I'm feeling a little like the ghost of Christmas future - I'm 12 hours ahead of you!

Actually, I'm writing this from the Chicago airport as we await the next leg of the trip, but by Sunday I'll be adjusting to the land down under.

That is, if we survive all the trips through airport security...I'm wondering what they thought when they scanned my suitcases full of 4-H goodies, graham crackers, and giant marshmallows?

Apparently, there are no graham crackers or giant marshmallows in Australia, so they've never had the treat of s'mores around a campfire!

On Monday morning we will fly north to Kununurra, Western Australia, and will give a presentation to our host Rotary club at the Ivanhoe Café.

Tuesday brings vocational time.

I am visiting the Save the Children Waringarri Resource Centre and a youth development program, while my teammates visit locations related to their own jobs.

Our team leader, George Pirkle, runs his own media company back home in Cumming and works with the historical society. He will visit the local historical society and tour the town and valley.

Joining George on the tour is Ryan Hawk of Monroe. Ryan is an assistant vice president at Gwinnett Federal Credit Union in Lawrenceville, so his other stop is the National Australia Bank.

Randa Hafez of Alpharetta and Stephanie Palmer of Covington are both lawyers. Randa is an assistant district attorney for Rockdale County while Stephanie is a defense lawyer for Daniel C. Chapman and Associates.
They are visiting Salemo Law and Aboriginal Family Law Service.

The Kununurra club also has lots of other plans for us, including a BBQ for 50 children at the Waringarri Chilling Space, a diamond mine tour, and a sunset cruise.

We'll return to Perth on Thursday before heading up the coast by car to Geraldton.
Next weekend will be spent at the Rotary District 9455 Conference.

The conference includes keynote speakers, concurrent sessions, a presentation by our team, and even a rock concert by Australian band Dragon.

Don't forget that you can follow along by visiting our blog at http://georgia2australia.wordpress.com and our map at www.tinyurl.com/georgia2australia.

You can also check out sites such as www.perthnow.com to read the local news, or search for our various locations on www.weather.com to see the weather - don't forget it is autumn in Australia!

We're all incredibly thankful to the Rotary clubs who nominated us, and to Rotary District 6910 and the Rotary International Foundation for sponsoring this trip.

I'd personally like to thank the Rotary Club of Covington for nominating me not once, but twice for this opportunity.

At the encouragement of Chris Jeuschke, I applied two years ago for a Group Study Exchange trip to Manchester, England.

That go round I served as the alternate team member and had to watch as the team jetted off. All things happen for a reason, though, as I was reminded when I made this team instead!

I'm also thankful to the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and my wonderful co-workers Ted Wynne, Kim Lawrence, and Debbie Eunice for their support of my trip.

It also wouldn't be possible without the help of countless volunteers and youth working on Cloverleaf Project Achievement, club meetings, Health Rocks!, Relay for Life, the BB team, horse judging and hippology, and the Newton Youth Leadership Institute.

Thank you to everyone for making the experience possible.

Terri Kimble is the Newton County 4-H Agent through UGA Cooperative Extension. She can be reached at (770) 784-2010 or tkimble@uga.edu.