Gettin to Know Some of the Local Lingo

G'day Mates,

After going hammer and tongs for the past fortnight, our team was quite ready to enjoy one day off in the city of Portland. Today was the first day we had to each do whatever we wanted on our own schedules. This morning, Dave and Koshare grabbed their bathers and hit the beach to do some surfing. Jill treated herself to a massage while Kim went to check out the "Wine, Wood, and Roses" festival up in Heywood. Kim almost bought a pottery chook, but decided it might break in her suitccase on the way home. Ben caught up on downloading his many photos of the trip so far. This afternoon, Koshare hit the bitumen and went for a nice bike ride out to the local enchanted forest site.

Other points to pass along about my Australian observations during this exchange:

• Australia has so many roundabouts! They're great! I reckon that Canada needs more of these!
• Pedestrians don't have the right of way here at roundabout intersections- only if it's a marked crosswalk.
• I never knew there were so many types of eucalyptus trees! Someone stated there were 650 different types.
• Australia has far tastier edible wild plants than our homeland does. So far we've snacked on bush mint, sheoak, water celery, kangaroo apples (taste like papaya), sea berries (like pomegranate), and sea lettuce (salty, nutty tasting)!
• The state of Victoria is fighting some of the same invasive plants/noxious weeds as we are at home- weeds like blackberry bushes and Canada thistle (what they call Scotch thistle).
• All school kids here wear uniforms.
• Talking on a cell phone while driving in the state of Victoria is illegal.
• Trading hours for businesses are Monday to Friday 9-5 and Saturday 9-1. Then the town shuts down for the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday for a rest- what a concept!
• Many Australians have been to Canada and comment on how beautiful our country is and how friendly the people are. Many have been to the tourist destinations like Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise, Whistler, Victoria, and Niagara Falls.

We venture out of the state of Victoria tomorrow morning and into the state of South Australia. We'll be staying in the city of Mount Gambier. Then we head inland toward Hamilton (where it was 30 degrees Celsius yesterday morning at 9 am!).

Well, I reckon I should sign off for now- it's suppertime- time to go find some fair dinkum tucker to eat.

Until the next post,
Jill

Where we have been hosted thus far

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Now in Portland...

Hello All,
We are now in Portland, the first white settlement in the state of Victoria, and for us, the fourth set of host families. On the way here today, we toured a wind farm in Codrington, and then when we got here we were driven to several sites along the Discovery Coast. Stunning views, breathtaking color in the ocean, and plenty of wind to clear anything from the last 2 weeks out of our brains for the next leg of our journey. Tomorrow we tour the timber processing infrastructure in and around the Port of Portland. While we were in Warrnambool, we went to the CFA (Country Fire Authority, equivalent to our Rural Fire Districts in the US) training facility, and to the Warrnambool Timber Company, which produced finger-jointed lumber and glue-lam beams. The utilization of timber here is pretty impressive.

Suspenders versus Braces

Our Forestry Presentation to the Rotary Clubs of Warrnambool. Left to right are Dave, Jill, Koshare, Kim, and Ben. We start each presentation wearing our uniform jackets. Then, part way through the presentation, we take off our jackets to reveal our westcoast logger's attire that we've brought along with us! After our first presentation, we quickly learned not to refer to these as our "suspenders" because that is the term that Australians use to describe the devices that hold up ladies' stockings! For the remainder of our trip, we are now referring to them as "braces" because that is the Australian term for what we call suspenders!

Link to newspaper article

Here's the article that appeared in the Colac newspaper about our visit:
http://colacherald.com/2009/02/20/visitors-learn-about-industry/

Colac pics 3

Geoff and Graham, local forest & botanical experts who accompanied us on our hikes and provided a wealth of information.







Jill, Kim, Geoff and Peter, discussing forest and farm land at the back end of Laurie & Jan Shaw's property.

our legs as we rode in the back of the "yute" around the farm! I discovered my inner child again along the ride!

Dave and Jill viewing the upper end of of the farm area.

the tower of the Otway Fly! Even though it is 47 meters high, some of the trees are already taller.

Colac pics 2

the Otway Fly canopy walk














Jill among the treetops














the dinosaur caught Ben!!!












a map from the interpretive board...helps show where we were.

the Aussie version of springboard holes...from the first time the area was logged in the 1930s

Pictures from Colac

Triplet Falls in the Otways

















Kim's usual stance












the Forestry GSE team "hugging" a tree





A gorgeous meal at the Otway Estates Vineyards....the meat in the middle is kangaroo!








Dave, Jill, and Ben and the AKD Softwood Mill. The local paper reporter & photographer also came & there was a nice article about us in the paper the next day.

Catching Up

Would you believe the forest workers here wear shorts?!

We are now in Warrnambool, a beautiful little town along the Great Ocean Road. Since Dave last posted to the site, we had our best day yet (or at least it was for me!). We started a bit earlier than previous days, so we could fit in a hike/walk to Triplet Falls. It was so worth it! We were astounded by the size of the trees, by the tree ferns, by the cool air; it was as peaceful beautiful as any of our parks. Then we headed to the Otway Fly...a steel walkway in the tree canopy of the Otways. After experiencing the forest floor in the morning, we got to walk 25-47 meters in the air, among the upper reaches of the trees. Anyone who was afraid of heights would NOT have enjoyed it! I wish we had similar canopy walks in area! Ben's favorite part was the portion of the trail with the dinosaur sculptures, as you'll see in the pictures.
From there, we headed to the private farm of Rotarians Laurie (male) and Jan Shaw. They fed us a delicious lunch of quiche, homemade bread, roasted vegetables and potatoes, and by far the most heavenly dessert we've had: berries, shortcake, and ice cream (perhaps Ben will post his pictures of that later?).
Yesterday we left Colac, where we'd already gotten attached to the people. The Camperdown Rotarians hosted a BBQ lunch for us in the Camperdown Botanic Garden, and then Brian and Bill drove us along the Great Ocean Road, stopping at all the viewpoints along the way and giving us time to take lots of pictures, stretch our legs, and enjoy the sand on our bare feet in one place where there was a famous shipwrech survival story.
Today we had lunch at the Timboon Distillery and a few of us sampled their spirits, then went cheese tasting, then strawberry picking. The evening was our presentation to a few of the local Rotary members, and I believe the others are all out enjoying a drink at the pub, while I came home with Anne (she lives a way out of town...too far to walk home!).
Hope you are all doing well. Enjoy the few pictures!

Highlights From Our First 3 Presentations

Wow, what a whirlwind the past 10 days has been! We're now in the city of Warrnambool and just finished delivering our third PowerPoint presentation about forest management in BC and northwest Washington. I thought I'd share some highlights from our experiences in delivering these presentations:

Presentation #1
City: Geelong
# of Rotary Clubs in Geelong: 9
# people attending our presentation: 100+
Location: Ballroom of a heritage building

This was our first presentation and everything went quite well. The District Governor was in attendance and complimented us on a job well done. Everyone was quite impressed at how professional our presentation was! Our hard work paid off. (We had met over 5 weekends as a team throughout this past winter to put this presentation together). I enjoyed the Q & A period that followed our presentation as we each took turns answering various questions.

Presentation #2
City: Colac
# of Rotary Clubs in Colac: 2
# of people attending our presentation: 70
Location: Dining hall of a hotel restaurant

Our second presentation was delivered during a very hot evening (it was 34 degrees C at 5 pm that day). Dave and Ben were pretty hot in their suits and ties (hot like temperature hot, although they did look pretty sharp). During the Q & A period, one Rotarian stood up and asked if I knew how many teats a cow moose has! Since I've only ever hunted bull moose, I really didn't know! It's now my mission to find out and let him know. (I had brushed up on some of my Canadian trivia before embarking on this trip and I can tell you this wasn't one of the facts I encountered!)

Presentation #3
City: Warrnambool
# of Rotary Clubs in Warrnambool: 4
# of people attending our presentation: 30+
Location: Art Gallery

We delivered our third presentation tonight in the open hall of an art gallery. To our surprise, surrounding us as we delivered our presentation were large paintings of nude people! (a little awkward!). Every day is a new adventure here for us!

It was during the Q & A of tonight's presentation that I started to realize some common trends in the questions that Australians are asking our GSE forestry team. These questions are on the following topics:

• Mountain Pine Beetle
• Fire Management- incidence of fire in our forests and the politics around fire management.
• Forest Land Base- questions about who owns our forests and the challenges of managing for all users (preservation, conservation, industrial uses).
• Aboriginal Peoples- cultural considerations.
• Old Growth- questions about the age of our OG and where it grows (public vs. private land).
• Silviculture- questions about how exactly we re-establish our forests and the species that we plant.

Well, that's all for now...looks like we deliver our next presentation this upcoming Wednesday. According to our schedule, by then we will have toured the Penshurst CFA fire centre, a Warrnambool timber facility, Preston Windows (which uses our very own Western Red Cedar for manufacturing window frames!), the Codrington Wind Farm, CEMPAC timber processors, Heywood timber facility and associated forests! We're covering a lot of ground on this tour! It's been phenomenal!

PS- We made the Colac Herald newspaper! During a tour of AKD Softwoods' Mill in Colac, a photographer and reporter photographed and interviewed us about our group study exchange and then published our photo and story in their newspaper!

All the best until my next opportunity to post,
~Jill

9 days and two homes

Hi All

It has been a very busy 9 days. In some ways it feels like I have been here for weeks as we have been given a crash course on everything Australian. From surfing, to footy and cricket, museums and music, forestry and saw mill tours with a healthy balance of meaty BBQs including the rare Kangaroo. We have been going non stop! I have had two home stays so far and both have been absolutely wonderful. John my first host, a retired surgeon, made sure we saw Melbourne the best we could by train and trolley. Graham "me" present host (everything here is me vs. my) that I am leaving today has taught me everything about the Australian cattle industry including calving and milking. He has kept me busy with chores after our already full days.

We have had three vocational days so far. We have seen a chip plant (for pulping), discussed land tenure and regulations, visited conventional and cable harvesting blocks, walked among the 80m tall gum and ash trees, avoided the fires but watch plenty of new stories, viewed a nursery producing millions of radiata pine and eucalyptus (blue gum) trees. It has been amazing to see the industry down under. It is great to see the investment in mills to make specialty products such as finger jointed and laminated beams for there mainly domestic market.

The growth rates are staggering 5 or 6m tall blue gums that are 3yrs old. For the foresters out there growth rates that have a MAI (mean annual increment) of 20m3/ha compared to BC’s average of say 2.5. Crazy growth rates – trees like weeds. Lots of talk about the “greenies”, the environment, natural forest harvesting, plantation management and global warming. For all the differences we have found lots of common ground to discuss and new friends in the process.

I love a sunburnt country
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding plains

We look forward to more.
Cheers Dave

Koshare

Hey what can we say. This is just Koshare being beautiful.

Geelong Botanical Gardens

We had a wonderful evening at the Geelong Botanical Gardens and a jaz concert in the gardens. Here is Koshare just being beautiful.

Surfing at Ocean Grove

Okay so Koshare has had enough, but look in the background. Dave is up and surfing. We know it is Dave as everyone else has wetsuits on. The water is cold.

Ocean Gove

Koshare & Dave tried surfing

Maritime Museum Swan Bay

Dave was checking out the gear

Lonsdale Lighthouse tree

Okay someone please tell us what type of tree this is. It was at the front entrance to the Lonsdale Light house.

John Williams

John was a fabulous guide for us on our tour of Melbourne. The day started at the train station in Geelong at 9:30. After a half hour on the train we were transferred to a bus due to a fatality on the line. So we had the cooks tour on the bus, then back on a train to Southern Cross Station.
Once in Melbourne we went to the top of the Rialto building to get a view of the city. Due to the smoke from the fires the view was limited. Then on to Victoria Market....more to come.
Needless to say John wore us out.
Thank you so much. It was a fabulous day.

Koshare shopping for a purse

Downtown Melbourne

Melbourne Sat Feb 14 Happy Valentines Day

PDG Alf Swan

Alf & Helen Swan were my first hosts. Their hospitality and warmth were very much appreciated. And Alf if you had the internet to read this, I will not forget you.

Aussie Footie

Pictures Geelong

Pics 2

Pics

Pictures

Some of the pictures of the last few days

Monday already?

I've been told today is Monday...is that true??!!! We left our Highton Rotary Club host families this morning...it was actually surprisingly difficult to leave after only a few days! The Colac and Colac West Rotarians picked us up this morning. We had a lovely drive along part of the Great Ocean Road, a fabulous lunch in an open-air restaurant in Lorne, and then got to swim in the ocean for about an hour! It felt cool getting in, but once in, it was wonderful. Kim has been taking amazing pictures and is hoping to be able to add some to our blog, but I don't know if she has internet service at the Gorgeous country Bed & Breakfast where she is staying. As for me, I haven't been able to connect to the internet from my own computer, so I haven't figured out the adding pictures yet.
Last night we went to an outdoor jazz concert at the Botanical Gardens in Geelong. Is there anything better than outdoor music in the summertime, while enjoying picnic foods and local wines?
Jill is still stiff after taking a fall from a horse on Saturday...for her friends & family, she is really OK, just stiff! Ben has avoided any major sunburns except for a small bit on his cheek...he is diligent with his sunscreen. Dave is always up for a new adventure. Koshare has avoided any major sunburns, but seems to have lost the sunhat she was so excited about. Did I mention Kim has been taking amazing photos?
Today we also went to dairy farm! WOW!!! Jill was even brave enough to try to hook up the milking machine.
Computer is losing battery....will write more when I can!

Amazing Day Friday

We started out the morning with a tour of the Midway Chip Mill here in Geelong...got to hear from Rowan Eyre about their company operations and tour the chipping facility. They are located right on the water in the industrial area and are able to load ships directly from the facility...the chips are headed to Japan.
We had lunch & spent the afternoon at the Aboriginal Cultural Museum called "Narana Creations". Norm Stanley (not his Aboriginal Name) had a lunch prepared for us, took us around the garden area they've created, and demonstrated boomerang-throwing. Then we all got a chance to try it! He did a wonderful job of explaining their culture, showed us traditional tools used for hunting, and finished by playing the digeri-doo (sp?). As an extra, we were driven to view the famous surfing beaches (Bell's Beach), but no one was out surfing because it was so windy.
Last night was our first presenation...to the Highton Rotary Club. It seemed very well-received, and the Rotarians asked excellent questions. Gifts were exchanged and a good time was had by all!
Many of you have asked about the fires. It is devasting news in the area, and there is a national campaign encouraging people to donate to the victims & survivors. Last I heard, AUS$ 70 million had been raised already. I have not heard how the money will be distributed. The news here has included how much other countries, including Canada and the US, have sent goodwill and assistance. We have not yet travelled to areas directly affected by the fires, and the towns hardest hit are not on our itinerary, but a couple of the towns we will get to later in our tour have had fires in the area, also. As we learn more about how we might help, we will certainly share that news with you.
Tomorrow, Jill has the opportunity to go horseback riding, and the rest of us are being escorted into Melbourne by Dave's host Rotarian, John. We are heading in on the train in the morning, and will return in time to have a BBQ dinner with Jill's host family.
We have taken hundreds of pictures already, and I will try to figure out how to post one soon!

Arrived safely at our destination!

Hello All!
Just wanted to let you know that we have arrived safely with our host families in Geelong! It was ~ 56 hours of travelling for the Canadians; Koshare had a little less at ~34 hours. Fortunately, our excitement at having arrived is still keeping us going this evening...though I suspect all of us will try to make up tonight for the fact that we slept on an airplane last night!

Group Study Exchange

The Rotary Foundation’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for businesspeople and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country's culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

In a typical four-week tour, applicants participate in five full days of vocational visits, 15 to 20 club presentations, 10 to 15 formal visits and social events, two to three days at the district conference, three to four hours per day of cultural and site tours, and three to four hours per day of free time with host families.

For each team member, the Foundation provides the most economical round-trip airline ticket between the home and host countries. Rotarians in the host area provide for meals, lodging, and group travel within their district.