Our Australian friends have been and gone and a great time was had by all. A huge thank you to John & Linda Valentine, John & Lynette Lindsay, Steve & Jill McGregor, Neville & Pam O’Connor, Tony & Marcella Popplewell, Arthur & Janne Beale, Stuart & Jane MacKay, David & Gerd Hutcheson, Leon & Wendy Wech, Chris & Jenni Taylor, Bevan & Anne Smith, Kevin Cameron, Barry McCrystal and Tony Stanaway who all opened their homes to and welcomed an Australian (or 2) guest(s). It was much appreciated by them and they are already looking forward to returning next year.

Their visit kicked off with a BBQ dinner at the Club on Wednesday evening. There were some wonderful salads provided by the host families, including Neville’s famed egg salad. A big thank you to Lynette who baked 80 afghan biscuits for dessert.  Thursday was our  Fairview/Settlers 2 bowl triples tournament where our local players held a definite winning edge. On Thursday evening our host families were treated to a “thank you” dinner out at the Bays Club. By 9.00am Friday morning they were on their way to Taranaki where they will be joined on Sunday by 4 Fours teams from Mairangi Bay to play in the Taranaki Open.

Thank you to all those involved, including Colleen who ran the bar on Wednesday evening, Linda & Lynette who  provided morning tea on Thursday & Jan & Noelene who assisted Sandra with making lunches for our guests. Thank you to Stuart for running the tournament and Robyn & Linda from Fairview & Settlers Villages who were the tournament  sponsors.

If you didn’t host an Aussie you missed out on a lot of fun and I would ask you to consider offering to host next year when they return. Great friendships have been formed over the years and anyone visiting the Sunshine Coast  to play a game or 2 of bowls are always made to feel most welcome.