Well it had to happen......the final day of our whirlwind trip to New Zealand has arrived and it is with deep regret that we leave this wonderful country and return to our countries of origin. We have all been enriched by the experience and are astounded by the friendliness and generosity of our hosts. We have seen places that locals have never been to and we have covered a lot of area and a multitude of vocational visits.
Our District hosts and organisers have been superb and there is much for us to learn in terms of organizational GSE hosting arrangements in our area. I hope to recreate some of the structure here as a template for future GSE visits.
Its was a subdued team that drove to the Auckland International and presented our bags for acceptance on flight NZ 739 back to Brisbane. A final farewell to GSE Chair Bob Lang and we headed off to board the plane but before one minor hiccup when Rogen was extracted from the queue to have his hand luggage weighed. The scales responded with a 12.2kg reading so the offical reached for the phone for assistance. Fortunately we were able to convince her that Rogen had an extra bag because of Tania's early departure and in any case Kelly only had a handbag as carry on baggage so we transferred 4 kgs to Kelly and all was fine.
The flight to Brisbane was over within the space of one and half movies and we our goodbyes to Kelly who was met by her Mum.
Today we say goodbye to Rogen and on Friday Jennifer will be the last to head home.
We shall all have very fond memories of this trip and are most grateful to everyone within Rotary who have made this such a successful experience.

Monday and its our last full day in New Zealand. So off we go to Snow Planet and view this great indoors ski venue. We play a game of 10 pin bowls on the way back....no need to ask who won.
Then off around to Northcote to see a complete asian shopping centre. After lunch we relax and prepare ourselves for the final presentation at the Northcote Rotary Club.
Kelly has agreed to do Tania's presentation so in front on the District Govenor Neil and his wife Trish and about 40 guests we give our last presentation the works.
Again the team acquitted themselves admirably and we leave pleased with our efforts and happy with having been received so well by a very friendly Club.

Sunday the 3rd of May and the phone rings early in the morning with the news that Tania's son Jack who is just 10 months old has been rushed to hospital in Port Moresby with malaria. So its early morning phone calls and after some quick work by Tania's superb hosts Terry and Merle we have arranged for the flight home tickets to be exchanged and Tania is heading for the airport at 5.00am for a flight to Brisbane. We have since heard that she has arrived back in Port Moresby and the early indications are that Jack is responding well. Lets all pray that this is correct and the little fellow pulls through with flying colours.
Rogen went off to a Railway and Bus museum (Motat) and enjoyed the experience, I went for a 90 minute walk and had a look at the local cemetry whilst Jennifer enjoyed some well deserved rest and Kelly was entertained by Deborah and Bob.

Today is Saturday and again no rest for the wicked.
We left the Northcote area at 8.00am for the Otara flea market on the south side of Auckland. This is a long established and well known flea market run in the main by Pacific Islanders. We managed to snare some bargains and be entertained by the buskers so it was something different for the team to experience.
Next stop was the Auckland museum where we had a good look at the history of New Zealand. We also went to the cultural show which was entertaining. And finally we experienced a simulated production of what it would be like inside an Auckland house if one of the many potential volcanoes in the area were to erupt.
Time had marched on so time for lunch and for this we travelled down past Mission Bay and lunch at the Karvah Cafe overlooking the harbour.
Then it was off to Kelly Tarltons for an Antartic encounter. This is the home to New Zealands only colony of sub Antartic penquins. So we boarded our snow cat and headed below the waterline to watch penquins frollicking below the surface. As our snow cat headed upwards we were treated to close up views of a penquin colony including young penquins being nursed by their parents.
Further on we watched large manta type rays being fed in a tank with many large fish swimming around. Next was the worlds first underwater transparent tunnel where sharks etc swim quitely within inches of your head.
Kelly Tarltons is a must see on any visit to Auckland and a great experience for our team members from Papua New Guinea and the Solomons.
Our camera's have all run out of battery life today as we have taken so many photos in the past few days.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a quieter day for the team as another busy day awaits us on Monday.

Yesterday was a vocational day so it was up early for the team as the first port of call was to meet New Zealands Minister for Immigration Dr Jonathon Coleman. Dr Coleman is also the Minister of Broadcasting,Associate Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Health.
Jonathon as he likes to be called turned out to be a young Minister with an outstanding reputation. He is a hard working pollie and if the rest of the Government are as diligent, articulate and devoted to his constituency as Jonathon is then New Zealand's future is in good hands.
We then headed off to our different vocations for the day. Kelly headed off to Northcote Primary with Deborah, Jennifer went off to the Human Resources area of North Shore Hospital to talk with Carol Frankston, Rogen went to the offices of Simpson & Grierson (one of New Zealands largest law firms) and then had a 3pm appointment with commercial lawyer Gerald Sharrock, Tania was taken by Terry to meet George Villars from Handley Industries who are flooring specialists, whilst I had the pleasure of talking real estate with Bill Hayward from Link Business Brokers.
At 5.30 we met at the Northcote Hotel to have a glass of orange juice before heading off to Bob Langs place to watch the Reds get trounced by the Crusaders. Thankfully the next game up was the Anzac league match with Australia v New Zealand and of course the good guys prevailed.

Well today we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts and headed for the homes of our new hosts from the Rotary Club of Northcote.
After a settling in period we braved the rain outside and headed to Mt Smart rugby league stadium, home of the New Zealand Warriors.
We were taken on a tour of the Centre, including operational rooms, film theaters, gymnasium,
and of course the stadium itself.
After a few photos we headed off to the Cheshire sugar factory for a quick look around and then headed back to Northcote through the evening traffic for dinner with our hosts.
Tomorrow is a very busy day so it will be an early night then up and at em.

Next stop is on the Naval base itself where we are treated to an introduction by Brett O'Toole to the inner workings of the Bridge Ship Simulation system. In essence this is where topography maps of islands and coastlines can be drawn from NASA maps available on the Internet and any number of ingredients can be added just to make the task of a helmsman all that harder. Existing structures like lighthouses, jetty's, wharfs, channel markers etc are put in and then some hazards like ferries, pleasure and fishing boats, barges, yachts, dinghies, divers and so on together with adverse weather, tides, and even night time are added just for good measure.
It takes about a year for one person to properly construct say a realistic simulation of Wellington harbour so its not the easiest job around.
Next it was onto the Bridge Simulation itself and we were treated to an actual in progress simulation of a NZ warship entering a harbour in rainy conditions with a decent swell running.
These simulators cost around $5m each however when you think a warship is a $500m plus purchase and contains say 150 sailors then if it only saved just one vessel in its lifeime then its paid for itself.
Very impressive and realistic simulation and we were most grateful for our Rotarian host Rear Admiral Jack Welch of the Rotary Club of Takapuna North for organising this rare opportunity for us.
Sorry no photographs of the simulator as these were not permitted however there are some of the reception we had with Captain Dean McDougall and the Canterbury alongside its naval berth for repairs.

Next visit on the Agenda today was to the Sea Safety Training School where Mark the instructor showed us a presentation of what is done at the Centre. Here they take recruits and officers through several disaster style scenes. These include fire fighting and how to control various types of fires in different locations and also how to save a ship from sinking by using whatever is available to stem the inward flow of water..including your own body.
If you are lucky enough to survive that then they take you out and drop you in the harbour and leave you to survive on life rafts.
This centre processes some 2400 personnel every year so the NZ Navy are a capable responsive entity.
Our thanks to Mark for showing us around.

Today and its up early as the team has a number of shifts to do and its an early start at the Maria on the Devonport Naval base. Brian and Kelly are both relocating as their hosts are heading elsewhere. Kelly didnt seem to mind and was quite looking forward to it.....then when we found out she was staying in a penthouse with magnificent views we discovered why.
The team assembled at the Maria which has been built on Crown Land and forms part of the Naval Base area. Its a very unique traditional building occupied by Maori naval personnel. They gave us a traditional welcome and the team appreciated the warm welcoming words and the songs that they sung. In response Tania and Rogen sung the Papuan New Guinea national anthem which we understood was a first for the Maria since the building was built in 2000.
We understand that some 20% of the NZ Navy are of Maori descent and the Maria is very well received by visiting dignataries and the serving officers of the NZ navy.

Last night we visited the Rotary Club of Takapuna and were warmly received by their President Marge Scott. The guest speaker related his time in the police force undertaking finger printing of crime scenes. In New Zealand they only retain the prints of convicted felons...so they have a daatbase of some 800,000....now that sent some mathematical brains into doing some quick maths as the population here is just 4 million....which means....no cant be right...must be a data base collected over a very long period!!
The Club is like a number of Rotary Clubs these days in that the average age of members is creeping up...one member suggested it was 70...mainly because the oldest member is 90 and there are couple in their late 80's but even so I think that estimate was a bit on the high side.!!
We had 10 minutes to give an outline of what we had achieved with our GSE experience so it was a brief 2 minutes each from the team.
It was a good night out and we left with a good impression of a well established Club.

Today is a vocational day and the team have headed off in various directions. Jennifer has gone to the Council to spend some hours in the Human Resources area. Rogen has been sent off into the city to visit a large law firm and Kelly has the day with a local School. Tania and Brian have gone to the Concord Computer Centre to meet Glen Ramsay and to hear all about IT work.
All the team had have had an excellent vocational day and Tania even managed to play her first ever game of 10 pin bowls and almost won.....beginners luck??
We are now off to the Rotary Club of Takapuna to do a presentation there.

Last night we were guests of the Rotary Club of Takapuna North where we did our presentation but not before being entertained by the three students from Westmead College who were fortunate enough to be selected for the Science forum. One of the three Michelle even managed to be one of 52 selected to fly across the Antarctic and judging by the photos she managed to select a fine day. What a wonderful opportunity for a Year 13 student to see a part of the world that few have ever visited.
Our presentation was to about 70 Rotarians and friends and despite an early hiccup with the computer it went well.
Takapuna North is a very friendly relaxed Rotary Club and the Rotary activities that they undertake are well supported by their Club members. President Stuart Keddon gave us all a warm welcome and ensured we all had a great night.
Thanks everyone for everything you have done for us.

After visiting the Yes centre we had a quick bite to eat at the local Westfield Shopping Centre then on to Life Tech Laboratories where our hosts provided us with hospital type gowns, hair nets and blue shoe covers....I hope the photos come out because we do look a lovely lot!!
David and Mark explained to us the business of tissue culture with plants and thier successful exporting of ornamental flowers and the like to overseas consumers. It was a fascinating business...sorry no phones or cameras were allowed so there wont be any photos posted of their internal workings. They operate in a sterile environment and essentially propagate plants to the stage where sunlight and nature can do the rest.
Tonight we head off shortly to our host Club the Rotary Club of Takapuna North where we will do a presentation.

Every now and again you come across a Rotary project that stands out as exceptional. Today we visited the YES ability achievement Centre where we shown a 3 level modern building which cost some $4.1 million to construct. The complex houses The Yes ability achievement Centre along with a dozen or so other tenants who are in the main in allied fields....such as epilepsy, mobile dog training for assistance to the visibly impaired, alcohol and drug rehab centre and so on. Rotary provided the vision and a fair slice of the funds with added monies raised from generous Corporate and individual benefactors.
The partnership with the Disability folk and Rotary is run within the ambit of a Trust deed and the ongoing success of this venture is a testament to the vision and dedication of all involved.
In a nutshell they provide community based resources and services to disabled persons within a one stop complex.
Truly inspirational and something that Paul Harris would have been proud of.

Today we were off early to travel by boat to Rangitoto Island which is a stately landmark in the middle of Auckland harbour. The trip by boat...one a large cat and the other a launch was well received by all including Rogen who donned a life jacket just in case he fell overboard. We had lunch in Islington harbour then commenced the 3 hour trek to the summit and then down to Mackenzie beach.
The views from the summit were absolutely breathtaking.
We all had a great day and it was sad to leave the island and return on dusk to our boats berth at Bridgewater.
We will all sleep well tonight as a result of todays activities.

Well yesterday was a mixed day for the team as they spent time with their hosts and visited junior rugby games, shopping centres and of course I went sailing on a wet windy day with 11deg temperatures in a race on Auckland Harbour.
All in all the team enjoyed themselves in preparation for the big day ahead

Yesterday and a quiet day for the team as we moved to our new hosts. Spent most of the day settling in ,watching tv including the Hurricanes whitewash of the Blues and just catching up on things we havent been able to do.
Today its overcast, cold and raining so ideal for sailing which I'm about to do in a few minutes.

Hi Team,

It was a pleasure to have time with each of you during your brief time in our lovely East Coast Bays. Over the past 36years of Rotary our Club has been priveleged to have hosted many GSE teams and each one of you can be proud of your particular visit to D9910. I trust that you each return to your respective homes with good memories of your experiences and find these of value in your lives ahead.

With kindest regards,

Glen & Anne Buckley

Our last day as guests of the Rotary Club of East Coast Bays and what a day it was.
Firstly it was off to the North Shore City Council where Beverley Rogers met us and then introduced us to the personnel who would give us an overview of local government in New Zealand. Steve Goeldner who is a specialist in Planning gave us a great insight into the methodology of how they approach the many aspects of planning and then Marie Bradley who had also been our guide for the previous day talked about the environment and how Council approach the various arms of environment planning and control.
We then had morning tea with the Councillors and after a quick photo session we were surprised by the Deputy Mayor who presented the team with silk ties and scarfes. Tania and Brian went off to have an interesting discussion with Rob Pitney about the upcoming merger of Councils and the effect that it is having on marketing and communications planning whilst Rogen and Kelly enjoyed a briefing session with Francois Schoeman who is Council's Human Resources Group Manager.
We left the Council very impressed with their attitude towards ratepayers and their respective roles and duties.
Off to lunch then we headed to North Shore Hospital to meet Jane Hunter who is the executive Director of the Hospital Foundation. Jane is also a Rotarian. She took us on a guided tour including a short video of the hospitals funding arrangements. We managed to see every aspect of a hospital from the emergency area to the outpatients area and even the birthing area was on the agenda. Jane is an inspirational lady with an unmatched internal strength that keeps her going against the odds.
We all left with a very high opinion of the work that Jane has done in conjunction with Rotary and various other fundraising bodies.
Tomorrow sadly is the day we leave our wonderful hosts, and Coordinator Bob Baird who have made our stay with the East Coast Bays a memorable one.
From all the team our thanks for your kindness, fellowship and generosity.

Hi everyone,

Thank
you for coming to my classroom. It was fabulous to have high achieving
people, from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities, willing to
share their cultures and thoughts with the 12 year old students of Room
5.

Your visit led to several discussions about diversity, culture and understanding.

I am sorry I couldn't make your evening presentation to Rotary but my Master's degree assignment was due. A teacher with homework to do!

I hope you enjoyed your trip.

Yours,
Stephen Kendall-Jones, Teacher, Murrays Bay Intermediate School.

P.S. I tried to add this as a comment to your blogspot but didn't have an account.

Today is Wednesday 29th April and we have now passed the halfway mark of our GSE experience.
An early departure this morning to drive to Gulf harbour so we could catch the ferry to Tiritiri Matangi Island. This is an open sanctuary and provides an opportunity for visitors to see some of the rarest birds in the world plus a few additional species of lizards.
Some 280,000 trees have been planted on this sanctuary by some thousands of volunteers. Our guide was Marie who was one of the GSE outward bound team members to India. The team had a great day and returned late in the afternoon to prepare for a Rotary meeting at Birkinhead.
Birkinhead is a friendly Club with a great view of the Auckland city. Off hone by 8pm...another busy day awaits