Conference was a great experience

A number of members attended the district conference at Waitangi in the sunny Bay of Islands.  They were Gary and Hannah, Peter and Angela, Alex and Wendy, Colin and Beryl, President Bruce and Dawn, President Elect Miles plus it was tremendous to have Honourary member John Anderson and Pat join us.  We stayed at Alex's Autolodge Hotel in Paihia (many thanks).  The conference was a mix of Rotary business, inspirational speakers, informal periods, social and networking time. 

The best speakers were Michale McQueen on how to connect with Gen Y, John Anderson (not our John) who was the founder of Contiki and gave a hugely amusing yet immensely inspiring speech and Linda Hallinan of NZ Home and Garden who had everyone in fits of laughter as she talk of her gardening experiences from A to Z.  During the Friday business session there was a presentation by Rotary Oceanic Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) and Varayame was used as the case study - Roger (of ROMAC) looked after Varayame and even took him to Cape Rianga on Saturday afternoon (Varayame is in NZ to have a check up on how well his prosthetics are going). Socially the highlight was the Saturday evening Mardi Gras.

As always it was a tremendous event that we would recommend to all members but especially to newer Rotarians and is great fun and a way to meet so many great people from all the clubs in the district.  Next year's conference will be held in Rotorua on ANZAC weekend and will be even better as it is a combined conference with another district. In fact Rotorua is a "must be there" event so all can plan now to join the club group already planning to be there.

Varayame and his mother in front of Beryl's RDU stand



Following the opening the cocktails went down well!



Beryl with Hugh and Cathy from French Polynesia and Jack and Adrienne Davies at the Gala night



Varyame and mother were taken by Roger (ROMAC) on a tour of  upper Northland - shown here at Cape Rianga