Ten Ladies from the Friendship Force of Malang visited us from the 28th April till the 5th May. They were a mix of Muslim and Christian ladies. We gave them an insight to our industries as well as the tourist sights.

The Mayor entertained them at a civic reception and a rose was planted in the friendship force rose garden in front of the civic centre to mark the occasion.

A visit to a local potter was interesting as he demonstrated his craft from beginning to the finished product.

We visited Donovans' dairy where saw cows being milked (2000 cows twice a day) with only three people performing the milking operation. The rotary dairy holds 116 cows on the turntable. On the way home some of us saw many kangaroos in the wild along side the pine plantations.

Unfortunately we were unable to visit the live crayfish factory as the seas had been too rough the previous days for any catch to be processed.

A visit to Penola and Coonawarra saw us visit the Rymill winery where we sampled the wines on offer and we able to purchase those that we liked. We were able to witness the grapes being mechanically harvested as well. A picnic lunch was held at the gardens of John & Sue Zwar whose ten acre garden was most enjoyable – especially the reflection pool.

Ninety one year old Glen Clifford entertained us as he showed us through his historic home at "Yallum Park". This mansion was built around 1880 and is in remarkably good condition and it is still his home.

A few free mornings and a free day enabled us to show them the Blue Lake and other attractions our town has to offer.

A visit to the Tantanoola and the Engelbrecht caves showed two different types of caves - the former being a wet cave with the stalagmites and stalactites whereas the latter is a dry one but runs under a substantial part of Mount Gambier

A highlight of the visit was the Indonesian banquet the ladies prepared for us and themselves which they prepared in three of our homes then consumed in our meeting hall like our normal pot luck tea.

During the week the ladies also visited the Lady Nelson Interpretive Centre and went on the Aquifer tour of the Blue Lake – right down to the waters' edge.

The final day saw us in a pine forest to witness mechanical harvesting of the pine trees as well as the removal of the logs from the forest.

That evening we farewelled them at a dinner where they entertained us with singing and an Indonesian dance.

As the ladies left on the coach to Adelaide there were quite a few wet cheeks and red eyes. Come back to see us again one day.