Guest Speaker — Rosie Vlahov, OzFish Unlimited

Bob Urquhart introduced her as the granddaughter of David and Mary I’anson. David, who died earlier this year, was a Rotarian. Rosie grew up in Chapman Valley, and said she still has strong roots here. She works for OzFish Unlimited (Fremantle Chapter).

OzFish, she said, is a conservation charity across Australia, there so that people can fish for the future. Most of the work is community-led: habitat, grants, education. Forty-eight chapters. Until earlier this year Western Australia was two people. There are four now, and they want more. She would like a Geraldton chapter. It is not up yet. Next year, she hopes. In the meantime, the updates sit on the Fremantle page.

Along the coast: Monkey Mia has the largest seagrass meadow in the southern hemisphere, and it needs restoring. Cockburn Sound is the largest community-led seagrass restoration in Australia, about eight hectares and eight years in, which is where most of the Western Australian work has been done. There is also goldfish taken out of rivers, and a project called Pimp My Jetty, artificial habitat under jetties so mussels can settle, filter the water and clean the way. Coral reefs get the publicity. Seagrass, she said, is equally deserving, and often overlooked. She could talk about it all day. She could talk about it underwater. It is beautiful down there.

What the nursery looks like: fish over a seagrass meadow, from Rosie’s slides.

Seeds for Snapper is the one coming to Geraldton, on the Cockburn model. Last year that project collected two million seeds, with more than 200 volunteers. Divers and snorkellers collect the fruit of Posidonia, ribbonweed, the long thin one that washes up. There are twelve seagrass species in Australia. The fruit comes into season around November. It goes into tanks at the Batavia Coast Maritime Institute. The husks fall off, the seeds drop, and local fishers put them back on the dedicated grounds, often while the whites are running. The husks must come off, or they decay and take the seed with them. That is a job a group can do. She encouraged any local fisher to drop seed at the institute.

A Badge for Leni

Before the guest spot, Jim presented Leni with her Rotary Club of Greater Geraldton name badge. “It’s always lovely to see your face and hear all about what you do,” Clare said, and handed her the microphone.

Guest Speaker — Youth Exchange: Leni Tenwinkel (Germany)  Norden, Holger and a Cup of Tea You Do Not Stir

Leni is seventeen and turns eighteen on 7 June. Home is Norden, a town of about 25,000 on 106 square kilometres in north-west Germany, close to the North Sea. The market square and the old church are the landmarks. From there the ferry runs out to the East Frisian Islands, among them Norderney.

Norden, north-west Germany: about 25,000 people on 106 square kilometres, close to the North Sea.

In her free time she rides, bakes and cooks with friends, and goes to dance classes — waltz and the other steps. Ski holidays come three times a year and have done since she was small; her father is still teaching her to ski better, and the dream is a ski instructor’s licence. The horse is Holger, tournament name Hollywood Hawk 86. A close friend is looking after him while she is here.

Leni with her “About Me” slide — Norden, skiing, Holger, baking and the waltz.

Family is parents, an older sister, the sister’s boyfriend — now counted as family — and, at the moment, a Brazilian exchange sister staying in the house in Norden. That sister’s dream was London. The family took her there as a Christmas present. Leni showed the front of the house, a garden of trees and flowers, and a pool that is lovely in summer and cold the rest of the time.

Family: parents and older sister, with a Brazilian exchange sister and a Christmas trip to London.

The house in Norden — front path, garden and a pool that is lovely in summer and cold the rest of the year.

Two traditions from the region travelled well across the room. Boßeln is a North German folk sport: part bowls, part cross-country, part a long winter walk with friends. Two teams throw or roll a heavy ball along a marked route of about seven kilometres. The side that finishes in the fewest throws wins.

East Frisian tea is taken seriously, especially around three in the afternoon. A strong Assam blend goes into the cup over a lump of white rock candy — Kluntje. The tea is poured hot enough that the sugar cracks. Heavy cream is laid at the rim with a special spoon so that it sits like a small cloud. The golden rule is not to stir. You drink through three tastes: the cool cream first, then the bitter tea, and the sugar last.

Boßeln, East Frisian tea, kale and sausage, and New Year waffles — from Leni’s slides.

New Year brings thin, crisp waffle cakes. The plate on the table at home is potatoes, sausages and kale. Leni has been vegetarian since she was fourteen — she never liked the smell or the taste of meat or fish — so she eats the kale and the potato and leaves the sausages to the family.

She has not ridden here yet. It is hot, the saddles are not the western style she uses at home, and in any case she came to try things she does not already do. Jim, whose family runs racehorses and ponies, offered a gentler introduction after polo cross at Mullewa. Clare thanked her, and the talk is on film for anyone who missed a slide.