What a weekend! Last Friday, Surfers Sunrise welcomed the Rotary Friendship Exchange team from Seattle and British Columbia. After we took them up to Skypoint at the top of Q1, Geoff & Carol Croad hosted a typical Aussie Bar-be-que at their resort, with the capable assistance of Angus 'Onion King' Miller in the role of chief bar-be-quer.On Saturday, we first showcased our Project Shed (see picture), where Des La Rance gave them a good run-down on how the project evolved some 23 years ago, going all the way through to the total of well over 9,000 wheelchairs shipped since, plus numerous school buildings and the House of Hope in Apia, Samoa (see the Story of the Surfers Sunrise Wheelchair Trust in the Download Section on the right, or click on this link). A hearty Thank You! to Lee Smith and Pam Peterson, who donated $100.00 to the Wheelchairs Trust. Then, we moved up to the Springbrook National Park for lunch. And - after hardly any rain for the past two or three months, guess what! It rained. Well, a Rainforest is not really a Rainforest without rain, isn't it?
Sunday saw the entire group at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. They gave us a very healthy discount on the normal ticket price! Thank you Chris Thurtell, for activating some of your special connection there to get a nice area of their Cafe set aside, just for us. Naturally, our guests from North America just adored the Koalas, the Kangaroos, the Bird Show, the Sheep Shearing, the huge size Aviaries... In the evening, President Mario invited us to a dinner at one of the restaurants in Surfers.
The RFE team has now moved on to their next hosts in Warwick. After that they'll be in Lismore for a few days, then come back to the Gold Coast. There is another chance to meet them: the Broadbeach Rotary Club will host them at their club meeting on Tuesday 12th November, at the Lone Star Tavern in Mermaid Beach. Are you joining us? (Note, we need to advise numbers!)
A huge Thank You! goes to the hosts: Geoff & Carol Croad, Karen Holland & Peter Zollig, Richard & Sue Smith, Chris & Marie Thurtell, to my darling wife Catherine, President Mario Fairlie and all the helpers and participants for the sterling effort to make our guests comfortable. We have had nothing but very positive feedback; equally, on our side we enjoyed their company immensely.
A Photo Album will shortly be set up in our Download Section. If you have any photos that we can publish, please let me have them!