It’s a busy time at the moment.

We are currently in Germany on the third leg of our European Tour 2022 judging a two-day halter show.  The tour started in Ireland a couple of weeks ago then moved on to Norway last weekend. It was a good chance to catch up with our Norwegian Alpaca friends.

102 fleeces were judged on Friday which is actually much more tiring than judging 160 animals at a halter show. Barbara had to adapt to judging under the Australian rules which doesn’t seem to me to be as good as the New Zealand based system that we are moving to in the UK.

Saturday was a halter show for around 65 Huacayas with both age and colour champions being awarded. The age championship was interesting – contrary to popular opinion it wasn’t always the white alpaca that came out top!

Sunday was filled with a series of seminars showing prospective alpaca owners what to look for and fleece evaluation for existing breeders.

I was the designated driver for the weekend which was fun as it’s nearly 25 years since I last drove a lefthand drive car. I managed not to run over any Mooses!

Prices were a bit of a shock with the cheapest bottle of wine at the hotel coming in at £50!

After Germany it’s off to Italy. We are going to take a couple of days off to go and have a look round Florence, which is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, then on to Milan for more fleece and halter judging.

Hopefully all the travel plans will work out. So far two out of our four flights have been cancelled and rescheduled! The return from Norway changed from a leisurely 11.50am flight to a sleep depriving 06.30am flight.