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!