You have to eat and Rotarians also eat, so look for them everywhere.
We have been to Rotary on the Gold Coast, Taree (pictured), Numurkah, Shepparton, Eaglehawk, Castlemaine, Ballarat South and West, Warrnambool, Mount Gambier, Bordertown, Smithton, Launceston, Devonport, Scottsdale in Tasmania and two in Perth. We have also been in some exotic locations: Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand, Ubud in Bali, Beijing and Shanghai and Warsaw.
We have had breakfasts, lunches and dinners and been entertained as well. One Rotary club held the final of their youth public speaking, another had a guest speaker with a disability who performs on his custom guitar and was about to go to the USA with his carer and friends. We have learnt about fencing, not the post and wire type, how a club raises an awesome amount of money to help more than 350 children with heart disease. The Ubud club has only a few members, but when projects are due, an influx of Rotarians from Brisbane and California arrive to help. In NZ the Auckland club held a party for us (it was their birthday) and their guest speaker was past PM David Lange at his last public appearance!
On Rotary Friendship Exchanges at Rotary meetings we learnt that some clubs meet in Castles; it is good to put cracked pepper on fresh strawberries; that clean water and education projects are part of most Rotary clubs in India and that in the USA, some clubs do not have fines, but give Happy Dollars for good things which have happened to themselves or other Rotarians or friends. Those were all very happy, positive meetings,
A little bit of history, in Perth one club did not want women members, so decided they would start a breakfast club for women. Now this club, called Hollywood, is a very hardworking club. At the time of our visit they had three male members and had raised vast amounts of money for all their projects with which they make a difference. (I have since heard that it has folded!)
All these visits have enriched us and we have spread the word of Maryborough Rotary doings over the past 18 years. Thea and Terry Allan