Rotary Relations, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Splendid Fauna of Australia

What a busy week in review. Monday night we all met the Group Study Exchange Team from Brazil, including Ronnie, Ernesto, Ivana, Luisa, and Tatiana, and all week I've been having loads of fun doing things with them. Friday night was the opening of District 9550's Convention here in Townsville. On of the best things I saw this weekend among the plethora of goodwill programs that Rotary spearheads was ROMAC, a program that brings kids needing medical treatment to Australia for surgery (kinda similar to what Shriner's does). We met a lively little Huong from Vietnam whose left leg was congealed together from a fire accident when he was a kid. He was a marvelous youngster, who wasn't shy at all despite the hoards of Rotarians (didn't speak English, either). See more about ROMAC here: http://www.romac.org.au/index.shtml

Anyway, Friday night, I met the mayor of Townsville, Tony, and spoke with him about cyclones, hurricanes, and disaster managment (which someone said is needed to be mayor of Townsville!!?). He was very interested in knowing if Ray Nagin would be burned at stake:

Sunday night, at the close of convention, we all went over to the District Govenor's Dinner. Here is Luisa and me :
Here are the GSE girls and Wally (quite happy as you can see):
Again, the girls being popular, with Fred and Sgt. Ray:
Oh, here is the district govenor, Peter Kaye, congratulating Fred (incoming president) for having the most members of any club (Mundingburra) attend conference:
I had some problems with stuff getting caught on my face during the evening:
Shift gears--Wednesday nights one can go sailing for free if you hop over to one of the local sailing marinas and put your name on the list. I went out with Russel on his boat, Supermac:
First time I've been sailing besides the time we raised $18,000 with Rotaract in Vienna:
It was a nice sunset:
Shift gears: Thursday morning I went with the GSE Team, Ken, and Wayne to the Great Barrier Reef on a snorkeling tour:
It was a 2.5 hour ride to the reef:
Everyone was sick except Luisa and me. Here is Ernesto, a urologist, about to throw up:
Ivana was not sick, either, at the beginning:

We picked up some passengers at Magnetic Island:
And here is Wheeler's Reef. You can't go on the sand because that is where turtles lay their eggs. I saw a huge moray eel and one shark, but no turtles!
Here are some snorkelers:
It was a nice trip with the GSE team, but next time I will go from Cairns so that the ride to the reef is not so long (it was 5 hours to get there and back, and only 1.25 hours snorkeling!). Here is a tanker we passed coming in:
Land Ho!
Castle Rock!
Shift gears: Friday morning I was picked up by Carol (Trevor's wife) and her mother along with the GSE Team and taken to the Billabong Sanctuary near town:
The animals were great! I was impressed. It was a lovely day. Here is Charlie (a professional hockey player) posing with the girls:
Now sit down for the show! Not here, that seat is taken: First on: the wombat:The GSE Team and Mr. Wombat:Watching was Mr. Cockatoo (native):Wow, he was surprised to see me:Or maybe he saw the lizard near my feet:Okay, then I was off to look for the illusive Koala. There he is!:We learned that they are very stupid. Their brain space is the size of a small mellon, but their brain is the size of a peanut (much like rednecks). They love to sleep:Wait! This one's awake. Have your photo taken with him for $10. Or just say it's overrated.Now onto my favourite, the kangaroos:Yeah, we're cool:So are the wallabies:Here is another Blue-winged Kookaburra:Wow, above our heads are loads of Bats--flying foxes:Closer:CLOSER:They even have some ibises:And here is a Curlew, at night it makes a shrilling noise like a banchie or dying human:Mr. Monitor Lizard:Luisa and some small animal (bandicot?):Oh No! She was very close to being eaten by this giant crocodile. Good thing I was there to save her!Don't see these at the Laccasine Refuge:Here's the less-dangerous fresh-water variety:Here is Mr. Emu, with toupe:And Mr. Wedge-tailed eagle:And Mr. Kangaroo: Doing exercises for me:Wow, he's a tall bloke:Ah, that little girl is being attacked by a snake (pronounced "snike"):Wait, so are Ivana and Luisa!And Tatiana: And me! Were all going to die!Luckily, we actually survived.
THE END!