Jim Walker: Ron Sutherland - New Zealand trip

At the most recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Hawick, members were treated to a visual tour of New Zealand, courtesy of Rotarian Ron Sutherland. He and his wife Pat stopped over in Singapore en-route and whilst there visited orchid gardens and parks before continuing on to New Zealand.

Their tour commenced in Auckland, then to the Bay of Islands, south to Rotorua, famous for its hot springs and bubbling hot mud pools, then to Lake Taupo and Wellington, before crossing to South Island and onwards to Christchurch. Many places of interest were visited during the tour.

Ron's talk was interspersed with many photographs of the beautiful scenery, for which New Zealand is famed, plus photos of birds, flowers, and glaciers and these added to the interest.

Pictures of Christchurch showed evidence of the severe earthquake that occurred there in 2011, the worst of several in recent years.

Travel in New Zealand was by coach and the total distance travelled would have been around 1500 miles.

Rotarian Jim Walker afforded Ron the customary vote of thanks on behalf of the Club for his excellent presentation.