FRIENDSHIP EXCHANGE PROGRAM

The Rotary Friendship Exchange program is an activity of Rotary International that gives Rotarians and their families the opportunity to host and visit Rotarians around the world.   

 

 

 

In September 2017 a team of nine from D9700 had a great Rotary Friendship Exchange to D5020 – covering Vancouver Island in Canada and The Pacific Northwest USA.

 

The group comprised Geoff Beecher (team leader) and Mary-Anne Lattimore (Leeton), Val Samuelson (Wagga Wagga), Brian and Ann Murphy (Young), Peter and Helen Byrne, and Keith and Ro Sheardown (all from Orange).

 

The exchange began in Vancouver BC Canada, where we travelled on the Tsawassen ferry to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. During the first week we were hosted at three locations on the island by Rotary clubs from Comox (Strathcona Sunrise, Comox and Courtenay), Parksville and Qualicom Beach, and Sooke. We were wined, dined and entertained brilliantly in restaurants, clubs and Rotarians homes, in an interesting itinerary coordinated by Neil Flynn from Sooke.

 

We met some wonderful people and saw some great projects that the Vancouver Island Rotary Clubs have been involved with, including wharves, playgrounds, a skate park, nature conservation projects and a school garden. Highlights included visits to Mt Washington in Strathcona National Park, 40 Knots Winery, the Deep Bay Marine Research Station, North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre, First Peoples culture, a yacht cruise, the magnificent Butchart gardens, whale watching in the Juan de Fuca Strait and a tour of the beautiful city of Victoria, the Capital of BC Province. We also enjoyed some lovely social evenings at the Qualicom Beach Club and the homes of our hosts.

 

From Sooke, the Coho ferry took us to Port Angeles in Washington State USA for our second week of the RFE. We were hosted by the Sequim Sunrise, Olympia West, Longview, Longview Early Edition and Gig Harbour Midday Clubs. The Sequim Sunrise Club took us to the historic town of Port Townsend, provided a brilliant BBQ by Master Chef Brian Garret, and showed us their Rotary Foodbank Project, before driving us to the Washington State Capital, Olympia. 

 

We were privileged to be taken on a tour of the majestic State Capitol building by the West Olympia Club who also hosted us for lunch and provided a wonderful walking tour of the city. The Longview and Longview early edition clubs took us on a tour of the Columbia River and Port of Longview, the Cowlitz Museum, a small winery, and provided tours to Astoria Oregon and to Mt Rainier WA. Our final hosts at Gig Harbor provided an historical walking tour, a distillery, a yacht/boat cruise and wonderful luncheon at President Marilyn Hoppen’s house. The group left Gig Harbour by bus or in one case, on a ferry to Seattle with their hosts.

 

We found our hosts to be extremely generous and friendly, and enjoyed seeing the places and meeting the locals that you don’t normally do as a regular tourist. It was also great to meet other club members, many of whom had visited or worked in Australia. We also found that wearing our Rotary jackets prompted several people to speak to us spontaneously about what a great organisation they thought Rotary was.

 

Our sincere thanks go to D5020 for an extremely well-coordinated and interesting tour and for the generosity of our host clubs and families. We now have many new friends both in Canada, the USA, and from D9700.

 

We look forward to hosting a reciprocal team from D5020 in November 2017.