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SUNDAY MAY 25
In Cairns
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| With Bob's BMW motorcycle sitting in Townsville waiting
for the trip down to Brisbane, the Australia Ride has come to an end for
Bob. Bill, Walter and Jon still have to head down to Brisbane to
return their respective vehicles. It is now time to relax.
Cairns is on the east coast of Australia and is a vacation spot for both
Australians and foreign tourists. The Great Barrier Reef is off of
the Cairns coast. Walter's brother Roger had come into Cairns
yesterday, and they were up in the rain forest for the day.
First thing in the morning Bob rented a car. In mid morning Bob
and Jon went out to the Cairns airport to meet Patti (Bob's wife),
Martha (Jon's wife) and Irena (Walter's partner).
The rest of the day was spent relaxing, and making plans for the next
few days.
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MONDAY MAY 26
In Cairns
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| We all parted company this morning. Bob made
several phone calls to Townsville and Brisbane. He found out that
Morgan & Wacker, the Brisbane BMW motorcycle dealer, had arranged for
the bike to be transported to Brisbane, to arrive on Friday morning, in
time for the Rotary International Convention.
Bob also had an interview with the Cairns Post. Walter, Irena and
Roger rented a sail boat for 4 days of sailing and diving around the
Great Barrier Reef.
Bill headed off on his own to explore the area around Cairns and do
some vocational visits. He spent several hours at the Royal Flying
Doctors Service learning about their program, and telling them about
paramedic services in the United States.
Jon and Martha spent the day in the rain forest. They took a
train, riding in restored historic passenger cars, to Kuranda, a 90 minute ride
from the Cairns train station. In Kuranda they went to a private rain
forest preservation area, and took a ride in a WWII amphibious "Duck". For the return trip, they took the Skyway to the bottom of the mountain,
an 8km cable car ride above the rain forest.
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TUESDAY - FRIDAY MAY 27 - 30
Cairns to Brisbane
1,113km / 691mi (total 14,679mk / 9,121)
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| Jon and Martha left Cairns Tuesday morning for a
leisurely drive to Brisbane. Wednesday they spent the
night in Rockhampton. After checking into the motel, Jon phoned
the Rotary Club of Rockhampton North to check on their meeting
location. He found out that there was a special meeting scheduled,
with a chartered bus taking the Rotarians and their partners to the
meeting.
And since the bus was passing by the motel, Jon and
Martha were invited to join the club, and were picked up at their motel
by the bus. The Rotary Club of Rockhampton has been meeting at the
same hotel for 40 years. The owner has retired, and invited the
club to her home for a celebration. Once again, Jon had an
opportunity to talk to a Rotary club about the Australia Ride. Jon
and Martha arrived in Brisbane Friday around 11:00am. After
returning the van to Britz and checking into their hotel, the went over
to the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Center to attend the Rotary
Youth Exchange conference.
Bob and Patti did a quick two day drive to
Brisbane, leaving Cairns on Wednesday morning and arriving in Brisbane
Thursday evening. Bob's BMW arrived in Brisbane on Friday, and was
delivered to the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Center, the location
of the 94th Rotary International Convention where it will be on display
in the Hall of Friendship.
Bill and Walter left Cairns on Friday on their motorcycles and
arrived in Brisbane on Saturday They had a wet ride, as a rain
storm hovered along the coast. |
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SATURDAY MAY 31
In Brisbane
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| Jon located a Sony computer dealer in Brisbane and took
his computer to them. Ed Varas at SonyCentral checked out the
power module, and agreed that it was defective. SonyCentral once
again
came to the aid of Rotary (they have loaned a Sony television to Rotary
for the convention) and provided Jon, under warrantee, a new power
module
Now that Jon's laptop was working, he was able to provide Brisbane
Rotarian Phil Gresham with digital photographs from the Australia Ride.
Phil owns FotoFast digifoto in the Myer Centre, and donated photo prints
for the Australia Ride display in the Hall of Friendship. By
mid-afternoon, the Australia Ride booth was set up and ready for the
opening of the Rotary Convention on Sunday. And that afternoon
Australian television interviewed Bob. |
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From left to right: Bill, Martha, Irena, Walter, Bob,
Patti, Jon
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EPILOG |
| 4 JUNE As Bob has said, the
Australia Ride has been an exciting experience for all of us, and fun
some of the time for some of us. We have receive many positive
comments from Rotarians who have visited the PolioPlus Ride booth at the
Convention.
Most importantly, we did what we set out to do. We helped
local Australian Rotarians raise awareness about the final push to
eradicate polio from the face of the earth.
A year and a half ago Rotary International announced the need to
raise US$ 80 million world wide to help fund the final push.
Yesterday at the Rotary International Convention it was announced that
Rotary International has raised (in cash and pledges) just over US$ 88
million, surpassing their goal by US$ 8 million.
Bob's motorcycle will head into the Morgan & Wacker service
department for repair before being shipped back to California.
Once again a big thanks to Morgan & Wacker. Their support of the
Australia Ride shows that Australia is a country that cares.
Bob and his team thanks the citizens of Australia for the their
support of the Australia Ride. Because of their support the Australia
Ride was a success.
| Would you like Motorcycle
Bob to do a PolioPlus awareness ride in your area? If so, send
Bob an email to:
bob@polioplusride.org |
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