Friendship Force of
San Diego County
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APRIL - Inbound from Lamphun THAILAND The 17 ambassadors will be arriving April 17 in LA at 10:40 AM and arrive in San Diego about 7 PM Sunday. Sunday departure, April 24, to Salt Lake City is at 9:08 AM on Delta Airline # 1892. All members are welcome to attend any of the activities and the Farewell Dinner. Here is the schedule:
If you would like to take part as a day host or attend any day activities, please contact me, Bonnie Andrews.
July Festival - Midwest Magic and the Mighty Mississippi Chuck and I had a wonderful time on this Friendship Force Festival. We learned so much about the area, met and interacted with so many great people from many clubs. Just to fill you in, a festival includes people from clubs all over the world. We met people from Japan, many from clubs in Canada, others from Memphis, Texas, Florida, No Carolina, Colorado etc. Six of our members attended, Bob & Lyn Spellman, Marilynn Hagen, Shirley Jobb and Chuck & I. We stayed with a couple in Bettendorf, part of the Quad Cities, just outside of Davenport, Iowa in a woodsy setting. We flew to Iowa two days early, so that Chuck could do some genealogy research of his Bras roots in the very small farming area called Wapello. We stayed in another small town called Muscatine, which we found out was the pearl button capitol of the world at one time. The buttons were made from the shells of fresh water mussels. This business put many people to work. We learned all this in their museum. For us the highlights were first of all the people, then our visit to the John Deere Pavilion in Moline, Ill., one day to see the latest in farm equipment, and touring two of the Deere historical homes in the same location another day. We also visited two farms, one where corn and soybeans were grown and the other a dairy farm. The farmers spent a lot of time with us and answered all questions. In Dubuque, there was a walking tour of the area, which started with a talk by a young man dressed like Julian Dubuque, who settled the area and discovered that lead made him more money than gold. We also visited a Methodist church, St. Luke’s, which was known for its beautiful stained glass windows made by Louis Tiffany. Also in the same town on another day we visited the new Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. The farewell dinner, which everyone attended, was fun and held outside at the Eagle Point Park – what a view of the river it had. There was music, singing and dancing too. One of the last and best highlights was our two-day trip on the Mississippi on a riverboat. We spent two relaxing days on the boat, which was nice after a very busy week, and the night in a very nice hotel in Dubuque. We enjoyed meeting more people, the trip on the scenic river and the food.
October 3 -22 - Outbound to Australia North Moreton Club, Mount Baker Club with extension to Sydney. Roy Hattendorf, Exchange Director Trip Description: Make great Aussie friendships! North Moreton in Queensland offers a warm and temperate climate that allows the region to offer a range of sporting, recreational and cultural activities. Quick access to Redcliffe, Brisbane City and indeed the Sunshine coast and Gold Coasts are at hand via rail or car. Then go on to Mount Barker which was named for the nearby peak discovered by Captain Charles Stuart in 1830. The town is situated in the picturesque Mt. Lofty Ranges of South Australia and is traditionally known for its pastoral ambiance. The district today is a rapidly developing regional center. Plans are to leave October 1 for North Moreton (near Brisbane) and Mt. Barker (near Adelaide) with an extension in Sydney. This will be about a three week trip. We still need participants, Contact Roy for information. Our Adventure to the Land Down Under By Roy Hattendorf, Exchange Director 12 of our club members plus 2 of my nephews from Illinois were bussed up to LAX on the evening of Oct. 3, arriving there 3 hours before flight departure. 2 hours were required to check in and pass through security. Our flight left at 11:20 p.m. and we were off to our great adventure to the land down under. 13 hours later, as dawn lit up the east coast of Australia we descended into Brisbane on the Wednesday morning of Oct. 5. Our hosts from the North Moreton club were there to meet us and take us to their individual homes that were scattered throughout the Brisbane area. After an afternoon rest we all attended the welcome potluck dinner at the local Lions Club Community Center. Here we were given a warm welcome and introductions and the schedule of activities for our week¹s stay. Thursday morning we attended the daily feeding of a group of pelicans in a nearby park. At 10 clock an attendant comes with a pail of food and tosses portions to each individual pelican. When the pail is empty it is turned upside down and all the pelicans do an about face and return to the water. After this event we toured the Redcliffe Museum to be informed about the history of Redcliffe and how it became one of the first Penal Colonies in Australia. I later learned that a great great grandmother of my host had been sent to this penal colony. Redcliffe is now a modern sea coast city of 50,000 population.. At noon we were treated to an Australian finger food lunch of fish and chips in a park along the seaside, followed by a tour of the Redcliffe Peninsula. Friday morning started with a drive to the Friendship Force Grove dedicated to all the Friendship Force Clubs that have visited the North Moreton Club. They have a large granite boulder into which a plaque is inserted. Our club was already honored with a plaque. This was followed with a drive past fields of sugarcane and pineapples to Mary Cairncross Park for views of the Glass House Mountains and a walk into a rain forest. The Glass House Mountains are the extinct vents of a volcano that was active 25 million years ago. In the rainforest we found a large variety hardwood trees and a diverse array of flora species and were serenaded by the many different bird songs. An interesting bird was the Brush-turkey with a red neck, dark plumage and vertical tails, that builds a 4 foot high mound of twigs and vegetation on top of which it lays it¹s eggs and lets the heat from the composting pile incubate their eggs. Later in the afternoon we were treated to a sausage sizzle, like our BBQ, along the shores of Toorbul, where we saw wild kangaroos grazing in the evening. Across the bay we saw Bribie Island where many of our troops trained amphibious landings that later took place at many of the Pacific Islands during World War II. Saturday morning found us on the MV Miramar cruising up the Brisbane River to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which is the largest koala sanctuary in the world. Along the banks of the Brisbane River are the sites of stately and historic homes. After passing the leafy sub-tropical suburbs we came upon a colony of hundreds of fruit bats hanging from their tree roosts. The bats are about a foot long and look like black bags hanging from the branches. Looking back we saw the beautiful Brisbane skyline 6 miles away. The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary has 130 koalas on display that are usually in their sleep mode in the branches of Eucalyptus trees. Here we also hand fed kangaroos, viewed the colorful lorikeets and kookaburras, wombats, emus, Tasmanian Devil and other wild life of Australia. Sunday began with a leisurely drive through the countryside to the Ginger Factory where many ginger products were on display and for sale. This was followed with a stop at a cheese factory and then on to the Sunshine Coast. Here we toured the sea coast towns with names of Mudjimba, Naroochydore, Mooloolaba and Caloundra, each town’s beaches trying to surpass the others. There are large tourist developments taking place along this coast. Monday morning found us on top of Mt. Cook-This was a panoramic view of the entire Brisbane area from the airport near the bay to the distant Glass House Mountains. This was followed with a drive to downtown Brisbane to the spectacular gardens of Roma Street Parkland where we enjoyed lunch with the entire group. The gardens were in their prime with many of the native plants of Australia that we now find in our areas in San Diego. Many of the jacarandas were in full bloom. Being in the heart of Brisbane we saw the immense building boom taking place there. On many of our evenings we went to regional dinners or with our host families. These people really embaced us with friendliness. The main event on Tuesday was the evenings farewell dinner at Rabittinis restaurant where we sampled kangaroo, crocodile, and venison sausage. We presented our skit of the founding of San Diego with the main cast of Bob Spellman, Avonelle Slagle and Helen Gagliardi and the supporting cast of the rest of us. Our host club sang the song of the Billibong to the beat of the Lagerstick The Lagerstick is a 6 foot crooked tree branch adorned with hundreds of beer caps with the middle portion bare where the player taps out the beat with a smaller stick. This is a joyous instrument when you realize all the beer that had to be consumed to adorn this instrument of high culture. Tearfully we had to say good-bye to some of the hosts that could not see us off the following morning. Wednesday was a sad morning at the airport when we had to leave this fun loving group. But, soon we boarded the plane and looked forward to our next week at Mount Barker.
Our Wednesday, October 12 flight from Brisbane arrived in Adelaide at 10:30 am where we were introduced to our hosts who immediately took us on a 25 minute drive to Mount Barker . Leaving Brisbane with temperatures in the 90’s we were invigorated with a light rain shower and thermometer readings in the upper 50’s making us dig for our sweaters or jackets. Adelaide is a beautiful and well planned city that is bordered on all four sides by parklands. The Mt. Barker club is the first of 24 Friendship Force Clubs in Australia having been established in 1982, With a membership of about 50 it is very active having 28 inbound and 24 outbound exchanges taken place since its’ founding. Preceeding the pooled lunch we were entertained by a young singer,Brenton Shaw, who gave an outstanding performance in singing some of the familiar classics. I soon got the impression that our hosts were warm loving individuals from a rural background. Mount Barker is situated in the Adelaide Hills, an area that has many small towns and villages. An area that supports many gardens, dairy farms, vegetable farms, sheep and cattle ranches, hiking trails and numerous scenic drives. After the welcome luncheon we were taken to the respective homes of our hosts in or near the small towns of the Adelaide Hills. Thursday, being a free day, I was given an auto tour of the countryside beginning with the preparation of a cattle and sheep auction, continuing on to the hilly ranch country and the Vietnamese vegetable farms and ending in a tour of a winery. Of special interest to me was a stop in Handorf, a German settlement in 1836, which still displays much of the German influence. Much of this area was settled by Europeans in the 1830’s. Arriving at Signal Point Friday morning we were given an interpretive tour of the center overlooking the harbour and viewing the waterfowl along the coast. We continued on to Urimbirra Wildlife Experience, where lunch awaited us in a fine restaurant, after which we viewed the Australian wildlife. It was our first experience to hold and cuddle the koalas necessitating the taking of many photographs. Also on display were crocodiles, parrots, kookaburras, kangaroos, wombats, dingos and wallabies hopping all over the park. On our return we stopped in Goolwa to view the long seacoast and some members enjoyed the horse drawn tram over an extended jetty to Granite Islan. Saturday being a free day gave us another opportunity to visit the many sights of the Adelaide Hills. Saturday evening was a special treat with the invitation by President Trevor Thorpe for a BBQ at his residence on his large dairy farm. John and Avonelle were hosted by the Thorpe’s and were very thankful they were not required to milk the 200 cows twice each day. Avonelle became infatuated with the feeding of the young calves. A great social evening! Sweet beginnings on Sunday morning with a visit to a chocolate factory in Woodside followed by a stop at a Millshop Shopping Center to appease the shopping appetite of the ladies. The men’s treat followed by a tour of the famous Birdwood Motor Museum displaying a large selection of antique autos and motorcycles mostly of European manufacture. An early Monday morning bus ride to the Monardo Zoo was provided by the club, with one of their members posing as a blind bus driver, but his driving proved acceptible. This zoo is similar to our Wild Animal Park except the tour bus drives into the enclosures of the animals. Animals on view were rhino, cheetah, zebra, bison, lions, African wild dogs as well as the free ranging Australian animals. 2 pm found us in Murray Bridge boarding The BARRANGUL for an afternoon tea cruise on the Murray River. The Murray River is the largest river system in Australia and 6th largest in the world. Ginger was given a chance at the wheel but it was noticed that soon after she was relieved the captain turned the boat around and headed towards port before any complications could occur. A safe landing was made. Tuesday, our final day, began in the tourist town of Strathalbyn, where I was hosted, with a visit to the many antique shops and ending in the shop of ‘Herman The German’. After coming to Australia Herman became interested in the DIDGERIDOO, a woodwind musical instrument of the Australian aboriginals. He explained the finding of the wood and preparation to make this instrument and ended by giving us a professional musical demonstration. The day ended with a farewell dinner at the historic Auchendarroch House in Mount Barker. The history of this building goes back to 1860 and some of the original wall paper was still to be found in our banquet room. It was a most enjoyable evening visiting with many of the members we had not previously met but were saddened to leave the warm hospitality of the Mount Barker Friendship Force members. With warm embraces and teary eyes we said goodbye to our hosts on Wednesday morning at the airport, boarding the plane with the feeling of being blessed by having gained another circle of friends. Written by: Roy Hattendorf,
Exchange Director
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Last modified: September 13, 2007 |
