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!

Davenport Sights

After touring the city of Davenport which included the Figge Museum, Putnam Museum and a lock and dam on Arsenal Island, we stopped for lunch at Rhythm City Casino which floats on the Mississippi River. We had great views of the river while eating "an all you can eat lunch!"

Visit to the Special Olympic Offices

Kerrie is hearing about the sorts of adaptive equipment used with the Special Olympic Programs from the Director of Special Programs

Pioneer Corn Production

Pioneer seed production plant.

Rotary Club of Ames

Banner presentations at the Rotary Club of Ames with our host families

Rotary Club of Ames

Rotary Club of Ames

Cindy presenting at the Ames Rotary Club. The club had over 250 members most of whom were present at the lunch time meeting.

Iowa State University - Meat Lab

This picture was take after our tour of the world famous Iowa State University Meat Processing facility. It is both a facility used for study purposes and by many large food companies for product development. Not sure about the outfits!

Linconway Energy - Ethanol Plant

This was piles of a by-product of the ethanol plant made up mainly of the discarded corn husk. This is dried and used as cattle feed.

Hickory Park - Ames

These were the biggest Pork ribs in town!

Well it has been a while since our last blog. Since our last post we have been non stop, visiting new hosts in Ames and the Davenport which is in the Quad Cities.

In Ames we visited the home of the US Special Olympics, Becker Underwood (a world leader in polymer paints and seed treatment), Iowa State University (including the meat lab), Lincoway Energy (which is a large ethanol plant) , a number of feedlots and the Ames Rotary Club.

We then spent a number of days in Davenport which included visiting the John Deere Harvester Works, the sale barn and meat works and the art gallery and museum which were on the Mississippi River.

The attached photos tell the story...!

Our last night in Leon - Decatur County

Our last night in Leon was an informal Rotary meeting at the local B&B (Marcus and Cindy's home) where we mingled with the members of the Leon, Osceola and Chariton clubs. We are pictured here with Terry and Peg (Glenys host family) and Terry was one of our chauffeurs/tour guide during our stay - thanks Terry! Peg arranged our tour of Graceland University which was very informative - thanks Peg!
The second photo shows the boys sharing some Aussie jokes by the end of the night! Loring (yellow shirt next to Matt) certainly matched them joke for joke and these can't be published on the Blog!!! It was like a typical Aussie BBQ scenario - the fellas in one corner and the ladies in another!!

Vegemite Taste Test

Judging by the look on Linda's (Kerrie's Host in Leon) face, she seems unimpressed with the thought of eating Vegemite!! She was a good sport though and ate some on her toast and was impressed by the taste of it. Looks like Kerrie needs to export some across to her now!

HyVee Supermarket

Marcus was in his element at the HyVee Supermarket chatting to the meat manager!

Cindy's new chair

Cindy found a bench with her name on it at Iowa State Univesity!!

Sadly we have now had to leave the town of Leon in southern Iowa. We have had an interesting and fun time and met many interesting people. In our time in Leon we visited the Central Decatur School, Health and Community Center of Southern Iowa, East Penn Battery manufacturing plant, Graceland University, Humeston Sale barn (sale yards for those back home!), Osceloa Hospital and Petty's Feed lot. We also had some cultural expriences in meeting Amish people in an Amish community, Liberty Hall and the Dairy Queen.

We are now off to Ames in Central Iowa for the next few days which is a town that revolves around the Iowa State University which has a cyclone as its mascot....!

Matt's Livestock Auction

Here is Matt "Kenny" Pitzen receiving last minute instructions just prior to him conducting an auction for the fresian heffers. He blew the roof off with his loud voice down the microphone!! Well done Matt - you did a great job :)

Chilled section at Hy-Vee

Here we are listening intently during our tour around the chilled section of the fresh produce section at the distribution centre at Hy-Vee Chariton.

Coffee at Dairy Queen - a morning tradition!

Here we are at our morning meeting place - the Dairy Queen in Leon (owned by Donna and Gail - Cindy and Marcus's host family)

Hy-Vee Tour - Chariton

These are a bit bigger than the Tonka trucks! These are the 1 million mile safe driver trucks (tan) and 2 million mile safe driver trucks (black). It takes 10 years to drive one million miles.

Pettys Feedlot

4000 head of cattle in a muddy feedlot after a wet winter

Humeston Livestock Auction

Here we are outside the livestock auction after Matt auctioned off fresian heffers for a top price!

Visiting the Clark County Hospital

Visiting the Clark County Hospital

Kerrie at D & D Kids Ranch

Kerrie pictured here with Savannah and Tyler out at the ranch where the kids with disabilities partake in therapy with the various animals.

The gang out at a farm in Pella!

Marcus, Matt and Glenys investigating how the Iowans farm cattle and grow their corn crops. This photo is of a round bale carrier that we don't see back home.

Marcus and his new shoes

Marcus trying on his traditional clogs! The town of Pella is trying to break the record of the most people wearing clogs in the tulip festival in May - Marcus got a head start!

Vermeer Windmill in Pella

The gang - minus Kerrie - overlooking Pella from their landmark windmill celebrating their Dutch heritage.

We're finally contributing something

Hi Everyone,

If you have been watching this space, here is something to read. Since you have last heard from us, we have finally arrived here in Iowa. After 30 hours travelling we landed in Des Moines and were whisked off for dinner before heading to Pella - approx. 45 mins away. Pella was settled by the Dutch - the town motto is "A Touch of Holland". After touring the Vermeer Windmill, historic village, Christian Opportunity Centre, D&D Ranch, the Opera House, Walmart (we were the most excited shoppers there!), Ulrich Meat Market, Red Rock Dam and a yummy dinner at Kalderra's. We attended Easter services in a variety of churches just before we had to say goodbye to all of our great host families and head off to Leon, Decatur County.