Finlay Bowery
First of all, I would like to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to represent the Lions UK by travelling to Australia. I thoroughly enjoyed my experiences there, by making lifelong friends and memories.
Over the 32 days I was there I got to experience what life is like to live with an Australian family in Brisbane, spent a week exploring the Sunshine Coast with other exchanges, and finally spent a week at a camp with representatives from 18 different countries and enjoyed the Barrier Reef one of the Seven Wonders of the world.
I had the unique luxury of hugging a Koala, stroking a Kangaroo and even held a baby Alligator. I swam within 100 meters of Dolphins; saw whales and famous Australian spiders.
Some of the different activities I did when I was there was ocean rafting, exploring rain forests, abseiling in the centre of Brisbane, going to Australia zoo, surfing, kayaking, scuba diving
I met up with the local Lions in Brisbane where I had the pleasure of addressing them about myself and my life in England.
Following this visit I had a very interesting trip to a Lions charity project where unwanted spectacles were processed and sent to Third world countries where they could be re-used. I was impressed that the work carried out was by volunteers.
I was fortunate in spending time with a fellow lions member who took me to the Sunshine Coast. This was an extraordinary visit and is where I had the good fortune of meeting so much of Australia’s Wild Life. It was awesome!
The visit to the camp was something special meeting up with over 3 dozen other representatives like me. It was truly a United Nations and I made some friends who I hope to be able to maintain contact with.
During this time we were unable to use our smartphones and tablets for our social media activities and at first, we all despaired as to how we would survive. The loss of this facility turned out not to be a problem and we had the opportunity to just sit and talk and bond. I learnt a lot about some of the other guys' countries and home life and it has stimulated my interest to visit these places to learn more first hand.
I have had a unique and life-changing experience and hopefully have made some lifelong friendships and with any luck, I will have the opportunity to visit Australia again.
All in all, I have made a lifetime of memories and I would thoroughly recommend likeminded young people to take up the opportunity to do the exchange.
Thank you so much.
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Thank you so much.
