TRAVEL, NEW FRIENDS, SOCIAL ACTIVITIES - REPORTS ON INCOMING EXCHANGES

Eleven happy smiling faces greeted Heather and I when we arrived at Melbourne Airport to meet our ambassadors from Blumenau, Brazil. Everyone was bubbling over with excitement, and that continued for the week the people of Brazil stayed with the Melbourne FF club.

The weather was typical of Melbourne, with a couple of glorious sunny days, inducing two people of our group to take a dip in the sea. One very wet morning, on the day we went to explore our city, we overcame that problem by heading off to the Ian Potter art gallery. And a freezing cold Farewell party, but the friendship was warm, the food was good, and everyone seemed happy.

Our Australian theme which included cuddling the koala, feeding the wallabies, listening to the didgeridoo, and watching the display of boomerang throwing enthralled our Ambassadors.

Around thirty Melbourne members joined in the various programed events and interacted well with our, limited English speaking, Brazilian friends. Both the Welcome and the Farewell functions were well supported, and I thank everyone for their contributions.

We had 4 members who hosted for the first time and I know they had a wonderful time making new friends, and I am sure they will wish to be involved with future exchanges. Isn’t it such a wonderful experience?

Thanks to my committee who did a wonderful job, and contributed to the success of this exchange. Jan.

As the ambassadors were tired after a long flight we had an early Welcome Tea where it was obvious that both groups would have a good week together. We had a ride on the Puffing Billy train followed by a picnic, visits to local birds, Rhododendron Gardens and the William Ricketts Garden. Another feature was the Healesville Sanctuary and Bruno’s Garden in bushfire country.

On 2 days we explored the city on public transport. Included on those days were tours of Government House, Art Galleries, Tapestry Workshop, Arcades, Immigration Museum plus plenty of Melbourne rain.

The Farewell Lunch was well attended by our members and over the week 40 of our members took some part in the Exchange activities.

At the end of the week we all felt we knew more about the state of New Mexico and we had new friends to add to our list of people we care about from the FFI family.

The ambassadors gave us a donation which we will give to the school in Tanzania that the Tweed Valley Club is supporting. Some people even donated a refund we gave out as we could not go up the Eureka Tower due to fog.

WHANGAREI, NEW ZEALAND & SALISBURY, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
30th May – 6th June, 2010
Exchange Director – Alleyn Best

Our Melbourne members turned on a most enjoyable and active exchange over the winter week of Sunday 30 May to Sunday 6 June with 17 inbound ambassadors – six from the Whangarei club in New Zealand and 11 from the Salisbury club in South Australia.

After a well-catered friendly welcome at Margaret Blackler’s home on Sunday, the week’s activities started on Monday with a tour of the Arts Centre, then a visit on Tuesday to the splendid

Australian Gardens at Cranbourne. Our day hosts took ambassadors far and wide on Wednesday.


NZ ED with Welcome Cake	Group at the Australia Garden

The trip on Thursday to Marysville, which was almost obliterated in the Black Saturday bushfires last year, proved an interesting if not emotional experience for all who went. The highlight was a visit to Bruno’s Garden. Some of us were lucky enough to meet Bruno and we all marvelled at his enthusiastic rebuilding of his garden and statues and his home/studio.

Friday was our ‘public transport day’, first meeting up under the clocks at Flinders Street railway station, then catching the tram to the Victoria Market. After lunch there, we broke into two groups: one caught trams to the MCG Sports Museum in Jolimont; the other ‘tramming it’ to the Tapestry Workshop in South Melbourne (unfortunately being renovated but the staff gave a talk and showed samples of their work).

On Saturday a farewell luncheon was held at the Veneto Club. This was well attended by Melbourne members, too, in recognition of the friendships formed with our visitors during the week’s program. Although it rained, we did not mind since we had had such good but cool weather on all the other days.

A special ‘thank you’ to hosts, day and dinner hosts (two potluck dinners were held) and to exchange committee members Jan Stevens, Nola Fletcher and Bob Lambert (exchange treasurer), with kind assistance from our secretary Nina McPherson for helping organise the program and making this exchange a memorable one. Thanks also to Liz Cawsey for devising and printing a most informative program booklet and to everyone who contributed to the program.

The exchange with Thames-Coromandel was a great success. The Ambassadors were very friendly and really lovely people.

We had a great fun time with them starting with a welcome dinner at Mick & Maria’s place on the Sunday evening, followed on Monday by Val's popular city tour which included a guided tour of the Melbourne Arts Centre.

On the Tuesday (being St Patrick’s Day), we visited the Dandenong Ranges. Following morning tea at Grant’s Reserve where we were entertained by wild cockatoos and a visit to the Quilting House at Monbulk we had lunch at an Irish pub. The afternoon was free and some people went for a ride on the famous Puffing Billy steam train and others visited the William Rickett’s Sanctuary.


Puffing Billy	On Puffing Billy, Belgrave

The next day the group went on a trip along our lovely Port Phillip Bay coastline to see the Mornington Markets before visiting a settler’ s homestead at McCrae where we enjoyed a picnic lunch in their lovely garden. The group went on a very informative guided tour of the homestead and it is thanks to people like these early settlers that we are here today. In the evening the Ambassadors took their hosts out to dinner.

Picnic Lunch at McCrae Homestead, Mornington Peninsula

Thursday was the popular Police Academy Tour with a buffet lunch with the cadets in the canteen. This was followed by a free afternoon, and shopping seemed to be a popular past-time.

On Friday we provided day hosts who took the ambassadors on a variety of excursions in and around Melbourne, including the Yarra Valley and Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. Pot Luck dinners were held at a number of member’s homes in the evening.

Saturday, the last day of the exchange was spent with hosts with free activities. Some activities included visits to the Melbourne galleries, botanic gardens, boating on the Yarra River and across the Bay trips to historical port of Williamstown. A farewell dinner in the evening was held at the Box Hill Lions Club.

Ambassadors and Hosts

Everyone had a great time and many friendships were made and I am sure many will be meeting up again in the future. Thank you to my hosts, day hosts and those who had pot luck dinners. Special thanks also to my co-host Maria and her lovely Mick and my committee Annelies and Jan Felstead.

On Wednesday 21st January our ambassadors arrived at the Burwood K-mart car park via the hired airport bus, and from there it was a smooth transfer to their respective hosts. A few hours later 47 people met at Jan & Roger’s for the traditional welcome. The weather was perfect, and wine, soft drinks and the very popular punch kept everyone happy. We had dips, vegetables and biscuits, followed by a large assortment of gourmet sandwiches; a large platter of fruit and to end the function our “Welcome Chocolate Cake.”

Ambassadors at the Welcome Picnic.

On Thursday a group of ambassadors attended the Australian Open Tennis at Rod Laver Stadium. The day was hot but the tennis good and they had an enjoyable day. The remainder of the group visited other areas of our city.

On Friday our city tour was a real bonus. We had double the allotted time at the Art Centre, and that was followed by a free Peter Allen concert in Gallery 1. Everyone enjoyed the concert immensely.

Our ambassadors rode on our famous “Puffing Billy” on Saturday then enjoyed the drive through beautiful treed and fern lined winding roads of the Dandenong Ranges to the Sky High Function Room at Mount Dandenong, for our lunch with a view.

On Sunday, most Hosts took advantage of the cheaper train and tram fares to ride into the city, this time to look at the markets, Docklands, Southbank, St. Kilda and other features of the city.

High above Melbourne!

Monday was Australia Day. We again took advantage of Joe and Anita’s wonderful “back yard”, and enjoyed our pies, pavlovas and lamingtons.

Members of both clubs seemed very happy and relaxed, and all said it had been a successful exchange. We were pleased to receive an invitation for us to visit the Central Coast club in the future.

We all said our Goodbyes on Tuesday when our visitors returned north. Thanks to everyone who contributed to make this exchange work so well.

On November 13th 29 ambassadors from Lugansk arrived at the Avalon Airport and were greeted by two members of the organizing committee. The look of wonderment on some of the faces was a sight to behold. Very quickly there were many questions being asked and the excitement of an impending exchange was palpable. Upon arriving at the designated pick up point ambassadors and hosts were matched up and everyone disappeared into the night to prepare for the eventful week ahead.

Due to the inclement weather, the Welcome Picnic was transferred to the Box Hill Lions Club Hall. The evening progressed well and from all the laughter and singing during the night it seemed a good exchange was about to unfold.

Saturday brought weather conducive to sightseeing. Many hosts travelled many kms to show our guests our wonderful State. Mornington Peninsula, Sovereign Hill and Phillip Island were popular destinations.


Group at Sovereign Hill, Ballarat	Group at Arthur's seat, Mornington Peninsula

Day hosting was spread over the weekend due to prior commitments several hosts had. Sunday night, most club members participated in the BBQ’s which were held at the homes of Garth Harris, Alan & Judy Fraser and Joe & Anita. Thank you for the wonderful, though cold evenings, we all had.

On Monday Val Ford co-ordinated the popular Melbourne city walk. We divided into small groups and met at the Town Hall to meet with the Deputy Lord Mayor, Gary Singer. This was followed with a tour of the Town Hall by two greeters from the City Council volunteers. The day ended with small dinner parties at various hosts’ homes.

Ambassadors at Melbourne Town Hall Reception

On Tuesday Alan Fraser arranged the Puffing Billy trip to Lakeside followed by lunch at the Rhododendron Gardens. At the conclusion of this day ambassadors and hosts went out for dinner together at various locations.

Wednesday was a free day with hosts with many driving to Sovereign Hill, the Dandenongs and even golfing for some. The farewell dinner was held at the Box Hill Lions Club Hall and catered for by the Box Hill Lions Ladies Auxiliary. Nikolay Kravchenko(ED) presented the club with a plaque and booklet as a memory of the Exchange. At the presentation of photos many fun times and stories were told of the experiences had during the week. The evening ended with various items of singing, poetry and dancing to the music by Andrew Pastuhkov.

Happy Times at Farewell Dinner

The bus departed at 10am on Thursday for Avalon with lots of goodbyes and memories of another successful exchange.

May I personally thank ALL club members, and particularly my committee, for their wonderful co-operation and readiness to “hop in” and help during one of the biggest Exchanges the Melbourne Club has participated in.
Pat Mills - Exchange Director