Rotary Friendship Exchange

From the February 2006 Bulletin:

(With photos supplied in September 2006 by Derek Sowell)

Three members of the Durham club have just returned from a visit to Victoria and New South Wales, Australia.

Rotary Friendship Exchange (RFE) enables groups of Rotarians and their spouses to visit and stay with other Rotarians on a reciprocal basis. In Autumn 2004, 10 couples from District 9790 centred on Melbourne, stayed with Rotarians in the North East of England. The return trip commenced on 22 October 2005 for Derek and Sylvia Sowell, Laurie and Sioned Turner and Stewart and Christine Atkin.

We all gathered in Melbourne for a relaxing informal meal with some of our hosts. In fact this set the standard for the visit; informality, entertainment and superb fellowship.

Our first hosts in Greensborough, just to the North of Melbourne organised a tour of the Great Ocean Road by coach with a local guide, seeing such sights as the 12 Apostles, Apollo Bay and the Otway Fly. Laurie commented that they saw much more than on his trip a year earlier when he was doing the driving. On the way back we stopped for a fish and chip supper. Lovely.

At the start of the Great Ocean Road

The remains of the 12 Apostles

On to Euroa, some 200 kms north, where Derek and Sylvia stayed with the Cerinis who they had hosted the previous year. Stewart and Chris stayed on a farm out of town and were introduced to a 20-year-old Holden (Vauxhall) used for herding cattle. Here our 3 members gave a talk about the Durham club: its history, current international project and our plans for the future. Again we were hosted and shown around the local towns that made up a busy agricultural community, witnessing sheep shearing and an auction. At Echuca the party enjoyed a trip up the Murray on a paddle steamer, similar to those used to transport the fleeces to market.

At the Euroa Wool Week

The last stop was in Albury just into New South Wales on the banks of the Murray River. The highlight was Melbourne Cup Day when seemingly the whole country comes to a halt for 3 minutes. We visited 2 wineries in the morning, had a picnic lunch and an afternoon racing at a country meeting. All this and temperatures over 30 c. We also visited an emu farm and the massive Hume Dam. The local clubs were well practiced in providing picnic lunches with ample lubrication.

Picnic at the Corowa Races - on Melbourne Cup Day

The farewell dinner was an emotional time, particularly for those who were on their first RFE. None of the ladies dared stand on the bathroom scales and it was announced that we had eliminated the wine surplus in the southeast of Australia.

The next RFE involves a group from Canada in Autumn 2006.

S Atkin