Sorry it has been a while since you’ve heard from us. Our team has been so busy that we haven’t had much time to blog. With all that we’ve been up to, our time in Australia is going by much too fast!
We spent last week in the Chatswood/Roseville Chase area and were in Bathurst for the district conference Thursday through Sunday. We have now arrived at our final stop, where we are hosted by the Norwest Sunrise Club in the Castle Hills area.
Unfortunately, this is going to be a LONG post, but here’s a recap of our activities over the past week:
Chatswood Area
Last Monday, we visited Vaucluse House, the home of William Charles Wentworth, a key politician and explorer in colonial Australia. He was one of the first settlers to cross the Blue Mountains and later became one of the fathers of the Australian constitution.
After a quick lunch in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, we toured the New South Wales Parliament House as the guest of MP Gladys Berejiklian. There we learned about the structure of the Australian government, visited both the lower and upper houses, sat in the Speaker’s chair and stood at the podium where press conferences are held. We finished with afternoon tea in the canteen of the High Court building, which had a fine bird’s-eye view of the city.
Monday night we each spent time with our hosts. Craig’s hosts, Pam and Greg Campbell, took Craig, my host Jill Lawson, and me on board the Sydney 2000 for a dinner cruise. As we cruised up and down the Harbour, we enjoyed great food, music, wine and conversation, while drinking in the night skyline of Sydney.
Tuesday morning we visited the Queen Victoria Building, an indoor shopping center with incredible architecture and upscale shops. We then walked to Darling Harbour to visit the Sydney Aquarium. I could have spent all day in the aquarium – it was so peaceful and full of wonderful creatures. Our favorite part was walking through the underwater glass tunnels, where we were surrounded on all sides by seals, gigantic sharks and rays, and many other species.
Tuesday afternoon we toured the Sydney Opera House, where we saw three of the five performance spaces and learned the tangled history of how this world famous landmark was built. The views from the Opera House were as awesome as the architecture.
Wednesday we split up for vocational visits in our respective fields. I met with some communications officers at the Health Department of NSW and then visited Royal Rehabilitation Centre in Ryde, a private hospital focused on recovery from spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. I spoke at length with education and research consultant, Dr. Robert Manga, and found his insights invaluable. Two years ago, Dr. Manga was in the process of completing his training as a gynecologist when he suffered a spinal cord injury. He is now leveraging his unique combined experience as a patient and physician to help medical professionals and the community better understand and meet the needs of patients with disabilities.
Thursday morning our team visited Sydney Adventist Hospital (“the San”), where we toured the cath lab, Maternity and Oncology wards and enjoyed a delicious vegetarian meal in the San Café.
We spent last week in the Chatswood/Roseville Chase area and were in Bathurst for the district conference Thursday through Sunday. We have now arrived at our final stop, where we are hosted by the Norwest Sunrise Club in the Castle Hills area.
Unfortunately, this is going to be a LONG post, but here’s a recap of our activities over the past week:
Chatswood Area
Last Monday, we visited Vaucluse House, the home of William Charles Wentworth, a key politician and explorer in colonial Australia. He was one of the first settlers to cross the Blue Mountains and later became one of the fathers of the Australian constitution.
After a quick lunch in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, we toured the New South Wales Parliament House as the guest of MP Gladys Berejiklian. There we learned about the structure of the Australian government, visited both the lower and upper houses, sat in the Speaker’s chair and stood at the podium where press conferences are held. We finished with afternoon tea in the canteen of the High Court building, which had a fine bird’s-eye view of the city.
Monday night we each spent time with our hosts. Craig’s hosts, Pam and Greg Campbell, took Craig, my host Jill Lawson, and me on board the Sydney 2000 for a dinner cruise. As we cruised up and down the Harbour, we enjoyed great food, music, wine and conversation, while drinking in the night skyline of Sydney.
Tuesday morning we visited the Queen Victoria Building, an indoor shopping center with incredible architecture and upscale shops. We then walked to Darling Harbour to visit the Sydney Aquarium. I could have spent all day in the aquarium – it was so peaceful and full of wonderful creatures. Our favorite part was walking through the underwater glass tunnels, where we were surrounded on all sides by seals, gigantic sharks and rays, and many other species.
Tuesday afternoon we toured the Sydney Opera House, where we saw three of the five performance spaces and learned the tangled history of how this world famous landmark was built. The views from the Opera House were as awesome as the architecture.
Wednesday we split up for vocational visits in our respective fields. I met with some communications officers at the Health Department of NSW and then visited Royal Rehabilitation Centre in Ryde, a private hospital focused on recovery from spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. I spoke at length with education and research consultant, Dr. Robert Manga, and found his insights invaluable. Two years ago, Dr. Manga was in the process of completing his training as a gynecologist when he suffered a spinal cord injury. He is now leveraging his unique combined experience as a patient and physician to help medical professionals and the community better understand and meet the needs of patients with disabilities.
Thursday morning our team visited Sydney Adventist Hospital (“the San”), where we toured the cath lab, Maternity and Oncology wards and enjoyed a delicious vegetarian meal in the San Café.
District Conference
That brings us to the district conference in Bathurst. We arrived a day early for vocational visits. Our whole team visited a timber plantation, and three of the foresters gave us a tour of their operations. We were especially impressed by the massive harvesting machine that would grab the trees, cut them down, strip them of their branches and cut them into segments sized for truck transport, all in a matter of seconds. The operator was incredibly skilled to do all those maneuvers so quickly and safely.
After that we split up for vocational visits in our field. Yvonne and I took a peek inside the newly reconstructed Bathurst hospital, which has been the topic of much discussion in the news lately. Then we went to the local correctional facility for a tour that covered both the law enforcement and physical and mental health aspects of their operations. This was my first time visiting a prison. Although this facility is considered minimum security in terms of the types of inmates housed there, Yvonne said that the facility and operations were equivalent to our maximum security facilities back home.
Bathurst is the home of Mt. Panorama, a world class motor racing circuit at the top of a scenic mountain, and hence the theme for the conference weekend was “Rev up Rotary.” The conference gave us a unique opportunity to learn more about Rotary and to cross paths again with many of the friends we’ve met during our stay here. We heard several inspiring guest speakers, enjoyed the spectacle of the clubs dressed up for their costumed theme night and got to know both of the outbound GSE teams. (One will be visiting D6310 in Michigan and the other will be heading to New Jersey.) We also did a lap around the track (not at full speed!), visited a winery in Orange and took in a local Rugby match.
Whew! Well, that’s a lot of information, and I had better sign off now, as it is time to get some ZZZ’s before our trip back up to the Blue Mountains. Please keep your comments coming, as our whole team loves to hear from our family and our blog visitors.
That brings us to the district conference in Bathurst. We arrived a day early for vocational visits. Our whole team visited a timber plantation, and three of the foresters gave us a tour of their operations. We were especially impressed by the massive harvesting machine that would grab the trees, cut them down, strip them of their branches and cut them into segments sized for truck transport, all in a matter of seconds. The operator was incredibly skilled to do all those maneuvers so quickly and safely.
After that we split up for vocational visits in our field. Yvonne and I took a peek inside the newly reconstructed Bathurst hospital, which has been the topic of much discussion in the news lately. Then we went to the local correctional facility for a tour that covered both the law enforcement and physical and mental health aspects of their operations. This was my first time visiting a prison. Although this facility is considered minimum security in terms of the types of inmates housed there, Yvonne said that the facility and operations were equivalent to our maximum security facilities back home.
Bathurst is the home of Mt. Panorama, a world class motor racing circuit at the top of a scenic mountain, and hence the theme for the conference weekend was “Rev up Rotary.” The conference gave us a unique opportunity to learn more about Rotary and to cross paths again with many of the friends we’ve met during our stay here. We heard several inspiring guest speakers, enjoyed the spectacle of the clubs dressed up for their costumed theme night and got to know both of the outbound GSE teams. (One will be visiting D6310 in Michigan and the other will be heading to New Jersey.) We also did a lap around the track (not at full speed!), visited a winery in Orange and took in a local Rugby match.
Whew! Well, that’s a lot of information, and I had better sign off now, as it is time to get some ZZZ’s before our trip back up to the Blue Mountains. Please keep your comments coming, as our whole team loves to hear from our family and our blog visitors.
1 comment:
You should put all this great information into a travel brochure. It certainly makes me want to endure the long travel just to see some of what you have experienced.
Denise Tuck
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