Well we saw the sights today; starting with a visit to the Murray Bridge race course Bev is big on horses (that didn’t quite come out as I intended). She had arranged for us to be shown the starting tower which gave us an impressive view of the town and the race course. This included the commentators’ room and the photo finish booth. Cheryl and Andy travelled in style in a beautiful vintage Ford. Next to a civic reception with Mayor Allan Arbon and CEO David Altman tea 
sandwiches and cakes, all a bit early in the morning for me. David then gave us a full presentation of the development plan for Murray Bridge, it is certainly growing fast and the plans are quite impressive but, as was to be expected, everything depends on water and unless it rains it is unlikely that this plan will proceed. You cannot get away from the water issue and sadly it is apparent that not everyone treats it as seriously as others. In common with all the other host families my hosts her in Murray Bridge 
Trevor and Beverley Curtis take a very responsible approach their lawn has gone and they have 20,000 litres of rain water storage and are currently installing a further 20,000 they have a two tap system and are aiming to convert to 100% rainwater. After the civic reception we had a look at the town hall and proposals for extension, the art gallery and the preparations for the upcoming production of Cats in the local theatre which has a magnificent vaulted timber 
roof. Hopping aboard two monster 4x4s, mine was a 4.2litre job that made light work of carrying the seven of us, we set off for Monarto Zoo this is more of a game reserve than a zoo. Impressively the park is largely manned by volunteers many of them special needs children. The rotary club have also been heavily involved heavily being the operative word and they had built eh fencing round the huge rhinoceros enclosure as well as all the native bird boxes. We took the African tour but the thing that 
fascinated me was the local kangaroo and emu that roamed free throughout the park although I did not spot any in the lion enclosure. The lions were in excellent condition so perhaps they supplement their diet with the odd roo! Perhaps, unkindly but one of the highlights of the tour was the presents on neothanderal man on the bus, a somewhat inebriated local who fired continuous questions at our guide including had any of the keepers been eaten by the lions, we suggested he get out and find out for himself! On the way back fro the zoo we called in at Big W a Woolworth warehouse for the complete tour. The logistics, mechanical handling and speed of turn around were all quite stunning but the volumes they handled were massive and of course they were already talking about Christmas! The bar code readers were particularly impressive diverting a fast moving stream of assorted cartons to the various palletising 
stations for the individual stores. Back home to our hosts I enjoyed a very pleasant quite evening meal with my host Trevor and Beverley who have again thrown their house open to me. It is a beautiful open plan house and I have effectively been given my own quarters. Today is my daughter Gaileen’s birthday and I was able to call and wish her a Happy Birthday but I was also able to celebrate Oscars sixth birthday with a bottle of Trevor’s excellent red wine. Oscar is a cairn terrier and treats me a special friend and play mate. I am back on the internet here and I have a little catching up to do more scary is that we need to be getting our final presentation together as I fear I will run out of time. Ray
sandwiches and cakes, all a bit early in the morning for me. David then gave us a full presentation of the development plan for Murray Bridge, it is certainly growing fast and the plans are quite impressive but, as was to be expected, everything depends on water and unless it rains it is unlikely that this plan will proceed. You cannot get away from the water issue and sadly it is apparent that not everyone treats it as seriously as others. In common with all the other host families my hosts her in Murray Bridge 
Trevor and Beverley Curtis take a very responsible approach their lawn has gone and they have 20,000 litres of rain water storage and are currently installing a further 20,000 they have a two tap system and are aiming to convert to 100% rainwater. After the civic reception we had a look at the town hall and proposals for extension, the art gallery and the preparations for the upcoming production of Cats in the local theatre which has a magnificent vaulted timber 
roof. Hopping aboard two monster 4x4s, mine was a 4.2litre job that made light work of carrying the seven of us, we set off for Monarto Zoo this is more of a game reserve than a zoo. Impressively the park is largely manned by volunteers many of them special needs children. The rotary club have also been heavily involved heavily being the operative word and they had built eh fencing round the huge rhinoceros enclosure as well as all the native bird boxes. We took the African tour but the thing that 
fascinated me was the local kangaroo and emu that roamed free throughout the park although I did not spot any in the lion enclosure. The lions were in excellent condition so perhaps they supplement their diet with the odd roo! Perhaps, unkindly but one of the highlights of the tour was the presents on neothanderal man on the bus, a somewhat inebriated local who fired continuous questions at our guide including had any of the keepers been eaten by the lions, we suggested he get out and find out for himself! On the way back fro the zoo we called in at Big W a Woolworth warehouse for the complete tour. The logistics, mechanical handling and speed of turn around were all quite stunning but the volumes they handled were massive and of course they were already talking about Christmas! The bar code readers were particularly impressive diverting a fast moving stream of assorted cartons to the various palletising 
stations for the individual stores. Back home to our hosts I enjoyed a very pleasant quite evening meal with my host Trevor and Beverley who have again thrown their house open to me. It is a beautiful open plan house and I have effectively been given my own quarters. Today is my daughter Gaileen’s birthday and I was able to call and wish her a Happy Birthday but I was also able to celebrate Oscars sixth birthday with a bottle of Trevor’s excellent red wine. Oscar is a cairn terrier and treats me a special friend and play mate. I am back on the internet here and I have a little catching up to do more scary is that we need to be getting our final presentation together as I fear I will run out of time. Ray
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