills!!
I was supposed to be getting the gst finished but it was too fascinating watching the mussel barge pull up the wharf piles.
So I spent most of the arvo in and out of the house and down on the wharf – well what was left of it.
(Pictures coming in the next installment)
The children have been spending hours in Pine Huts.
Madeline & Mahalia cooked muffins and made smoothies to take up there for lunch.
It was rather frustrating as I was trying to cook and we kept getting tangled up in the kitchen!!
But they did well and had a great time doing so.
Tuesday arvo school was in session on the verandah!
Miss Shanni had four very diligent pupils 
After dinner Cat & Leeann went for a hunt.
Nothing was shot except for possums.
Wednesday
The wwoofers were all up ready to go at 6am.
But Cat slept in.
Yui had to wake her!
It was a glorious morning.
Dagmar & Kyle stayed back.
Dagmar worked a while in the garden and then spent the rest of the day helping me.
Kyle helped me with some vege prep after he had swept the back path.
Then he and Tim mustered some sheep and then got the tractor cranked up and onto the beach at low tide.
They spent several hours moving quite a few of the very large and extremely heavy wharf piles.
I got the gst finished and checked by the accountant before I had breakfast.
Good feeling to know it was done and only 2 wee coding errors.
I spent most of the day after that cooking.
I made two casseroles in the slow cooker.
One cooked all day and the 2nd is in it now to cook overnight.
A big pot of curried sausages & eggs.
A huge amount of spaghetti bolagnaise for tonights dinner.
A large carrot cake for dessert.
Butter icing for the cake.
Garlic butter.
Balsamic dressing.
I also made lunch for the hungry mob and began toasting oats for muesli.
I always feel a great sense of accomplishment when I have a mad ditch effort like this. If I have to cook everyday then it gets depressing. But if I can get ahead and it makes the next few days easier I am happy
Dagmar was a tremendous help.
She assisted and then carried on making the garlic bread and coleslaw for dinner .
I retreated back to my office and finished the gst.
Filed it online, paid all the taxes – hopefully to the right accounts this time 
Did a heap of online banking and telephone calls to organise the catering for next weeks fishing party and also for the lessons my children are going to be doing this coming term.
So far it is looking good.
They will carry on with music most Thursday mornings.
Because Nick plays in a band he is sometimes away on gigs.
So the Thursdays he is away we will not have music and Shanni will stay at home.
She is very happy about that plan!!
The girls will go horse riding and Nathan will carry on with sewing – both just if and when I can slot them in during the morning.
Then in the afternoon I have managed to get a private gymnastics class for the four of them.
Then Mahalia will take a jazz class and Azzan will follow with his ballet class.
He can try fitting in jazz if he wants to.
Might be a bit much though so I will let him make the call on that one.
I am trying to sort Nathan’s next class out – that is the last thing to organise at the moment.
In between all of this I have to try and find time to do the shopping and fit in a chiropractors appointment.
Could be tricky 
Louisa & the children came for dinner tonight.
The kids and I had decided we should make a surprise belated b’day party for them.
Hence the big carrot cake!
They were all completely surprised and totally delighted.
Mahalia had chosen the Sylvanian Penguin family for Madeline and Shanni had chosen books for Oliver & George.
She chose well, they loved them.
After dinner the children all tore around outside in the dimming cool of the evening like a pack of hare-brains.
Kyle & Oskar did the dishes with great enthusiasm.
While Tim, Louisa & I sat and chatted for a while.
You can see the farm map on the wall behind us.
We have to grub out tauhinau every year or else it seeds and eventually takes over the farm.
I have just discovered its proper name is Cassinia leptophylla!
I started making a map each season several years ago as it is great encouragement to all when they see how much they are getting done.
The red areas have been done 
It doesn’t sound like there will be any done tomorrow.
All of Cat’s crew have mutinied!!
)
Rabbits Nest 
