This year's visit to Australia by the Handa Junior Brass Band scheduled for August has been cancelled.
We hope to have a 'Return to Japan' night at the Sushi-ko Japanese Restaurant where we can all get together and recount some of the highs and maybe lows of the trip, so stay tuned.
Each person can submit up to three (3) of their best/favourite photographs from the trip. From these one will be picked by 'yours truly' as the best photo of the trip.
I should add at this stage that I am very open to bribes and favours.
Now a prize has not yet been decided upon, but it will be a really good one, so get those photos in.
To make it easier for me could you name the photographs 'your name' 1, 2 or 3 please. (substituting 'your name' for your 'actual name'. I don't want to see any 'Actual Name 1' photos from those of you who were thinking of doing that, I want to see 'your name' (Oh no, we're back to that again), the name that currently appears on your license or other legal documents ... I hope that's clear? ... :-)
Keep an eye on here for photos over the next few days. There are literally thousands of them to go through, so keep checking back as I will be adding more as I go along. I also have some video which I'll be putting up here too.
If you have any photos or video please send them to me.
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Also could each of you provide at least one (1) photograph from the day you did the diary for inclusion in the final book.
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Well the trip is done and dusted and all have returned safe and well.
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Anyone with damage to their luggage or instruments should get detailed information to Mrs Johnson by thursday so that it can be followed up with Korean Airlines.
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In out absence the pens arrived, a bit late unfortunately!
Constantly updated information
'Travel Hints and Tips'
Health, Money & a lot more.
click on the link to the left
Below is the grouping of people for Japan. You will not be required to permanently remain in these groups, but if everyone takes responsibility for making sure that everyone in their group is accounted for while we are away, we shouldn't loose anyone.
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
**Kyoko
Julie Hawkins
Ross Radford
Jarrod Smith
**Ritsuko
Abby Pattison
Suzanne Davis
Trish Somers
Ricky Brassey
Shirley O'Keefe
Rachele Artuso
Patricia
Carolyn Hawkins
Anne Puchert
Rebekah Ramsay
Dean
Isabella Mottee
Kathryn Puchert
John Somers
Campbell
Greg Mottee
Jacob
Rosemary Murray
David
Kyanah Goggin
Thomas
Dan Patrick
Fiona
5
7
7
7
Group 5
Group 6
Group 7
Group 8
Michelle Duffy
Mick Fardell
Wendy Kelly
Suzanne Leigh
Tess Ausburn
Linda Day
Clare Wilson
Sidonie McLoughlan
Cathy Piggott
Lucy Day
Jo Wilson
Elleke Hoogland
Anna Somers
Grace Ballinger
Melena Hegy
Nona Byrnes
Ashleigh Hales
Leanne Alexandra
Zac Wallerford
Anne Trotter
Andrew Gawne
Tara Ferguson
Sean Kelly
Ben Trotter
Quang Mai
Renee Trotter
6
6
7
7
FINAL MEETING BEFORE WE LEAVE
The last chance to bring anything up will be this thursday at the regular meeting, so if you think of it let someone know. If you are missing any item of clothing now is the time to chase it up.
MEDICAL INFORMATION
There are still quite a few who haven't provided Trish with their medical information, so can you do so ASAP. Especially if your kids are going and you aren't.
FINAL PAYMENTS
Final payments are due ASAP.
EXCHANGE RATE
The Australian dollar is up to nearly ¥70 which is a good improvement from not that long ago.
THE BOOKLET
If anyone knows a printer who is willing to help with the printing of our booklets or who has access to facilities to print them please let me know. We are looking at printing some 300 books with at least 10 pages (both side). That equates to 3,000 pages or 6 reams of paper. Doing it on an inkjet is just not practical or good enough quality, so a laser printer/photocopier would be better.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT EVERYONE UNDERTHE AGE OF 18 YEARS OLD HAS HAD A CONSENT FORM SIGNED BY THEIR PARENTS OR GUARDIANS CONSENTING TO PHOTOGRAPHS BEING TAKEN OF THEM AND USED IN RELATION TO AND FOR HASTINGS KOALAS ORCHSTRA FUNCTIONS/ACTIVITIES ONLY.
If you have any queries or concerns don't hesitate to ask.
The photographs may appear in public publications incl. Newspapers, Magazines on this website (Portpix.com.au) and other specific publications such as booklets, leaflets and alike to be used by the Hastings Koalas Orchestra. They will not be sold or used for any other purposes and the individuals depicted will have free access to them.
♫ Important Events & Information ♫
Wendy's Whirlwind Guide to Japan
In answer to the Lonely Planet Guide we have the aptly named 'Wendy's Whirlwind Guide to Japan', which can be downloaded for your information.
In it you will find lots of information you will want to know about the major places we are visiting.
A big thank you to Wendy for putting the time and effort into preparing this guide.
Well we made it into the March, 2009/issue 40 of the Greater Port Macquarie Focus magazine with a whole page article including photos and interviews with Pat and Trish.
Click the Focus banner to go to the article.
28 February, 2009
Trivia Night
Port Macquarie Golf Club
Well the trivia night was a HUGE success and much bigger than I had anticipated. So thanks to you all for doing such a wonderful job of getting people to come along.
A thanks to all those from the HKO that put so much of their time into the night and making it the success that it was.
I will try and get some facts and figures on how many people came and how many teams we had.
The orchestra did really well, especially considering the cramped conditions they had to play in.
The orchestra doing well in the cramped conditions.
This gives some indication of how many people came. There were more outside on the decking and standing behind me, and don't forget the orchestra members had to be seated also. So a BIG turn out.
A time to relax after a hectic start to the night.
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Not long now, so get those tables organised.
Unfortunately the tragic events in Victoria have overshadowed everything and there are charity trivia nights scheduled for a couple of days before and another on the same night as ours, but do the best you can.
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Try and encourage a table from different organisation to come along, it's only $50 for a table of 6 or $10 each. So if you know anyone is real estate, car yards, Country Energy, Doctors, Nurses, Teachers, a group of friends, get them to come along.
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If you know a business who might be willing to provide prizes, vouchers etc. could you please approach them to see if they will support the Trivia Night.
17 March, 2009
Tuesday at 6.00pm
A Taste of Japan - Dinner
Mick has put together a night as Sushi-ko Japanese Restaurant (opposite Coles) for those interested in experiencing A Taste of Japan.
If you have never tried Japanese food then this is the perfect opportunity to do so and for those of us that have been before, there is no need to tell you how nice Ko's food is.
Price: $35.00 per head Max of 30 people (contact Mick on ksksensei@optusnet.com.au to book your seat - we have the whole restaurant to ourselves)
BYO alcohol (soft drinks available along with teas etc)
* Okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza) *
Gyoza (Dumplings) * Nori Rolls
Japanese Language
For those of you who missed out on the Japanese course
David Brassey has kindly put together a sheet of 'basic' Japanese phrases for us. It includes the phrase written in English, Japanese and spelt phonetically to make it easier in our what will be interesting attempts at pronouncing them. Click David's Japanese for Dummies to download a copy of it in '.pdf' format.
I noticed you forgot one David; "Where am I, I'm lost?"
Itinerary
There are still a few things to be finalised with the itinerary and as soon as it is it will be posted here for you to download.
Exchange Rate
Due to the ¥ being so strong against the $A dollar, things are working out to be more expensive than was originally budgeted for nearly 12 months ago. At that time the A$ dollar was buying over ¥100. It has dropped dramatically and is currently hovering around the ¥60 per A$ ... not good. So everything is proving to be more expensive in relative terms, so consider this and factor it in when working out how much money you will need/want to take as spending money.
I don't know about you, but I think they came out well.
Below are just some of the fantastic places we will be visiting whilst in Japan.
Plenty more to come, so stay tuned.
Well the Rally's been run and won.
Despite it being quite a hot day everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the day was a great success thanks to a lot of hard work by Mick. We had a total of 22 cars entered and only 2 got lost. A few got geographically misplaced for a short time, but found their way to the finish line in the end.
Car Rally around Port Macquarie - 8 February, 2009
Organiser: Mick Fardell
Hastings Koala Orchestra - Car Rally DATE: 9.00am Sun 8th Feb
TOWN BEACH CARPARK NEAR KIOSK
COST: $25/car all money raised will go towards the 2009 Japan tour
Entry fee includes Sausage sizzle for those that don’t get to lost.
The winner will be judged on time and accuracy (Judges decision is final)
1st prize: Trophy
There will also be prizes for;
*The Best decorated car and passengers
*The Best Movie theme car and passengers
Please return the form with your entry fee to receive your car rally pack and starting instructions to Michael ASAP. (any problems just give him a call):
To assist with catering please contact Rally Organiser Michael Fardell on 0412425734 or ksksensei@optusnet.com.au by the 6 Feb to receive your
car number and starting position.
If you are looking for any photographs involving the orchestra or any fund raising events,
1st prize: Trophy
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