Hello everyone, just wanted to get you up to date on what is going on here in Denmark. Today the team gathered at Kjelds place in Baekmarksbro/Holsterbro, to catch up and work on the upcoming danish district conference in september. We are all back in daily routines and for us with children school has begun. It is nice to get together again and seems our interaction is still the same .
We started with a nice brunch today -10ish -with all the trimmings and then went on to share memories, pictures and distribute various subjects to present at the conference. Then a nice walk around Kjelds property which shows danish nature at its best – and we have seen the windmill and it does not make any sound ! (hehe..had to tell you).At this very moment we are still working on pictures, subjects and layout of our presentation…oh….we have had afternoon coffee and muffins (the girls begged for muffins). Pictures will be uploaded at the earliest possibility. On behalf on the team, all the best to all of you.
Hello All, we have arrived safe and sound back in Denmark. A long journey but well worth it – again thank you all for your hospitality and friendship during our visit. All the best/ Peter and the GSE Team
Dearest all,
How do I express what I am feeling and sensing and thinking? Just had my last shower at the cosy couple, Brin and Mandy in Havelock North near Napier. Everything is packed, I feel great even that I am leaving this beautiful country with its beautiful peole. In 45 minutes I will be in the car going to Napier airport. We have had an amazing tour round the northern part of the Northern Island. I would love to come back with my family, who so patiently have supported me the entire time, when I was doubting if I could do without their pressence for six weeks. What a blessing to be married and feel loved at the same time. What a blessing to have supportive children who knows that parents sometimes have to do adult things like leaving. I love Skype! The other morning we were on Skype. Nicolai just wanted me to look at him eating breakfast – so I did. I hold my mothers-day-flowers in front of the computer, so my three loved ones could see the beautiful colors, that they sent me.
Thank you of all my heart to all the families for hosting me. I tried to behave well 
Let me know when you get to DK!
Thank you for all the planning with all the details in the various clubs. I know it takes hours and days to plan a programme like this. I am very impressed – you planned sunshine, earthquake, bush walks, visits at various museums and interesting places.
There are uncountable situations with great laughs and new knowledge. I hope we manage to pass on some of our experience at the conference in DK in September. When they see our pictures, they will consider going here in stead of other places
Words are very poor in a situation like this – I hope you know, that you all contributed to a Once In a Lifetime Experience.
Love Helle
Hello All, I (Peter Skouenborg ) just wanted to fill you in on what is going on here in the Art Deco capital of the world – Napier.
10.05.10:
We met at Spriggs Park for a walk on the Rotary Walkway along the coast which led us into town where we had a meeting with the deputy mayor of Napier, Kathy Furlong, for coffee and a talk on local issues. It was good of her to take the time to see us and we found it very interesting .
We then had an hour or so to wander about taking in the sights and sounds of downtown Napier and met for lunch with our host club Ahuriri.
Peter Ball showed up in 1930’s suit complete with a bowlerhat – Helen, his wife, showed up in classic ladies outfit from the same period – it was time for our “Art Deco walk” .It was very good to go through town and give it a second look as we now understood more clearly what the Art Deco era was about and the attention to detail was quite astounding.
We did our presentation at the Blue Water hotel with a great view of the Napier Marina. It turned out to be a good evening with some 90 rotarians attending . Thank you Peter Ball and the Ahuriri Rotary Club for making the evening such a success.
11.05.10:
We had a meeting with neighbouring rotary club Taradale and we all met at the Taradale Town Hall 08:40 am.
The club had arranged for us to visit the Apollo apple pack house at Whakatu and Neil Muir, planning and coolstore manager, Simon Thursfield, post harvest manager, gave us a good insight into the world of post harvest treatment of the produce.
We walked among piles and piles of boxes with apples, and it was very exiting to see the amount of work and effort that was put into providing the world with fresh and crispy apples. We were even so lucky to get a whole box of “jazz apples” -tasty, crispy and exellent in taste – yum yum.
Having a bit of extra time we went to The Mission Winery.
It was established in 1851 making it the oldest winery in the Hawkes Bay area/ district. Local man , Trevor , was kind enough to give us a good tour of the place and walked us through its history shown in the many photographs on the walls. We , naturally, ended with a bit of wine tasting - they make good wine !
With a slight wine buzz we headed of to the Church Road Winery for an extremely nice lunch which was naturally served with a chilled Church Road chardonnay and a very nice Merlot .
After lunch we were given an extensive tour of the place and found ourselves wandering the old sub-terrainian wine tanks which to this day are still used to store the wine in as it has a constant temparature. After the tour we naturally had to try the Church Road Winery produce and they too are very good at what they do – very nice wine.
Taradale Rotary Club dropped us of in Napier for a two and a half hour leisure break. Some of us went shopping (not to mention names, but it starts with Helle and Mette) and some of us found an Irish pub that had the things we were looking for.
The great day finished with a nice meal at the newly opened “Factory” restaurant located in the old “wool and tobacco district” in Napier.
Taradale Rotary Club – magnificent day spent with nice people, thank you so much.
12.05.10:
I (Peter Skouenborg) had my vocational day here in Napier together with local rotarian Ian Hopson. We went to Napier Port where they gave us a good tour of the port premises and an insight into the procedure of discharging and loading a vessel with derrick cranes (which are quite different from gangtry cranes).Thank you Napier Port for taking the time to see us.
Afterwards it was time to fill up the batteries with a cappuccino and a latte at the “Milk and Honey”. We then went to the marina to strech our legs. Streching legs led to hunger, which then led to a visit to the Speights Ale House for a very nice steak burger with the recommended beer to accompany it.
Final stop was Pan Pac Sawmill where we were shown around the large plant. The amount of time it took to produce one board was amazing – from log to board is 7 minutes – incredible.
Ahuriri Rotary Club, thanks you for making my vocational day such a good day.
Hello all, just wanted to get you up to date with our progress.
A difficult day today as it was time to say goodbye to our newly found friends in Papamoa Rotary Club – thank you all for making our stay so pleasant and for planning such a comprehensive program.
The Team met up with Ahuriri Rotary Club (based in Napier) at the museum in Taupo, and to our surprise RoseMary Chrisp had turned up (she was Helles and my host during our stay in Taupo) so it was very nice to see a familiar face (and new ones).
Our hosts, The Ahuriri Rotary Club and ourselves had lunch at “Friends” which is a nice place overlooking Taupo Lake. It was then time for “goodbyes” and we got into the bus to commence our 2 hour drive to Napier. As we got closer we were greated by the sight of orchards, beautiful scenery and of course our new hosts.
To all you mothers out there – HAPPY MOTHERS DAY . Peter and the GSE team
Kaere jer,
Jeg proever lige paa dansk, selv om det er lidt svaert med det engelske tastatur. Forgive me English readers.
Vi har det fantastisk! Dag efter dag! Alle burde opleve denne form for udforskning af et andet land. Det er nemt men dyrt at vaere turist. Paa vores rejse er alt planlagt, vi kommer mange steder hen og faar uendelig mange oplysninger om alt muligt. Jo mere vi faar at vide, jo flere spoergsmaal opstaar der. Der er et naturligt flow i at moede nye mennesker, connecte og tage afsked igen. Nogle af disse mennesker moeder vi mange gange, andre er vi blot sammen med en halv dag, hvor de viser os rundt, inden vi bliver overleveret til de naeste ansvarlige Rotary folk. Der er en plan hos de lokale rotary folk, for at vores fyldige plan bliver til virkelighed. Et kaempe stykke arbejde. Noget af det allerbedste er at komme ind i alle de private hjem. I dag blev jeg “haardt ramt” af Amors boligpil. Vi var rundt i dag paa div. skoenne kiwi steder, spiste friske frugter, gik ture, kiggede paa div. traer og andre planter, som de beskytter som deres egne boern. Det er saa imponerende med al deres frivillige arbejde for at goere naeromraadet mere attraktivt og smuk paa den originale New Zealand maade. Dagens program sluttede paa en meget smuk, men lille strand. Jeg aergede mig godt og grundigt over, at vandet var for dybt til at jeg kunne gaa over paa den smukke, flade oe, der var var lige foran os. Havde ikke badetoej med. Vi stod paa det sted, hvor Maorierne gik i land for ca. 900 aar siden. Meget smukt sted, hvor en gruppe lokale boern legede i bare taeer og oevede sig i at vaere seje overfor hinanden, mens de grinte og grinte. Derefter skulle vi hjem til Susanne and David Campbell for at faa den gamle engelske klassiker Fish’n'chips. (Foerste gang paa denne tur med saadan en planlagt menu). Vi koerte ad en stejl vej, og pludselig var vi i det skoenneste droemmehus. Havudsigt over det sted, hvor vi lige havde vaeret og store vinduer med fantastisk terrasse. Oh laengsel efter at komme hjem i egen have og lave den total laekker. Men havudsigt faar jeg nok ikke i Galten!
Det er nu sidste aften hos min 6. familie, Margaret og Barrie Liddell. De har en datter, der flyttede til KBH sidste aar, og de kommer paa besoeg i DK i juli. Jeg haaber, jeg har guidet dem i deres evt. valg af steder i DK, som er absolut MUST paa deres liste. De glaeder sig meget. Hvis vi er i DK paa samme tid, vil jeg goere mit bedste for at hjaelpe dem, naar de naermer sig Jylland.
Nedtaellingen er i gang inden hjemrejsen, men foerst skal vi lige syd paa til Napier.
Ciao. Helle
Hello all, today was a great day as we headed out to White Island with our Papamoa Rotary Club. The island is an active vulcano and a “must see” if you are in the area. The trip started from Whakatene onboard the PeeJay, big yacht and we headed out at cruising speed of 18 knots. The weather was somewhat cool but inspite of that visibility was pretty clear. After an hours sailing we were blessed with a visit fom the local wildlife, a big school of approximately 500 dolphins surrounded the boat and it was amazing to see them play off the bow wave and do their acrobatics.
We came ashore on a small dingy and it was like stepping onto another planet – beautiful colours, strange smells and , in some parts, very noicy from the “steam chimneys” in the vulcano. It was fantastic to see and actually walking around on a live vulcano.
From 1923 -1933 White Island was also a mining site. Hardworking minors processed the sulphur into bags and it was then shipped with a barge to Tauranga Port, and that is how the area ,which today is the container terminal, got its name ” Sulphur Point”. Before going back to Whakatane we had a light meal and a cold drink, and then we sailed back to our starting point.
We finished this great day with our presentation at the “Bluebijue” which had been decorated with the New Zealand and Danish flag – how nice ! To top things of the danish toys ” Lego” dominated each table along with pictures and maps of our home country. Thank you Papamoa Rotary Club for putting that together for us, and making us feel very much at home.
All the best, Peter and the GSE Team
Today I visited the the Tauranga City Council Water treatment plant. Water Catchment Engineer John Hickman gave me an introduction to the local water catchment. An area of 45 km2 that draines into the two rivers, Tautau and Waiorohi. Both streams are spring fed. This gives a semi-constant flow even in the summer period when the demand is high and rainfall is low.
I was surprised how vulnerable the city water supply actually was and how disrespectful some people seemed to act around their valuable drinking water source. Numerous pictures of garbage and waste dumped near end even in the feeding streams that had been cleaned up over the last few years proved their frustration. Besides that John told me about the effect of storm water on the water quality, and how surface water runoff in the upstream area during storm water could put silt and ash into the rivers and lead to closing of the water treatment plant for days.
David Karrol afterwards gave me a view into the aspects of water treatment, and how this modern – state of the art – plant was working. The treatment steps included filtration trough 0,1 mm filter tubes, adjustment of pH and chlorination to inhibit bacterias. Right now they abstract 16 million liters per day.
An informative and educating talk – Thank you guys!
Lunch at the Mt. Maunganui Sports fishing club with the rest of the team and their hosts.
After lunch I visited the Environment Bay of Plenty (Bay of Plenty Regional Council). Darryl Hall (Senior Land Management Officer) and his colleges informed me how they were dealing with eg. contaminated propertiers and their work with costal protection. A special site visit showing me the issues in a current case, and the problems storm water caused in this case was very interesting.
Thank you all for an informative day and not at least to my driver and host Doug Kingsford.
Hello all, I (Peter Skouenborg) had a good vocational day today with my visit to Port of Tauranga. Local Papamoa rotarian Jim Carroll and I met up with Nigel Drake, who is the operationsmanager, and he gave us an insightfull look at the ports area. We then had a look in the control room where the port monitors/plans vessel berths and departures.
Jim and I ventured out on the wharf where John and Peter (Tug boat crew) gave us a guided tour of all three tugs, with the “Sir Robert” being the smallest but also the most powerfull. We were then treated to a tour of the Bulk Terminal by Neil who seemed to know everything, and everyone, about the facility -we did not have to ask one question as he told us everything – marvelous.
12:30 we met with rest of the team and had a spot of lunch at the “Pier 1″ fishing club – a ” Kiwi Burger” found its way to my plate – nice !
We headed back to Sulphur Point to meet up with Martyn McColgan who had arranged for Grant Wilson to give us a tour of the container terminal and a visit to the impressive crane nr 3 ! Vaughan was the crane operator who was kind enough to give us a ride in the ports newest investment some 57 meters up, man that was something ! The crane is of the super-post-panamax- type and can perform twinlifts (55 tons in one lift).
With the boom up it soars 108 meters high – impressive. We enjoyed that tremendously or as Jim Caroll put it ” that was bloody marvelous” .
I just want to thank everyone for making my vocational day special and something to remember. All the best, Peter and the GSE Team
Hermed lidt orientering på dansk for de der har svært ved at forstå vore engelske indlæg.
Vi er nu næsten 4 uger gennem programmet og har en 2 dages tiltrængt pause. Vi har meget svært ved at holde opdateringen ved lige, idet vi starter tidlig morgen og afslutter som regel aftenen med en præsentation, en udflugt eller en barbeque (grillaften).
Teamet fungerer perfekt, og vi er virkelig et team, der løfter i flok. Vi har netop haft besøg af endnu en journalist, der lige skulle høre om vort besøg og forberede et indlæg i den lokale avis på onsdag. Dem har vi har en del af, og så snart vi kommer i nærheden af en scanner, vil artiklerne blive lagt på hjemmesiden.
Vi har mødt så mange nye navne, ansigter, steder og attraktioner, at det efterhånden er svært at holde styr på det hele. Især alle disse Mauri-navne, der er svære at udtale – uden at brække tungen.
Specielt vil jeg fremhæve vort besøg i Rotaryklubben i Rotorua Sunrise i onsdags, hvor vi blev inviteret ind i Mauriernes ”Marae” (Maurie Meeting Place), hvilket sket med sang frem mod huset, og hvor mændene sad på 1 række og kvinderne bag.
Vi blev budt velkommen af lederen, der holdt tale og bød os velkommen. Herefter var det undertegnedes tur til at holde tale for forsamlingen, hvilket først var på dansk og efterfølgende på engelsk. En meget fornem og højtidelig cermoni, der sluttede med, at vi alle blev fulgt videre over til deres ”forsamlingshus”, hvor det ordinære møde fandt sted. Se evt. fotos under Rotorua.
I lørdags afholdt distriktet deres årlige konferrence i byen Tauranga. Her skulle vi aflægge vor præsentation, der var specielt fremstillet til temaet: ”Count your Blessings”. Mange af de personer vi havde mødt i de forudgående klubber var mødt op til konferrencen og alle ville tale med os.
Vi fik ”solgt” Danmark på bedste vis for en forsamling på 220 gæster. Flere henvendte sige efterfølgende til os og bekendtgjorde, at de var rede til at aflægge Danmark et besøg en gang i fremtiden.
Vi havde valgt kun at deltage i konferrencen med præsentationen, så aftenen stod på barbeque og søndagen blev fordrevet med en sejltur på havet ud for Tauranga. Solen skinnede fra en skyfri himmel og vi var et par stykker, der endnu en gang lignede krebs, da vi kom i land. Kl. 1600 skulle vi mødes på vort motel, hvor vi skulle ”slappe af” i et par dage.
Vi blev installeret i en stor luksuslejlighed med en kæmpestor terrasse og udsigt ud over bjerget ”Mount Maunganui” og New Zealands surferkyst nr. 1.
Så vi slapper af – med at skrive lidt til hjemmesiden.
/Kjeld
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