No worries

No worries is the Aussie response for “no problem” So yes it’s been a while since the team blogged, but no worries…there’s a very good reason. First reason: no internet access here at the house. Second reason: were on holiday. Holiday=vacation.

We saw Joe off on Monday from Coolangatta airport in the morning and then we hired a car. Hired is what the Aussies call renting a car. With Mike at the helm, we set off on the wrong side of the road with our trusty Garmin set to the female Aussie voice and headed for Coolum on the Sunshine Coast.

All of the guys have driven the car for some period of time. For those of you back home thinking that there is going to be some massive pileup of Americans in Australia…no worries…the hard part is not driving on the wrong side of the road or all of the roundabouts…it is the fact that the turn signal lever is on the right side of the steering column. So if you see the wipers wiping on a perfectly sunny day…that’s our indicator of an imminent turn.

One of the most frustrating things for me since we’ve been on holiday is the familiar lack of sleep of the past four weeks. After a non-stop schedule for the past month, you would think we would be able to sleep in. Not so. There was a time change on Sunday, and being the start of “autumn” in Australia…we fell back one hour and lost yet another hour of sleep. That means for the first two mornings on holiday the team was up by 6:30am.

Today is day three of holiday and no worries, we were all able to sleep in. I was up by 7:30 but have been able to get in a morning nap. That’s right. I woke up, took a nap, then woke back up for breakfast. We have no scheduled plans for today. We’ve packed lots of stuff in our first two days. The only thing we’re sure of is that Dominos Pizza will be delivering dinner.

So far on holiday activities have included: Shawn cleaning the pool, a long walk on the beach, grocery shopping, committee meetings, multiple games of Pea cup in the pool, a trip to the Eumundi markets, ANZAC cookie baking, boogie boarding, sand castle/barn building, ping pong playing, sing-alongs, night walk on the boardwalk, Spanish speaking and cooking some excellent meals.

If you thought we were on our own and starving…no worries. The meal menus have consisted of: Nick’s burgers with topping (mayo, cheese, bacon, mushroom), milk, Sanitarium cereal, lemon myrtle yogurt with macadamia, milk, watermelon, Philly cheese steak sandwiches, milk, prawn/fish stirfry, pancakes, bacon & eggs, milk and milk. That’s right…flat white milk. I think I’ve mentioned how difficult it has been to find plain white milk here in Australia. We bought a combined total of 11 litres of milk and our supply is running dangerously low.

But no worries, we know our way to and from the IGA. No worries, we know how to work the grill. No worries, we completed our gift buying yesterday at the market. What we do have to worry about is that our holiday is coming to an end. I speak for the team when I say that we will miss the generous nature of our hosts, the incredible cultural and professional activities we have participated in and the easy going “no worries” feel we’ve had wherever we have gone.

It is bittersweet to say this…no worries, we’ll be home soon.

Mike, Beth, Shawn & Nick

We been everywhere man...we been everywhere.

The tiny resort town of Yamba, pronounced just like it looks, concluded our Rotary duties of the GSE experience. The district conference is attended by all clubs in the district and is a Friday, Saturday and Sunday of speakers and fellowship. It was also the Missouri team's last chance to say goodbye to the good people of Australia and reuite with our families from the past month.

It was a BLAST. By this time we are pros at giving our presentation. But at district conference we had to prepare a new one that told of our cultural and professional experiences. The whole thing lasted 20 minutes. If you recall, the competion with the Arizona team reaches its culmination at conference. We had the advantage of going second. We had a SONG, set to the tune of "I been Everywhere" made most famous by American Johnny Cash. It was initially an Austrlian tune which we found out.

You all know the tune, here is our version which pays tribute to each of the clubs that hosted along the way.

Chorus: We been everywhere man, we been every where..
Steppin roo poo in Tweed Heads

Prawns and bugs in Coomera
Chorus

Plantin Missouri roots in Boonah

Booma-rooma-rang man, in Gunda-wonda-land man

Chorus

Tenterfield-land man, Home of Oracle of the Bush Graham,

Kyogle cruisin' in Troopy

Chorus

Meeting Mayor Jenny in Goonellahbah

Mt. Warning in the Morning, ain't they got style? (it's a mostly female club)

Chorus

New South Wales to Queensland

Better check your watch man (one place has daylight savings, one doesn't...confusing)

Chorus

We sang this song with a huge lack of tone but made up for it with lots of love and spirit.

That was that. We attended some of the conference speakers that afternoon and then took a little bit of team time to go for a swim and a nap before heading down for Western night at the Conference. Jeans, western shirts, and a tip-of-of-the with a "Howdy" set the mood. Our team's getups for Western night topped everyone except the Coomera River crowd who dressed up as Gold Coast Meter Maids in rhinestoned cowboy hats. See pictures. :-)

There was one last bit of friendly competition with Arizona that night. GSE coordinator Wendy and her husband Charles had a quilt to raffle off. The jobs of the AZ and MO GSE teams was to sell these raffle tickets to the attendees. The proceeds of the raffle went to a Brisbane school in need of textbooks that were damaged from the recent flooding. We raised over $2500 for the school thanks to the generosity of the Rotarians. Both teams sold all of the their tickets and the real winner was the kids of the school!

The winner of the raffle ticket sales was declared a draw...but Missouri stepped it up a notch and auctioned off our uniform ties to benefit The Rotary Foundation. We raised over $1200 on the sale of 4 ties and one scarf! Talk about dear! "Dear" is what Australians say when something is expensive. Our ties had a lot of international flair and were the talk of every club we visited and highly coveted by Rotarians. Joe Beltz played auctioneer for Beth's scarf and it brought the highest price of the night at $310 dollars. My math my not be totally accurate but it's a good sum for the Rotary Foundation!

Then it was time to party. The conference hall turned into one big barn dance. Rotarians, friends, family, exchange students and GSE teams partied in true Aussie style. Visit www.rotary9640.org to see other photos from the conference!

Mt. Warning in the Morning while it's Pouring

It has been a while since I've blogged. I blame it on the frantic schedule at the end of this trip....and the lack of internet access at the District Conference.

To keep you up-to-date I'll fill you in with my last host. I met Bob the book binder during my last vocational day of the trip. Many thanks to my host Anne of the Mt. Warning AM club for making the arrangements. Bob does the exact thing my dad does back home. The only difference is he has a machine to make his letters...a Ludlow...which First Impressions Book binding must desperately find...and he makes movie props. While perusing his shelf of accomplishments I see a US Passport. This passport was made for a movie in which Jodie Foster starred. He has also created books for Scooby Doo, and the Chronicles of Narnia. Very cool and very profitable!

Thursday night's dinner was at the White Olive in Murwillambah, owned by Rotarian Simone and her husband Li Ping. The meal was 8 courses long...and the best meal I have had in 2011. It consisted of: fresh bread with 3 dipping sauces, won tons, spring rolls, kangaroo, spotted mackerel, 12 hour roasted lamb, grilled eggplant, and a medley of desserts which included chocolate souffle, merinenge porcupine ice cream, Anzac cake, and another cake-like dessert.

That was on Thursday night.

Friday morning the team minus Joe climbed Mt. Warning. Mt Warning is the highest eastern peak of Australia and the point of which the sun first hits the Australian continent. Sounds lovely right? The climb up Mt. Warning is a crap shoot. It takes about two hours to get to the top and you never know when a cloud might obstruct your view. The aboriginal name for Mt. Warning is Wollumbin meaning cloud catcher. Mt. Warning was called Mt. Warning by Captain Cook because ships would use it as a landmark to determine the start of the dangerous reef in the sea. Cloud Catcher did a great job catching Friday Morning. A third of the way up the top, it started raining. Granted we were in a rainforest setting, therefore rain wasn't much of a surprise.

We climbed this switchback path full of steps, puddles, rocks, and leeches. Shawn wore cowboy boots...an inappropriate footwear choice for the climb but he made it most of the way to the top. The top you see requires use of chain handrail of sorts to assist climbers in their ascent to the top. The chain is about 1km long (.6 miles) and a 50-60 degree climb. Shawn made it up half the chain in his boots and wisely chose to stop along the wet rocky climb. Beth, Mike and I trekked on to the top. My footwear choice was tennis shoes...mesh tennis shoes...which give ample protection from the rain. Insert sarcastic tone.

We made it to the top to find the view spectacular. April Fools! We were in a cloud. But at least we were above the rainy portion of the cloud. Our descent would take us back into the rain where we got soaked like a cane toad. Despite the weather and no falls or injuries, the team had a great experience and can cross off a trip to Mt. Warning off our Australia to-do lists. Next time though we will choose better weather so we can enjoy the views.

Friday afternoon was a transport day to Yamba, where the district conference was to be held. We checked into the Star of the Sea retreat center which is a converted convent. The rooms were small and cozy but provided all we needed...a bed and bathroom.