Be honest. Is visiting Denmark on your bucket list.? No? Is wasn't on mine either. But it is now. This week Matamata have had the huge pleasure of hosting the Rotary Group Study Exchange team from Denmark visiting our district. GSE is a programme where a small team of young (25 - 40 years), non-Rotarians, led by a Rotarian, visit a paired Rotary District to experience the culture and work of that country. The Danish Team visiting us consists of: Peter, Helle, Mette and Claus with their team leader Kjeld. They have been great fun, their English is perfect, their sense of humour wicked and they are all very intelligent and interesting people. We hosted Mette here at Cedar Lodge and she was an absolute pleasure! They arrived on Sunday but as we were involved in a fund raising 4x4 drive for Harriette's GIPS trip we could not pick her up until late afternoon. We immediately took her to Richard and Robyn's were we were having tea. Within minutes of arriving she was entertaining the 4 girls in the living room while we caught up with R+R. We hadn't seen them in ages! On Monday the team went out with the Cambridge Club and I caught up with them for diner in the evening. Tuesday I was on an office day so took a few hours of time owed and joined the team to walk up Wairere Falls. This is a walk that I have long wanted to do but with Eric's leg and 2 couch potatoes for children it was never going to be a family trip (Alice is still insisting she would do it). My calves still hurt!!! It was a 3 hour trip with some serious climbing. The falls are about 380m above sea level and, I think 153m, high. There is a lookout point half way up where you look across to the falls then another actually on the top of the falls looking down. I joined fellow Rotarians David H and Eric M for the trip. The soak in the Opal hot pools afterwards was much appreciated before going back to work for a few hours before the big district welcome in the evening, an event I had the pleasure to MC!!
Before the tramp on Tuesday the group visited a chicken farm. I had asked Mette what she wanted for dinner on Wednesday (the only evening they were at home) and she had said chicken. She changed her mind after the visit and we went for a fillet of beef instead :-) Wednesday they were hosted by a Hamilton Rotary club. Dinner at home, as I said then Thursday they has a vocational day going off in differnet directions. Fred took Mette to Auckland to visit a Fonterra base looking at aspects of the business. Mette works for another dairy co-operative in Denmark. In the evening Peter and Ineke hosted a BBQ at their place for about 30 of us. It was a great evening. Fish was on the menu. Some of the boys had been fishing as their vocational day was cancelled (I think). They caught heaps of snapper and David even gave us some to take home. Eric's unproductive fishing trips are well known in the club :-)
On Friday it was up at 5am to meet at Matamata racecourse where we were shown around by a local racing journalist and met one of NZ's leading horse trainers before having breakfast. The team stopped off at our place for coffe on their way to Tirau to be passed along to the next club. I had come home with all Mette's luggage still in the car. Luckily we were on the way!
We have learnt a lot about Denmark this week and it is certainly on out 'to-do' list now. I am sure we will have at least 5 families hwo would host us. Similarly, we hope to see each of these lovely people again as they return to NZ with their families for a mpore leisuely visit. They will be exhausted when they get back. They have 6 weeks of almost back-to-back activities staying with 8 host families!! We will catch up with them at the District conference at the end of the month.
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