Final Destination - Des Moines

At our farewell get together in Des Moines it was another chance for Glenys and Rita (team leader for the US team that visited down under earlier this year) to have a catch up and compare notes on both countries,

Here are the boys making the most of one last photo opportunity in Des Moines before the team all go their separate ways!

And here is Marcus in his new sunnies sitting at the airport just prior to us taking off for Denver then LA and then he and Kerrie were homeward bound with Glenys and Cindy staying behind in LA.

We had an action packed last few days in Des Moines with all of us spending a couple of vocational days in various places before the end of our trip. Thank you so much to everyone who helped out with the arrangements for us. We appreciate your hard work in getting this together for us and I am sure we have heaps to report back on when we all get back to work (some earlier than others!!).

Well, our GSE trip to District 6000 has now come to an end. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our host families and clubs we have stayed with along the way. We have all enjoyed our time travelling Iowa and have made life long friends during our stay too.
Thank you to District 9790 for making this happen for us and a big thank you to our sponsoring clubs - Glenys (Albury), Matt (Holbrook), Marcus (Euroa), Kerrie (Pascoe Vale) and Cindy (Strathmore). We look forward to showing you some great pics and sharing our fantastic experiences with all of you.

Until next time...

Cheers,

Glenys, Matt, Marcus, Kerrie and Cindy

District 6000 Conference - Burlington

Here we are entering Day 1 of official proceedings at the conference. Glenys did a great job as flag bearer!

Not so great though was our singing of the Aussie National Anthem!! Yes we all knew the words but the sound coming out wasn't so great. Thanks to Matt for his loud singing voice which gave us some assistance along the way!

And here we are with some friends we made during our short stay in Burlington. Thanks to Gwen and Joyce for your hospitality and for leading the boys astray! Ha ha! And thanks to Sara for spending so much time getting to know us too. Overall, the conference ran like clock work and was a complete success for DG Cal and his wife Rachel and a big thanks to Gwen and Joyce who did all the "behind the scenes" work to ensure it did run smoothly. Congrats to you all for a very successful conference weekend.

Well done to Matt for his auctioneering skills on Saturday night too. He did a great job raising money by selling all donated prizes for top dollar!

Visit to The Ponseti Center

Mt Pleasant Highlights

How quickly our time at Mt Pleasant came and went.

Our first highlight included a visit to the University of Iowa Children's hospital, Ponseti Center. The centre treats children with club foot using a non-surgical procedure that corrects the abnormality. We understand that efforts are being made with Rotary International in taking this technique to 3rd world countries. We were fortunate enough to see this method being applied to a 2 week old. Our other highlight was experiencing a dinner with an Amish family. We were even taken on a buggy ride!

Although a short visit, we had a great experience in Mt Pleasant. Thankyou to all.

Farewell to North Scott Rotary Club

Here are some photos from our farewell supper at the Davenport Country Club. Thank you to North Scott Rotary Club for our warm welcome, your hospitality during our stay and the great balance between vocational visits and sightseeing. All of our vocational visits were very relevant to each of our individual professions and we thank you for the time and effort you put into arranging these for us. A special thank you to Paul and Susan for the use of your home as our drop off and collection points and a big thank you to all of our drivers too. The gang from "Down Under" appreciated all.

Dubuque Day Trip (Girls Day Out!)

While the boys were in Chicago the girls were taken to Dubuque for the day with some of the host families. We had great views of the river from Star Brewery where we had lunch and Eagle Point Park.

Chicago Day Trip (Boys Day Out!)

Matt and Marcus were very happy when they were driven to Chicago to watch the Chicago Cubs ball game. Thanks to Brad (North Scott Rotary Club) for taking the boys on their fantastic day trip. They haven't stopped talking about it since!