President's Desk 15-07-13

From the President's Desk

Good evening Fellow Rotarians, e-club Members, friends and all,

At last we have heard from our roving group who are supposed to be checking things out for the Red Centre Safare in 2014.  We don't know why but Lynn and Heather have ended up at a lime production mine site In Arnhem Land as co-drivers in a road train and working a big caterpillar lifting 6.5 tonnes of rock onto crushers.  We hope this doesn't mean they have 'enhanced' our trip further.

Anyway, just to let you into a few more secrets our Red Centre trip is now working on as inclusions on the Safare:

-          1 night having a spit roast dinner at a remote Roadhouse

-          2 nights at the Flinders Rangers so people can explore this region and walk into Wilpena Pound

-          A 'Town Party' put on by the Shire Council at Coober Pedy for the town's population and us

-          A Mayoral Reception at Alice Springs complete with indigenous band welcoming us to country

-          An additional day in Alice Springs for sightseeing with a tour of the MacDonnell Ranges included

And believe it or not, they have organised the 'Rotary e-Club Camel Races & Bush Dance Spectacular' at Ayres Rock running from 111am until late with Calcutta proceeds, meal and drink profits being distributed to Alice Springs RFDS and Qld RFDS. 

All this and the group have maintained the overall cost of the Safare at the same price.

And if that is not enough, how about the Alice Springs Rotary Clubs attending Birdsville Races with possibly 4 boats racing down the main street of Birdsville as a promotion for the Henley on Todd. This s also being worked on as you read this

The group are now at Katherine and will be heading into Kakadu on Monday and Darwin later in the week to survey a future Safare.  They will return on Saturday to the main Safare route heading to Mount Isa to meet the Royal Flying Doctor to check out the homes needing refurbishment, the groups supporting our Safare and then onto Birdsville to check out the lay of the land.

Full details will be provided when they finally get home but it looks like 'holidayitis' has hit Ian and Chris and reports are as remote as the area they are in.  With luck we will have them at the Forum tomorrow night from Kakadu National Park.

Mary will also be thrilled as there are at least 12 guest speakers, ranging from local identities to Mayors and RFDS General Managers willing to come online to talk about their region and activities.

We are now up to speed with the travels of our Safare pioneers. This trip by Ian and Heather, Chris and Lyn has certainly lifted the quality of next year's Safare by adding several very interesting events to the itinerary.

Tonight's Guest Speaker is Gisela Hartke who actually is based in Lismore, which is in Rotary District 9640. Gisela represents RED Inc, which stands for Realising Every Dream Incorporated. How did you feel after last week's Guest Speakers effort? It feels great to see what fellow Australians can achieve with projects that can be utilised worldwide. We really must congratulate Lisa and Tony Clarke on this amazing achievement.

We have the Seniors Forum with Stuart Robert on Wednesday 24th July, commencing at 9am. It would be good to have a few members in attendance. Don't forget the Bunnings Sausage day on SUNDAY 28th July at 8am at Bunnings Labrador; we do need helpers on the day.

Also we have the Lunch BBQ at The Spit on Sunday 4th August at 12.01pm.   We need numbers and helpers for this too.   Membership fees are due and payable, accounts will be going out very soon, as we have almost got our software sorted.  

May be we will be having a club forum next week, Tuesday at 8pm but to have a good club forum we need members on line, so please swell the numbers and dial in.

Wishing everyone a great week, I know mine will be busy, hope yours is too.

Best wishes

Geoff

President@rotaryeclubnextgen.org