Mid Atlantic visit

The afternoon concluded with Red & Michael visiting Scott Salinas & his partners at Mid Atlantic Resource Group in Neptune NJ. MARG run a vertically integrated financial services business with Securian, Minnesota Mutual and several other businesses to provide the investment expertise, insurance solutions and financial services required of a large organisation. A very big thank you to Larry Buccheri and William Bladel and Scott Salinas for their most generous time (and coffee with cookies).

Visit to Merrill Lynch

Thank you to Patrick Preston and the team at Merrill Lynch in Freehold who provided us with a tour of their firm's offices and explained their "global wealth management" business to us in a most informative manner.

Vocational Visits in Freehold

Michael and Red met with Bill Haluska at Amboy Bank in Freehold to discuss commercial banking. Bill provided an excellent tour of his branch before taking us to Head Office in Old Bridge where we were fortunate to meet with George Scharpf, Chairman, President & CEO who generously entertained us in his boardroom and explained the bank's history.

Freehold Vocational

Today Daniel visited a Mercedes dealership in Freehold. Evan, Matthew and Michael visited Rutgers Agriculture Experimental Station where Dr Joe guided Evan through the production of disease free fruit trees. Matthew and Michael where informed of the budget cuts and how this will impact the financial situation of the station.

Freehold Music Centre Store

After lunch the team were fortunate to be escorted through Michael's music store where Evan played a solo on the piano thanks Syril. Sophie got shown the intimate art of piano repairs and Ev & Red had a impromptu jam session. please click the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl1g5puN9Sw

Barber Shop Quartet

On the way back from Princeton Lou, Soph, Evan and Dan sang the barbers shop song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usWczhgCMJ0

Freehold Vist

Today we were met buy the Rotarians of Freehold club led by the

GSE organiser "Marvelous Marv". Matthew and Evan were given an escort in the club car of Rotarian Michael's Blueberry farm as the rest of the team ventured to there home hosts. This was followed by lunch and a visit to the Metz Bicycle Museum, where not all bikes have two wheels. Please click he link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYhs9QNBnfw

Native Wildlife

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rpAIQC8Y9Y

Princeton University

This afternoon we visited Princeton University and were fortunate enough to be given a guided tour by Amy a first year engineering student.

Sculpture Gardens in Hamilton

On Saturday the GSE Team explored our artistic side by visting the Sculpture Gardens in Hamilton.

Dinner Delight

Michael tucked into a small serve of smokey style baby backed ribs."Yee Ha"

Moorestown Farewell

Today we farewelled Moorestown where we had a very well received presentation. Our thanks go out to all from Moorestown Rotary especially our hosts drivers and Babara whom all excelled in their hospitality and making our visit a great success.

Moorestown Vocational Visits

Today was the begining of our vocational visits. Matthew travelled into Philadelphia and met the Business Manager at The American Friends Service which is the primary interface with investment managers for the endowment fund. This was followed by a vist to Wachovia Securities meeting a committee member of the FriendsFiduciary Corporation that overseas the portfolio managers with a socially responsible investment mandate.

Sophie & Louise met a gentleman from Stratus Communications and Danial met with the General Manager of Cherry Hill Lexus .

Evan met with Kay Stuckey an Rotarian Horticulturalist and was taken on a grand tour of the estately homes and gardens tour of Moorestown and some gardens suppliers.

Tour of Philly and that's Gold!!!!!!

Well yesterday we had a great tour of Philadelphia. We enjoyed a trolley tour of the area, seeing lots of great historical things. We tried to patch up the crack in the Liberty Bell but no success.

We also came to see a live broadcast of the NBC 10! show at 2pm in the NBC10 studios, where Evan gave the show an intro "Gday USA" from the Rotary GSE Team from Australia. Please check out the link http://www.nbc10.com/slideshow/15693316/detail.htmlindex.html?currentSlide=11&taf=phi

President George sets Moorestown alight

Wednesday night was spent enjoying a cookout with family & friends of Rotary Club of Moorestown at the home of Pam & Tom Parkinson in Mt Laurel. After a sumptuous dinner we enjoyed a glass of wine around the bonfire ..... fortunately, we did not need to call the Mt Laurel Fire Brigade. Louise Duff made a new friend when she told Greg Collier, the local fire chief who inspected and approved the bonfire that her brother in Sydney was a Firefighter .... Greg immediately offered to provide a Fireman's shirt to take home and swap. President George was last seen enjoying a cold beer in front of our wonderful bonfire.

Yo Adrian!!!!!! We Did It!!

Today, Ladies and Gentlemen we have had the privilege of witnessing the greatest exhibition of guts and stamina in the history of the running of the steps!. Evan, Michael, Daniel and Matt ran and followed Rocky Balboa up the famous steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (You can watch the video. Please click the link) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkjuilwwXt0

why did we run.?? Cause all we wanna do is go the distance!!!



What a blast the team has had today. More updates soon!

WE MADE IT!!!!!

Well after 25 hours of flying and landing and flying we have made it.



Sydney to LA- Trip 14hrs, it was great. Louise and Evan had plenty of leg room but no sleep at all!!!

LA to Newark 6hrs not so good.We had an emergency stop at Denver, Colorado due to a sick passenger. The team was tight and tired but it we were ok in the end.

We have just had dinner with the Moorestown Rotary members and a few of our home hosts, (They are super nice fantastic people.) We also met the outgoing GSE music team to Sydney. Dan and Matt have given some good Aussie advice about schooners of VB (we have assured the team that the phrase "hittin the piss" is not a rude phrase in Australia.



It is 10pm and time for bed. Look out for a few highlights comming soon such as Evan running up the famous stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the ones that Rocky Balboa ran up.

So Long, Farewell, Auf wiedersehen,Goodnight

Well today is the day, we fly out this afternoon.

The GSE team would like to thank all of our supporters and friends who have helped us all get this far.

In 24 hours we will be living it up in "New Joiesy" so please keep an eye on the blog to see our updates.

Adieu

GSE Team meet NSW Opposition Leader

Only one more week before we take off for New Jersey on our GSE program. Some of the team met with Mr Barry O'Farrell MP, Leader of Opposition today who presented us with the state flag of New South Wales plus some state history and memorabilia.

Farewell Dinner for the 6310 Michigan Team

Last night Barbara, Michael and I joined the outgoing Michigan team for a farewell to the Inbound Michigan team, they are heading back to the US today. We all shared great stories and great food and drink at the Castle Hill RSL. It was a great night but a little sad to see them go, I wish we all could have got to know them for longer than a few weeks.

Let's Get Racy

Saturday night and a few hundred Rotarians in fancy dress. After our big night before, our GSE Team chose to be an understated Pit Crew. But as you'll see, many Clubs went to great links to impress the judges .... such as RAY Charles and many REVs and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Saturday in Bathurst

After a big night and an early start to the District Conference, where we met one of the Vocational Excellence Awardees, Nicholas Cowdrey QC, some of the GSE teams enjoyed the tastes and sights of the region. A hot lap around Mt Panorama was a real thrill before a dash out to Orange Mountain Winery to enjoy a private tasting at the Cellar Door, courtesy of the owners Terry and Julie, friends of Evan & Barbara. Lunch was beckoning when Louise & Greg suggested we catch the NSW Country Rugby Championships in Orange (after all our GSE Team is sponsored by NSW Waratahs). A steak sandwich and a cold beer was the cost of admission as we watched Central West defeat Central Coast in a torrid battle (some late biffo saw two sendoffs and a sin bin) before we headed home for the evening's festivities.

District Conference in Bathurst

7.45pm Friday night and our big GSE presentation in Bathurst. Over 850 delegates gathered in St Stanislaus Function Centre and suddenly we were on. Wow! We weren't the main act but we were up first and I think it went really well. We managed to introduce ourselves without a hitch, to thank our sponsoring clubs and make ourselves better known to the District as the outbound New Jersey Team. The two Michigan Teams followed with Jeff Leipprandt providing a terrific insight into his team, their home and their vocations. The evening concluded with Bathurst legend, Dick Johnson as he regaled everyone about some of his motor racing exploits over three decades, making him one of the most successful V8 supercar drivers in Australian history.

Zone Presidents Dinner and 20 more sleeps

Tuesday night provided an opportunity for some of our outbound GSE Team members to meet the inbound GSE Team from Michigan at the Zone Presidents dinner. Following a perfect Sydney day, over 150 Rotarians and Guests including several GSE Alumni and many PDGs were formally introduced by DG Monica Saville to Jeff Leipprandt and his Michigan Team. Formalities aside, Jeff provided an amusing presentation about the GSE Team, their family and businesses and their home state of Michigan. Both Michael and Ian took the opportunity to briefly introduce their outbound teams and update everyone with their planning. Our MC Richard did a terrific job to manage a busy program and keep everyone to time with an impromptu update on the Cricket final between Australia and India (and little did we know of the raw excitement seen on TV until we read the morning papers). See you in Bathurst!