What’s New in Hoo-Hoo Land in South Africa
REPORT BY SUE SCHMIDT
ON HER FEBRUARY TRIP
TO ATTEND THE JIV BOARD MEETING IN AUSTRALIA
Sue at the JIV Mid-Year Board Meeting |
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On holiday at Wave Rock
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Fungi in Western Australia |
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Harvey Strack on top of Wave Rock |
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Salmon Gum – Western Australia |
Dear Members,
Hoo Hoo South Africa falls under Jurisdiction 4. Jurisdiction 4 incorporates Hoo-Hoo Clubs in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia and South Africa.
The J4 Board gets together twice a year - once at the annual J4 Convention and again 6 months later. The mid-year Board Meeting was held in February in HerveyBay – venue of the 2007 J4 Convention. As Bob Brett, our Vice-gerent could not attend, I attended in his place.
HerveyBay is wonderful and I highly recommend members attending the Convention this year. It is about 3 hours drive north of Brisbane, and about 30min flight in a small plane from the southern parts of the Barrier Reef.
I flew into Perth and then caught a connecting flight on Qantas to Brisbane where John from Casino Travel (who is making all arrangements for the 2007 Convention) collected me and we drove through to HerveyBay. (I have always found the Australians to go out of their way to help and make life so very much enjoyable for everyone they meet.)
Hervey Bay has a lot of tourist attractions and besides meeting great timber people, the location is ideal for whale watching, eating ‘bugs’ which are CHEAP crayfish/lobster seafood, and having a stroll along the beach and the pier.
So for a break from crime and litter – attend the Convention this year. Neil Todd, President of Rainbow will also be attending.
I thought you may like to know what was discussed at the mid-Year Board Meeting.
a)
Each year an ‘area’ of J4 gets to hold a Convention. This year it is in HerveyBay, 2008 is in Adelaide and 2009 SOUTH AFRICA!! I gave a promotional DVD to all the Vice-gerents attending the mid-year Board meeting asking them to promote the South African Convention on our behalf. So far it appears as if about 100 Australians will be coming over. The DVD is also being promoted in the USA and the interest shown by the American to attend our Convention has been very surprising and encouraging.
b)
The Rainbow Board has been working hard on the 2009 Convention. We have received a wonderful sponsorship from Hans Merensky. This sponsorship will go towards funding the main dinner at our Convention. A Convention usually lasts for a few days. The first day will see members attending a sponsored ‘Ice Breaker’ in the evening. Gifts are given out to members attending and these gifts are usually sponsored items such as caps, or wooden rulers and wooden bottle openers, along with T-shirts, for example. The following day sees the members having their AGM during the morning followed by an industry tour (visit to a saw mill or a similar place of timber interest). That evening a dinner is held where Clubs receive awards they may have qualified for. The following day is usually another timber related tour. Our 2009 Convention will incorporate all of these ideas as well as a visit to the LionPark – which so far has raised the most interest amongst the people I have chatted to. We are also planning to have the second part of the Convention held in the Sabie area with visits to the Hans Merensky mill, maybe Ngodwana and obviously a night drive into the KrugerPark. We will arrange post-Convention tours to Cape Town, George, KZN and Victoria Falls – places of interest that delegates have so far indicated to me they would like to see.
c)
On one of my last visits to Australia, members were horrified that in Africa there are children who cannot attend school. They wanted to help in anyway they could and a number of clubs took up the challenge and started to collect stationery to send over to us for the under-privileged. So far three boxes of stationery have been sent over and Australia is so enthusiastic about this stationery drive they have now collected about 4 pallets of stationery – ready for despatch to us. We are looking for a sponsor to ship the stationery over – any takers???? This project has received such interest that at the mid-year board meeting I was also told that the USA are going to be starting a similar project for us in Africa.
The mid-year Board meeting took all day – I have only mentioned the main points of interest to our South African members.
After the meeting, we had a tour of the town of Hervey Bay – saw some amazing timber homes on the beach front. That evening we had a lovely dinner – the Australians know how to have a great time!
The next morning saw us flying out of HerveyBay directly to Sydney on a Virgin Blue flight. Harvey Strack who I am sure is no stranger to many of us in South Africa, and myself then caught a flight from Sydney through to Perth and I stayed with Margaret and Harvey for three days, RnR.
In genuine Australian hospitality, they looked after me and took me to see Wave Rock about 350km from Perth. What an amazing geological formation!! Harvey and Margaret were wonderful hosts and I was very sad to leave.
We recently had a visitor from Australia, Raymond Sanders, and thank you to some of the South African Hoo-Hoo members, we were able to reciprocate and offer him South African hospitality.
Over the years in Hoo-Hoo I have made many friends and upon my arrival in HerveyBay after a long long flight, I was so warmly welcomed by ‘old’ friends. We are all very lucky to belong to a club with such warm and friendly members!!
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions you may have about my trip or about the upcoming 2009 Convention. In Hoo-Hoo we plan to promote fraternalism and friendship!!
HH&LL
Sue Schmidt 98373
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