Presentation video…

Hope all is well with you, whether you are reading this in the United States or in Australia…

The rainy weather here in Indiana has kept us indoors for a day or so–kind of reminds us of Mackay! Ha, kidding, my Mackay friends!!

I thought I would share this last video with you. We had put it together for our presentation at the Rotary District Conference in Yeppoon. It was kind of a behind the scenes of our travels. We thought it would be interesting for people to see us in this light, as most of the time when we were publicly presenting, we were in our formal wear, etc.

Enjoy and take care!

Cheers,
Marc

Thank You Australia!

Saying thank you doesn’t seem like nearly enough when it comes to all that I have experienced over that past 30 days.  This has been a full on adventure that I will never forget.  Although I am exhausted it has all been so worth it.  Truly a once in a lifetime experience.

To all the Host families- Thank you for the bed, shower, meals, laundry and most of all you friendship.  Words can’t express my gratitude.

To the Rotarians at every stop- thank you for the open arms, smiles, and interest in our GSE team.  Thank you for sharing your cities with us.  I enjoyed each and every stop.

To Ken Self- WOW!  You gave us the start of what has been the best trip ever.  You educated us more than you can image.  The faith you had to be able to take on 5 random americans was incredible.  Thank you for your friendship and love of Australia.  And remember GO THE HOOSIERS!!

To Brian and Sally Jesset- Thank you for all of your coordination before, during, and after our trip.  We couldn’t have made it through without you.  You coordinated an amazing trip for us.  I will forever be grateful.

To Judith & Craig Henderson- Thank you for agree to make the exchange with District 6580.  I will never ever forget this opportunity.  My life is better for having been able to experience Queensland.  You have an amazing District.  Thank you for everything you did for us over the past 30 days.

To everyone that crossed our paths-  If you are ever in Indiana, you always have a warm bed, meal, and shower…..just let me know.

THANK YOU AUSTRALIA for an amazing experience.

Cheers,

Jenise

Frasier Island

 

SUN SUN GLORIOUS SUN- well at least on day two.  Our adventure out to Fraser Island was cold and raining. 

 

 

 

 

 

We boarded the Barge to travel across the deep blue sea for a two day adventure in Fraser

 

Island.  Richard, Jane, Jo, Liz, John and Jeff all agreed (they may be regretting it now) to

Lake McKenzie from underneath an umbrella

 

Tea at Jo Pearce's Fraser Island home

escort the team.  Once to t

 

he Island is what 4 wheel driving all the way.  Bumps, hills, roots, ruts, mud, and slop what and adventure. And no I didn’t toss my cookies, thought I might though.  We got to see, what we are told,

 

 

Proper eating of a Meat Pie

 

 

 

Improper eating of a Meat Pie

View from Indian head

Maheno Ship wreck

and exquisitely blue glorious lake. But as you can from the photo we saw it from underneath an umbrella. L

 

We stopped for meat pies for lunch.  Yummy. However, we were informed

that we eat meat pies incorrectly.  We all eat them as if they were Pot Pies from home, with a fork in the tin.  Aussie prefer to pick them up and eat them with their hands as demonstrated by Jane.

Fraser Island was an amazing adventure of Wildlife (don’t feed the Dingos), beach, sun and high tide surf.  Thank you Jo for allowing us to stay at your beach house on Fraser.  I had a wonderful time and enjoyed the experience.

What ever you do DO NOT feed the Dingos!!

 

 

 

Sunset in Fraser

  

 

 

 

Hey Hey Hervey Bay

After what seemed like an eternity in the car, Brian and Sally Jessett delivered me to my host family.  Rex and June Whitcombe welcomed us in with a wonderful lasagna dinner.  After a long drive a home cooked meal was a delight.  Rex and June are very familiar with the US. The lived in Canada for a number of years and have traveled the US.  This was wonderful to be able to talk about home and have them relatively understand what I was talking about.

Once again we had our frequent wish of wanting to stay longer or needing another day in Hervey Bay.  Thank you so much Rex and June for taking me in.

District Conference was a hoot!!

 

Traveling to Yeppoon led us to the District 9570 Conference.  This was such a wonderful feeling to walk into the conference and be welcomed by lots of the families that we had met throughout our trip.  The snuggles and warm feelings is so hard to express, but I loved it.  We started off with the welcome dinner.  The dinner was good but the mossies about carried us away.   We then spent the evening catching up with the Bundy crew over a few drinks!!!

Saturday morning we kicked off the day with a wonderful Aussie breaky.  Then the day was ours.  After checking emails, I enjoyed several hours by the pool.  Vitamin D treatment was exactly what the doctor ordered.  Prior to the District Governor’s Dinner we were told that they wanted to participate in Karaoke. In true Indiana GSE fashion we created a slideshow to go along with the song “Happy Together”.  The attempt to distract from our “lovely” singing worked!  The Governor’s Beach  Party was a wonderful and exciting treat.  Everyone really seemed to be enjoying themselves and having a good time.  The Karaoke turned out to be a huge hit.  Thanks Judith for a wonderful conference.

Brian and Mavis Johnston were the gracious hosts that took me in while in Yeppoon.  This was such a wonderful stay and I greatly appreciate their hospitality.

Brian & Mavis Johnston

Brian Jessett and Judith Henderson sing

GSE team have a GREAT time at Conference

Jan & Graeme Smith

John & Kathy Gardiner

Molly in deep explaination of the Flip Camera

Wild Bundy Sunrise crew!!

Back Home Again, in Indiana…

We made it! After 27 hours of travel, we are all back home safe and sound (sans Mark, of course, who is staying in the southern hemisphere to vacation with his wife!

It’s almost 1:30 a.m. Indiana time, which means it’s almost 3:30 p.m. in Queensland…I’m getting ready to force myself to sleep to try and alleviate some of the jet lag effect tomorrow. I’m sure we will all post more later, but we wanted you all to know that we made it safely!

Cheers,
Marc

Goodbye, Australia…Indiana, we’ll see you soon!