The weather was wonderful, the attendance was great, the food was excellent and our celebration of Australia Day could not have gone better.
On Australia Day we celebrated being Australian together with the theme Respect, Reflect and Celebrate so it was most appropriate to start the event with Aunty Betty, an indigenous elder to give a most inspiring Address to Country.
For the last 10 years, Gold Coast Rotary has had a partnership with the Friends of the Gold Coast regional Botanic Gardens with a focus on education. We constructed the Education pavilion where the event was held to provide shelter for school groups and others doing programs.
Our other main contribution has been the funding of wonderful interpretive signage throughout the gardens, which allows visitors to learn not only about the plants themselves abut also about how these plants were used by the traditional owners or why these plants might be endangered.
So we were proud to launch the Botanic Gardens Explorer App, which has been designed to lead users to different parts of the Gardens and answer challenges. Many of the solutions to these challenges will be found on the interpretive signs. It will allow visitors to self-explore, discovering interesting facts and for the competitive to compare their progress on a leaders’ board.
Participants then returned to the start point for a sausage sizzle (served by Surfers Sunrise Rotarians) and the best lamingtons ever supplied by Martin and Jenny.
Gift packs from the Friends Centre were awarded to the highest-scoring team and by random draw.
Check out the photos taken by Andrew Chan.