Michael 31 Aug 09

Been of line for past 3 days I was fortunate to be hosted by Dick and he has a cabin out of town, it has no computer or TV very peaceful. so what has happened, Sunday we went to Princeton Hot Springs in the morning only 15 min. walk from the cabin, Angela and Emma arrived a bit later in the morning with Dick. Mandy was out with Kym the DOW officer till about 12noon. After lunch Mandy had arranged to go out again with Kym to release two young Coyotes back into the wild and invited all of us to go and see the release so I went the others stayed in the pools. It was fun to see the young Coyotes taste freedom and to fine their way around the wide open spaces, we took Mandy home and Kym and I went out to check on hunters, as hunting season with bows had open on Saturday, while out we got a call from a member of the community that a deer was injured and required Kym's assistance on the way to the seen we came across a large black bear, what a magnificent animal and to see it in it's natural environment was special the deer's out come was not so good unfortunately. Monday saw us have a quiet morning and a presentation to the Salida Rotary Club at lunch time before a 4hr road trip to Durango. The trip took us up over Wolf Creek Pass about 10,000ft. with magnificent views of both sides of the Great Divide. In Durando we meet our host at a hotel in the main street, two actors reenacted an old shoot out in the street very entertaining and a good introduction to this very old town.

Mandy's experience on Friday/ Saturday

As Angela and Emma have already detailed we arrived in Salida on Friday. On being greeted by out hosts we were all then off to our respective vocational activities. I was off to the Buena Vista Prison, which may seems like an unlikely place for me to go - but in fact was a very good experience. Whilst at the prison I spent time going through Intelligence within the Prison systems, focusing on gangs and the systems for sharing information. Unlike Australia prisons in Colorado have their own Department of Corrections Investigators who investigate any offence which impacts on the prison systems eg corruption of any public officers providing information to inmates, assaults, threats and criminal or internal matters they investigate and forward the file to respectively to either the District Attorneys or Management. The actual systems in the prison are similar to that of what I have experienced at home - it is simply the databases and sharing of information which is very different. Whilst at the prison I also got to have a tour - not what I had expected to do and so as I am walking past many convicted men in my slightly heeled shoes (clip clopping down the corridors) of whom I had just seen the list of paper which had their gang listings, thinking "hmmm is their enough guards here if something goes wrong? And - I wished I had wore flat shoes." Anyway nothing remotely scary happened and I was fine. I ended my tour by calling into the programs area of the prison and got to hear about schooling and educational activities that are offered to the prisoners. In the prison I visited there were about 1500 prisoners and it was a medium facility. Department of Corrections employees are State employed and so this was one of the first areas I have visited which means the employees can move around from city to city or town to town without leaving their agency and starting from scratch.
Friday night we were part of the Celebrity Fly-fishing charity event which the Rotary Clubs of Salida and Buena Vista were involved in organizing. It was a good night - where Angela ended up with many cigars - which were part of the packs we were given. We left the event just before it ended and were able to visit a local pub with my host Ernie and watch the Rockies were play San Fransisco
I also got to experience a roadside caution for a traffic matter on the way to the prison which was kind of funny to watch.
Saturday we went to quiet a few place today - including Independence Pass, Leadville, Turquoise lake. We were pretty tired at the end of the day from traveling around but we ended the day with attending a Double Haul Cookout. Tomorrow I have a early start as an additional vocation visit with the Department of Wildlife. I will be starting at 5.30 AM (eeccckkkkk - but it should be good.) I will catch up with everyone else later in the day for some hot spring relaxation.

Stop the press!

Emma says: While the New York Times hasn't come calling just yet, the team is creating quite a media frenzy wherever we travel in Colorado.

Our first brush with celebrity occurred in the small town of Rocky Ford where we made the front page of the Rocky Ford Gazette. We have since been interviewed by staff from the Canon City Daily Record, the Florence Citizen, and the Mountain Mail - with all GSE feature editions due to hit newstands next week!

I was also fortunate enough to have my own brush with media super stardom via Canon City's own KLRN radio station (apparently it has a rather large following from the inmates at the 7 prisons surrounding the town!). I made a brief but I would suggest memorable appearance on the morning talk show which featured the local County Commissioners (a group of elected officials charged with administering the county government in some states of the US).

Over the next couple of weeks our GSE tour will take us further into the mountains and closer to those areas frequented by the rich and famous, such as Aspen, Telluride and Durango. With our new-found celebrity status I think we will fit right in!...

Moving On

We headed west this morning to a beautiful little town called Salida, on arrival I was pleasantly informed that I will be sharing my host family with Emma.
We had one hour to unpack and get ready for our vocation day, I was excited to be in Salida as I was very interested in a shop called “THE MIXING BOWL”. Katy & Bob Grether (owners) have a young daughter with a disability; they opened this wonderful shop that sells kitchen ware so their daughter could have employment, this has been so successful that they now have a partnership with Starpoint and employ 12 people with a disability, of course I could not leave the shop without purchasing something and walked out with a great gift for my employees back home.
Starpoint also has a lot of history, I meet with Bill Davis, he has worked at Starpoint for twenty five years. Starpoint used to have a workshop but in 1988 closed this section down and started to integrate the consumers into the community, the community has been of great support. Everybody that I meet today had such a positive approach it was quiet refreshing.
For lunch my new host family treated me to a lunch at the Boat House this is right on the Arkansas River, it is a popular spot, when the river is high enough you can watch water rafting and kayaks whilst having a beer or two.
Tonight the team will be assisting the Salida Rotary club with their annual fundraiser. I am hoping it will not be all work and no play.

Highest highs, lowest lows...

Emma says: Today was clearly designed by someone determined to cure me of my desperate fear of heights! But overall a great day out in Canon City. We started out with a tour of the Holcim Cement Plant on the outskirts of a nearby town called Florence - who would have thought there was so much to know about cement! You wouldn't think this would cause too much distress for someone like myself but the tour was completed with a trip in an open air (and very jolty) elevator to the top of the highest tower in the plant, 340 feet or 100 metres above the ground. It was ridiculously scary but from the top you can see all the way to Kansas, or so I was told - I wasn't game to look!

Lunch was at the newly formed Rotary Club in Florence where we received yet another warm reception from the members (and another good feed!).

In the afternoon we were taken for a quick drive around a couple of the many prisons in the area before we headed up to the Royal Gorge Bridge for one of the highlights of our trip so far. The word spectacular does little to describe this beautifully breaktaking area. The brochure describes it as "the Grand Canyon meets the Golden Gate Bridge" - this may give you some idea of what we were witness too.

First stage of the afternoon involved crossing the 1,100 feet (340 metre) canyon in an aerial tram (much like the cable cars in Switzerland). Absolutely breath-taking views across the mountains and down to the Arkansas River below (once again, so I'm told!). On the other side Angela and Michael showed their bravery by taking a ride on the SkyCoaster. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it except to say they were harnessed in like you would be if hang-gliding, but attached to a long cable attached to a tower above. They were then released from a free-fall tower to swing at 80kph over the gorge (yep, 350 metres above the ground). Kudos to you both - you are much braver than I!

Speaking of bravery, after conquering the cable car, it was now time to cross the Royal Gorge Bridge itself. This was something that terrified me - mainly because the bridge was made of wooden sleepers (like a jetty) that allowed you to see through the gaps between them to the 350 metre drop below... I tiptoed gently across the half kilometre bridge like the slightest move would cause the bridge to crumble (a distinct possibility given how much Ive eaten on this trip!) but probably a little pointless given the bridge also hosted cars and they regularly rattled past us - much to my displeasure!

Finally we took the Incline Railway (like a funicular) down to the bottom of the canyon to see the Arkansas River close up. After the trauma of the day, this was much less taxing and I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Dinner tonight at a beautifully located private cabin on the very edge of the Gorge before stopping for a few well deserved drinks on the way home.

A special thanks to my fabulous hosts Pat and Elizabeth who gave Angela and I the grand tour today and who have been like a family away from home over the past couple of days!

Michael : 26th August 2009

Today Started with my first visit to a fire station, after the usual paper work got down to meeting the crew on shift. It happened to be a training day for Hazmat, so sat in on a classroom discussion for about 1.30hrs before the first job a young boy caught up a tree about 10mts up on a 50ml branch. successful outcome lunch at Canon City Rotary Club for our presentation then Bach to the station and a long and interesting talk about the differences between our two services. Later went on a call to for SOB job interesting to be on a rescue truck and have firemen actively treating the patient give drugs and then hand over to a ambulance crew for transport. Mandy spent the day at PD in Canon City had a informative time visiting most of the departments, Ang and Emma had time with their host in the afternoon and vocational time in the morning. This evening we went to Pat and Elizabeth's for Tea that a great night and Angela made Cowboys for all the hosts and visitors most have not seen or heard of Cowboys it made for a very enjoyable evening. Angela has been wanting to see bears, and every body saying they come out at night and raid the rubbish bins, so she has a cunning plan to hide out in the bins until they come out, just to make shore it will work she try ed the bins to see if she can fit, very funny to see her looking out of a bin.

Mandy : Tuesday 25th August.

Well today after spending a wonderful few days in Pueblo we woke up this morning all sad to leave our hosts and our respective team members’ hosts. It truly had been a wonderful couple of days doing things in our vocations as well as other things like kayaking, sailing, hiking, watching football practice, getting some great ideas from visiting the health care green certified building, and of course shopping. I had a fantastic visit and then tour of the Pueblo Police Department (current and future stations). Outstanding facilities are not to far away for them to enjoy. It was great walking through the building during construction with my hard hat and vest.
Anyway enough of the past, and onto what happened today after the farewells. Today we arrived in Canon City. Some facts for those of you who are not familiar with Canon City (as I have been told today – so if I am wrong I will pass on the comments to my advisor)
- Around the 1860 mining started in the area and around 1890 it became bigger with the discovery of gold
- In the district there are around 46, 000 people but that includes 9,000 prisoners
- In the City the population is around 20,000.
- I think there are currently 13 prisons operating in this area (a mixture of federal and state prisons.) The reason I say I think is I have been told conflicting numbers today by different people.
- There is a mountain that people say is an Indian princess (lying down) who was killed in retaliation.
- There are many dinosaur fossils collected from this area (I was fortunate enough to see some footprints today at Skyline drive.)
Today I went for a couple drives around the district (thank you to both drivers) I saw some amazing sites of the mountains, farming, wildlife (well at least one deer – thousands of those vermin called squirrels – but no mountain lions, bears or lynx - my fingers are still crossed that we will see these creatures.)
Following the drive we were treated to wine tasting at Abbey Winery (great place for all you locals and visitors to call into – some very nice wines there for you to pick up for yourself), so thanks to Canon City Rotary club for organizing this we really enjoyed the wine, food and hospitality.
I then parted company with my colleagues and went and spent several hours with some police officers and had a truly great time with them. I am very much looking forward to going back there tomorrow to spend more time with them. I am being hosted at the moment by the Chief of Police who has an extreme wealth of experience and knowledge so when I get any chance of free time we have been talking about career advice and tips – so you can imagine how pleased I am to be in Canon City.
PS – I have seen the first clothes line in USA, I thought no-one over here had them because everyone seems to have dryers - great surprise I was very excited to see it that I in fact had to take a picture of it. We have also only seen 1 dual flush toilet in the USA so that had to have photo taken of it also. I won’t see a water tank because we are told it is illegal to catch the water.

PPS -The dentists in Canon City are reported very nice and cheaper than Australia - as Angela discovered after spending some time in their office today... she can fill in on all the details (infection, and tooth can't be removed when there is an infection apparently).
(Well that fact session is over for today.)
Cheers Mandy

Enviromental Day

By Ang:Today was a vocation day, I was fortunate to visit Pueblo Diversified Industries were I met with the CEO Karen Little, Karen and I had a great conversation, I was also able to view the documentation process of the organisation, things were very similar apart from a few funding differences.
The afternoon was set aside for tours of the City County Health Department, this building has just been open and they have designed as environmental and user friendly as possible, it was great to see a large use of recycled products.
The next stop was Colorado State University, this is also a similar building and they have also installed 7,000 solar panels out the back of the campus that supports 10% of the university. All these buildings are able to get LEED certification; this allows them to get cheaper taxes and is a positive step for the environment, we all enjoyed the opportunity to watch a team practice American football.
As we headed home Holly my host was excited to see a new fridge and was relieved she no longer had to buy ice.
Holly has been a pleasure to stay with and has gone out of her way to accommodate the team with a experience of a life time.
Holly made arrangements for me to spend the evening with Emma and her host Jerry, we were treated to a lovely dinner at a Italian restaurant, my choice was not the best pick but “we live and learn” after dinner Jerry took us to a Irish bar and gave us good advice on how to make our first million, and it doesn’t come from the lottery.
Tomorrow we will be heading into Canon City and meeting with new people and experiences, there is still a long journey ahead of us and many more experiences to come.

"Rest" Day

Emma says: Our first scheduled rest day today and we unanimously decided we needed to get out and stretch our legs. We were also keen to burn off some of the many calories we have been ingesting - no danger of going hungry on this trip! Thankfully Holly, with some help from Pam and Lou, was brilliant enough to organise kayaking on the local reservoir this morning followed by a hike in the mountains this afternoon.

The Pueblo Reservoir is huge with a surface area of 4,646 acres, and judging by the number of people and boats there today it is clearly a popular recreational spot. However given it is a Sunday and the temperature soared above 100F, this is probably unsurprising!


We had a fabulous morning kayaking, swimming and sailing on Jeff's little boat, while enjoying some R&R and taking in the amazing views.

After working out our arms in the kayaks, we headed for lunch at Do Duck Inn - famous for pizza but we all opted for salads! Then it was time to head to the mountains to give our legs and lungs a work out.

The area we hiked in was where Holly grew up so we were lucky to have a local guide. The scenery was spectacular and I think we all appreciated the chance to get out and work up a sweat (did I mention it was over 100F today?). I think we are even starting to adjust to the altitude!

Back to 'work' tomorrow with our Pueblo vocational visits and then the GSE train rolls on to Canon City before we start the climb into the mountains . I can't believe that we're only a week in and just how much we've packed in already - and we've still got a month to go!

Michael: Saturday the 22nd August

I am finally on the blog Yee har. Today Sat 22 we arrived in Pueblo our stay in Rocky Ford was fantastic RJ and Laura were very good hosts, Had some very interesting discussion about the state for the world. The ambulance Service in Rocky was informative and for a very small community very progressive and able to preform more procedures than our Ambulance Service. It runs with both volunteers and professional paramedics. All in all the ambulance services are very similar to ours same pt. same medical requirements just 18 hrs. away from my home. While in Rocky went to Vogal Canyon to see Petrographs very disappointing due to the vandals damaging what was very old Indian rock carvings. After the walk out to the canyon we went to Steve Berg's home for a swim all the team were looking for a cool off as temp got up to 37 degs. (100 f) its nice after winter at home. Now Pueblo is a very progressive city, fantastic city center redevelopment of river environments and old buildings, have not seen it all yet, went shopping for T shirts and found "life is good" shop and brought 3 shirts and a cap. trend setter me. tomorrow we will go canoeing on a lake in the morning and hikeing after lunch. Tonight we went to Jack and Donna Seilheimer's home for Mexican and we were able to pick up and play with a bull snake everybody had a go, also had chocolate covered chilles did not get to eat them all to hot I think.

Mandy : Thursday the 20th August.

Today we have visited Bent’s Old Fort Living Museum, Koshare Indian Museum, a pool party and presented at the Joint Club Dinner (Rocky Ford and La Junta) Thanks to Steve and Mary for driving us to these locations. It was extremely interesting to see and hear the history of the Bent’s Trading Fort that for a long time sat on the boarder of USA and Mexico.

The paintings, artifacts and clothing in the Koshare Indian Museum were just as good, and really no words could do them justice.
I think everyone enjoyed getting into the pool after lunch and we certainly wound down for a couple hours (some more than others!!!!!!).
A highlight for the day had to be eating Mountain Oysters at lunch. Let us just say a bull is not happy when this is served on a plate!
Although not a vocational day today, I have had many conversations tonight with people about policing and Intelligence. Topics were what I do, how our firearms laws work, impounding vehicles, robberies, etc. A Rotary member on my table (Rachel) mum was a police officer also so we discussed rosters, females in policing, etc.

Mandy : Wednesday the 19th August

I started the day with a sleep-in, YEAHHHHHH. I had the great fortune to spend the morning with Judge Steve Pelican. A judge in Colorado Springs for over 20 years. We got to spend the morning discussing the different courts, some of his cases and other matters relevant to law. I was also fortunate enough to visit the USA Olympic headquarters and training centre. During the tour we continued to discuss legal matters and at the same time look at the different training facilitates for the different sports. Our tour guide was a past female weightlifter – but I can’t remember her name.
After lunch and our Rotary presentation we hit the road traveling East from Colorado Springs to Rocky Ford. This trip took us a couple hours. When we arrived in Rocky Ford it was a much hotter temperature than that of Colorado Springs. In Rocky Ford we were meet by J.R who was lovely and was early in informing us he had host Aussies before and was curious as to which teams we supported in the AFL. He was a CROWS supporter. Rocky Ford is a town probably of around 2 thousand people. When we had a quick walk around it appeared as if a lot of businesses had closed down and had been closed for a while. Its size reminded me of the town of Wudina, on the West Coast of South Australia, but it did not appear to have the same agricultural businesses within the town. However I have not spent more than 30 minutes walking around the town, so my authority and description of Rocky Ford is VERY limited. After being collected by my host - Steve, who happen to be the District Governor, Angela and I were on the way to La Junta (you pronounce it La Hunta). La Junta is not far from Rocky Ford (maybe 15-20 minute drive, but has a population of approx 10,000 I am told. On the way we drove past a little town called Swink, and I took extra notice of this town due to the insight Will and Libby had provided us in Denver. (Will and Libby we saw some to the items donated by Don Seamans – it was very cool thanks.)
In La Junta, Steve drove Angela and I around the town and we sure a few of the sights (eg the construction of the new school football oval, the baseball field, the old building in which the post office is now in, the schools and downtown La Junta.) We arrived at his house and meet his lovely wife Mary. Because we were sharing hosts again we resorted to the old faithful way of working out which rooms we would have – by tossing a coin. I again ended up in the basement. (For all those Aussie followers – the basement to-date has been a great place to end up with a room – nothing like our basements.) It was a relatively late night with Steve and Mary, but many interesting conversations took place.

Mandy : Tuesday 18th August

I think others have talked through this day – but in short my day was with a Defence Criminal Investigator (thanks Jamie) and we focused on software used in their systems and OHSW practices. I took a heap of notes on things while I was there and am now frantically trying to find where I put them – HELP Jamie I hope I didn’t leave them there (luckily most of it I put to memory). In the afternoon, despite the inclement weather we had a tour of the U.S Airforce Academy given us to a retired Colonel (thanks to Ed – very interesting tour). Probably the scariest thing was walking up to the extremely impressive church and seeing a sign warning us of tornados!!!! Tornados in Colorado – we were told that never happens!!!! Hmmmmm a bit on wrong advice there I think. Following this tour - Emma, Debi and I had spent the previous night in Denver with Libby, Will, Sam and Chris. What a wonderful city Denver is – definitely somewhere I would love to come back to. Sam had a great apartment we the roof top garden looks out over the city of Denver. WOW. Thanks Debi, Libby, Sam, Will and Chris for a great night out – wonderful location, food, drinks and company. Our return to Colorado Springs was eventful with Shine, the brown Labrador, having found Emma and my chocolate inside our bags she had and a wonderful evening herself eating it all except for the Jalapeño – very funny..

The last three days:

The last three days have been a wonderful experience for the team, we have had some lovely host families that have taken us into to there homes and provided transport and vocational experiences. I have had three vocational days with different companies and they have all been happy to met with me. The funding body over in America is very simular, they are funded by the Federal Goverment but rely heavily on public donation, some areas of concern are the health system they were very interested in the public health system in Australia.

The host of Mandy and Emma's (Debbi) invited Michael & I along to a popular tourist outing called the Fliying W Ranch, this was a country experience were we ate off of metal plate's and were entertained by local musicians. Just to experience the friendly enviroment was a pleasure.

We moved on today to Rocky Ford where we will spend the next three days experiencing the pleasure of new host famlies, cultural & vocational experiences.

Americans love to fiddle (minds out of the gutter - play the fiddle, guitar, double bass)

Mandy : Wow what a terrific day I have had. Our first day of vocational visits started today. Emma and I started the day having breakfast with our WONDERFUL host Debi. We then went our separate ways and I visited the District Attorney’s office - Dan May. I spent time with their criminal investigators and sat in on a raid briefing for a fraud matter before they executed the warrants to search the office area. I then was fortunate enough to spend some time in the DEA office also and set the different phone taps and surveillance that was taking place. I got some time to find out about the liaisons the DEA has with other agencies and how their intelligence and investigations generally work.

Unfortunately my morning vocation visit ended so soon and I was taken by the District Attorney to our first presentation to the East Colorado Rotary Club. I think it went well – we got some good feedback (apparently I make some of them think that I am from Texas!! – I am not sure why that is.) I was fortunate enough to spend time at this meeting speaking with the recipient

My afternoon vocational visit was to the El Paso Country Sheriffs Office. I spent most of my time with an Inspector who showed me software that he has designed to present evidence to court for major cases, he also when through missing persons and cold cases with me. His demonstration of what he pulls together for the cases is fantastic – very lateral thinking – simply to follow and flows really well. I was able to follow through a double murder and suicide and also parts of the Columbine shootings. The Inspector who was with me demonstrates this process and use of software across USA and Canada and has also presented this to the World Women’s Policing conference.

After vocational visits Emma, Debi and I visited Patsy's, which is a sweets store est. in 1903. We then went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (do you sense a theme here!!!) Emma purchased a chocolate coated Jalapeno (I will definitely get pictures of her eating that). We then went and got ourselves some great looking hats (for dinner tonight), and went to a Museum of sculptures of ‘American Spirit’ great pieces of art by Michael GARMEN.

Tonight we have been to the Flying Wagon – how do I explain this. Hmmm well it has Wagons, Tee Pees, Indians, lots of old things to look at. We then here the bell and go in for some traditional Cowboy dinner. We started with BEANS, then beef, hot potatoes, apple sauce, biscuits (like damper/ scones) and a cake – I didn’t eat that so I can’t tell you what it was like but the rest of it was really good. We then had some live entertainment by some cowboys/ ranches (lots of guitars, fiddles, double base and thing something like a banjo. So we say good night again and hope for a great day tomorrow. Thanks to EVERYONE who spent time will me today it was much appreciated and I had a great time and learnt some new things.

Rocky Mountain High

a

Emma says: After arriving in Colorado yesterday we were placed in a lovely hotel for the night to allow us to rest up before the first real day of our GSE trip. Our first stop is in beautiful Colorado Springs, 6,000 feet above sea level and at the base of the Rocky Mountains. We were immediately warned of the dangers of altitude sickness and dehydration, and have been scared into carrying a bottle of water around at all times.
So today was our first real GSE experience. Mandy and I are staying with Debi and Steve, but today they were busy with a family celebration so the lovely Jean took up the position of tour guide.

First stop was the Garden of the Gods, a park with amazing red sandstone and granite formations, all at the base of Pike's Peak - a 14,000 foot mountain. This was our first major photo opp in Colorado and, despite how we look in the photo, there was no danger of us being blown of a cliff!

Next we took a stroll up Seven Falls, and a trek up the beautiful mountainside. Follow by a trip up Cheyenne Canyon. Then Jean took us for lunch where we dined on rattle snake and rabbit quesadillas! Yummo! This was followed by a stop for a taste of the supposedly healthy but foul tasting water from Manitou Springs.

Tonight we had a bit of a meet and greet with some local Rotarians before heading back to our hosts' houses for dinner. Within minutes of arriving at Debi & Steve's I found myself locked in their bathroom. Thankfully I was rescued after a short time and much amusement!

Tonight Mandy and I took a stroll around the streets of Debi's neighbourhood marvelling at how different it all is to Adelaide before Debi cooked us some fabulous tamales (we are eating extremely well on this trip!) and then taking us out for ice cream at an old fashioned ice cream parlour.

Tomorrow we have the first of 3 straight days of presentations and vocational visits. We are all really keen to get stuck into it and are excited by what's in store. If the rest of the trip is anything like today has been, its going to be a blast!

HOLLYWOOD

Angela: I had an amazing day I thought I would never get to go to HOLLYWOOD. I even got a star named in my honour. Well that’s what happens when you’re on a GSE trip. Tomorrow we fly into Colorado and then the real work begins; I am looking forward to meeting our host families and the adventures that lie ahead.
I’m having difficulty with the currency as it all looks like monopoly money and the tipping feels like I’m giving my money away.
I would like to thank our three follower’s Wayne, kookaburra and Peter an hope more people will support us in this fantastic adventure.
Thanks’ Michael, Mandy & Emma for the unforgettable day :

We are here!!!

Mandy says: Well it is Friday the 14th August and we have just woken up ready for our second day in L.A. The first day was rather long after arriving at Adelaide airport a little before 5 am and the flight leaving at 6.15 am for Brisbane. When then arrived in L.A. at 6.45 am ready for the day to start all over again.

Great seats on the plane - but not much sleep was had by anyone I think.

Day one - we when on the Ocean Express Trolley to Manhattan Beach and did a little bit of shopping at the Manhattan Village Shopping Centre, got our phones etc.

Our team leader

Michael, a Paul Harris Fellow award recipient has been a member of the Rotary Club of Berri since 1995, and July 2009 sees him become President for the fourth time.

Beginning his career as a Newspaper Compositor and progressing to qualified Cinematographer, many years of volunteer work as an Ambulance Officer finally led Michael in 1990 to complete a Diploma in Ambulance Studies, which has seen him living and working as a fulltime Paramedic in Berri for the past 20 years. A long history of participation with other Emergency Services (Fire & Rescue) saw Michael receive the National Emergency Service Medal for 35 years continuous service to his Riverland Community. In his spare time he also maintains a 12 year involvement as Team Leader and Trainer with Operation Flinders, an organization dealing with ‘kids at risk’.

Michael is married to Vesna, and in April they celebrated their 20^th wedding anniversary.

A hockey player for over 40 years and keen mountain biker, he trains weekly at the local gym. Other interests include bush walking, hiking, travelling, 4WD outback touring, through to country music and cray fishing. Michael is also a practising remedial and sports massage therapist.

His commitment to the Riverland Community saw him awarded the accolade of 2008 Riverland & Mallee Citizen of the Year and also Australia Day Citizen of Year for Berri Barmera Council 2009.

Mandy grew up on the West Coast in South Australia. Her family farm is, approximately 30,000 acres in size. Her parents predominately run sheep on the farm, but also cereal crops. Mandy’s spent the first part of her life attending school in small country schools.

At 14yrs, Mandy went to boarding school in Adelaide. After completing her final year, she deferred University studies, and was an exchange student in Borneo for a year. On returning to Adelaide she completed a BA (International Studies) and a Postgraduate Diploma (Communications). Whilst studying Mandy followed her younger brothers footsteps also began her career.

Mandy is married and has two daughters. She has travelled through a lot of South Australia with her parents and brother. As an exchange student she travelled through Malaysia (East and West), Thailand and Singapore, and with her husband through parts of Europe, Malaysia, and China.

Mandy loves spending time with her family outdoors, whether it is at the beach, bush, outback, wine regions, etc.

Our team

Emma spent her childhood in the beautiful Adelaide Hills, a short drive from Adelaide. With both parents and most of her family involved in the real estate industry, she was determined to stay out of the family business industry, instead of studying a Bachelor of Management at University, before working in a variety of positions in industries ranging from travel to telecommunications.

In 2002 Emma gained a position at the Adelaide City Council and after exposure to a vibrant property market she was forced to accept that like her parents, her career was destined to be in the real estate industry. She returned to University to study Property Valuation and soon after gained a position in Council’s valuation section.

Along with her interest in property, Emma also inherited a love of travel and adventure. She had spent time living and working in Edinburgh and Cardiff in the UK, and has travelled extensively trough Europe, Russia and Asia.

She is currently further pursuing her interest in property and city design through a Master of Urban and Regional Planning. When not studying or planning her next overseas adventure, Emma enjoys keeping fit through running and riding, walking her pet Aussie Bulldog Patsy, relaxing with friends or family over a glass of wine, and decorating her home.

Our Team

Angela is 39 years old and currently resides in Berri which is in the Riverland area of South Australia. Angela is fortunate to live on a houseboat where she is able to appreciate the majestic River Murray, with its beautiful wild life and eco system.

Angela is employed with Orana Incorporated as Manager of a Business Service, were 40 people with a disability are employed to develop and train in social and work skills. Orana Incorporated assists over 500 people with disabilities and their families throughout South Australia.

Starting her career in disabilities 10 years ago she feels it is important to uphold the rights of people with a disability, empowering and ensuring they have a valued status within the community. Wayne and Angela have been lucky enough to work and travel to remote locations across Australia assisting Elderly and younger disabled in Indigenous communities.

Angela has tertiary qualifications in Disability and Training and has commenced her Diploma in Business management.