This is an attempt to put into pictures thirty days of an unforgettable experience. Some favorite pictures will be omitted and since they’re the team leaders pictures, he’s not in many of them, plus many of the pictures are of his host families. But, hopefully, it’ll give everyone an idea of the depth and breadth of what the 5610 team experienced in Australia.
The “leaders of the pack” – District 5610 GSE Coordinator, Bert Olson and District 9790 GSE Coordinator, Don Hamilton.
Chris’s mentors, Team Leader Greg LaFollette, Brazil 08 & Team Leader Kate Campbell, Korea –07
March 7, 2009 Welcome to Melbourne! Welcome to Australia! The District 9790 Leadership Team greeted us.
Ivanhoe says hello and toasts our first hour in Australia! Chris’ hosts: Noel Pearce and Robyn Francis.
The team gathers for a train trip into Melbourne to see the sites and celebrate Victoria’s Labour Day, March 8th
High above the city in the Rialto Tower looking down on the Etihad Stadium (formerly Telstra Dome), the harbor, and rest of the city of Melbourne. Somewhere down there is the NAB, National Australia Bank, that Ryan visited
At St. Kilda Pier enjoying the beach, warm weather, and some ice cream.
The impressive Shrine of Remembrance and looking back on the city.
Victoria’s Parliament House and the nightly gathering of the Larakeets for their evening meal.
Lunch at Judy’s restaurant with host family Clive and Judy Mottram.
An evening with Ivanhoe Rotarians and their guests. With President Robyn Francis at the 7:00AM breakfast meeting on Wednesday.
On to Shepparton with a stop at the Tahbilk Vineyards, Victoria’s oldest winery. Soooooooooooooo big!! Yes those are wine bottles behind Ryan.
Meeting with the South Shepparton Rotary Club and other clubs from the area. One hundred and two attended the team’s second presentation of the day Wednesday evening.
The next day we lunched with the folks at City Hall and toured Tarcoola or Shepparton Villages as it is now called, for senior residents. This was one of many health care facilities that occupational therapist, Kim Anderson visited and she was especially interested in how this facility worked with patients in areas of mobility. This is an ongoing Rotary project that has grown over the years with two other sites in Shepparton and Maroopna including an Alzheimer’s Unit.
Aborigine art on display at the Shepparton regional gallery.
Learning about the Murray-Goulburn Water Basin and the distribution of scarce water resources. Listening to Peter Bourke, GSE 9790 alumni to 56l0, talk about the operation of the city of Shepparton.
Sampling some of the fruit at the Varapodios Orchard followed by a visit to a 450 head dairy herd near Kyabram.
A ride on the Murray River aboard the Emmy Lou; getting ready for an afternoon of water skiing; enjoying the trampoline at 2008 GSE Australia Team member, Lisa Hawkins’, farm; posing with new friends – GSE Alumni at the barbecue.
One of the many painted cows for which Shepparton is known. Before the mall opened Saturday morning. The ‘shiny stuff’ on the concrete is rain!!! A rare but welcome site.
Retailing in downtown Shepparton.
Watching the Tatura Bulldogs and learning about rural Australian Rules Football first hand from the Tatura Club President.
It seems like every community has a Victoria Hotel. It’s not actually a hotel but more likely a pub with some meals available.
Chris & his host family, Rae and Alan McLean with their grand daughter, Jasmine. A final get together with host families from South Shepparton.
Saying farewell and meeting our new hosts from Corowa, New South Wales.
Shopping at the local grocery store in Corowa and getting a taste of favorite candy bar, a Tim Tam. Macy Martinson was able to see a variety of store operations plus sit in on store meetings at various sites during our visit.
Meeting at Corowa Secondary School with the principal and art teacher and getting a snack at the canteen. There is no hot lunch program.
The Corowa food preparation class was preparing meat pies for the local senior citizens center. Need to know where the party will be this weekend? Just check the party board! The viticulture class made their own wine this year, Durif. I don’t think South Dakota is ready for that.
Meeting with Corowa Rotarians for an evening meeting. Gail Law in the forefront in the left picture, and John Law, standing next to Chris were Kim’s host family.
The famous Parker meat pies in Rutherglen. We had vegetarian, prawn, emu, kangaroo, crocodile. Interestingly enough, the Australian Coat of Arms has two animals on it, a kangaroo and an emu. They share a common trait as neither can walk backwards, symbolic of a nation that only wants to move forward.
An afternoon at the vineyards and learning to distinguish between different Tokays at the Campbell Vineyard.
Ian & Fay Brooks, Chris’ hosts in Corowa.
A day in Canberra, the nation’s capital, with our hosts from Holbrook . The monuments were many and the sites were phenomenal! For this capital city that is young by world standards, it is coming of age in Australia
High above the city looking down on Parliament House. You can walk over the top of Parliament House so that those in side know that the ‘people’ are always above them.
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Gathering with Holbrook Rotarians at the Returned Serviceman’s club for their meeting. Almost every community has a RSC for veterans This one also had a lawn bowling area for league bowling.
Sheep shearing day at the farm. We had lamb prepared about seven different ways during our 30 days in Australia, but no complaints.
Tanks for water and reservoirs are a common site in rural New South Wales and Victoria. This is near Holbrook, NSW. Rain water is the source of water. Desalination processes are being considered to remove water from the ocean.
The Holbrook Rotary club with their catering service: a compact trailer that holds all the pots, pans, and utensils plus a tent and a place for the grill.
Nearby residents and Chris with his host, Alister Furze.
Meeting our new hosts from Appin Park in Wangaratta, Victoria.
In Part II of the ‘picture blog’ I’ll tell you about what we experienced in Wangaratta and the remainder of our trip through Victoria
