The Lorient Port area provided sailing and rowing activities over the last few days. This morning we visited a factory specalising in the production of multi hulled yachts and racing keelboats and the visit to the most impressive sailing museum (yes that is correct I am a kiwi saying this as recently constructed 18 million euro museum was great)- more details to follow when we next have free time with internet access next Friday….:) The afternoon involved a visit to another industrial engineering facility that specialises in manufacture of machinery for abattoirs. Couedic Madore Equipement.
The evening was another two club presentation. This was well received by all and went very well. 
Our first visit in Lorient was to Chantier naval de plaisance, builders of rescue, pilot and taxi boats for the local industry. These boats are all constructed from fibre glass and were up to 10m in length.
Another lunch was had on the water front, pots of Moule were enjoyed by us all with French Fries (in France, Ha!!) and a 500ml beer each, a nice change from the vin. Once desert was had and there was only bottled beer left (we realised that perhaps beer is not really the done thing) we left for the Citadel.
Construction of the Citadel began in 1590 by the French in conjunction with the Spaniards to stop the protestant religion from enering Europe. This was a magnificient complex and now houses 3 museums that document the first trade ships, the evolution of naval rescue services and the salvage of historical goods. We all enjoyed this museum a great deal.
Monday evening was a two club presentation at the Tabarly Museum. This was a great evening and our presentation went very well.
Our travel day… We left our first host families with happy memories of the week that we had had… We all greatly enjoyed our time in Quimper and were thankful for the amount of organisation that had been undertaken for our visit.
We arrived at Lorient, another seaside town and were distributed to the locals for the weekend. We each had great weekends with our new host families seeing the sites of our village for the next week.
A visit to Bigard, the largest meat processing factory in France with over 60 cattle and 400 pigs being processed per hour!!! Bigard have dealings with alliance Co op in New Zealand. This is even more impressive in that they also have a bakery which produces breads and croissants for the meat to be included!
Following our morning visit we visited the local government building, the Hotel De Ville, to meet Madame Le Berre a deputy mayor for a glass of cassis and cidre and nibles. This was a warm up for La Mouche Qui Louche (the cross eyed fly) Bistrot and Boufee. Another marvellous meal with vin rouge and café before sunning ourselves in preparation for our next meeting in the afternoon.
Geult was the next visit. Guelt is an industrial engineering facility that has grown from 1 to 120 people in its 30 years history. They specialise in plant for food processing including maintenance and refurbishment of old machines. The scale and quality of the building was very impressive.
This was our last night in the Quimper and we were hosted the Quimperle club at the Les Moulins Du Duc. This dinner was attended by various club members as well as the DG Gerard Quere. This was a fantastic 5 course meal which was also our best presentation to date. A wonderful night was had by all and we were privileged to each receive personalised plates from the HB Henriot Factory that we visited last week.
Concarneau, a seaside town which was well known for it fishing industry but is becoming a dedicate ship building port www.concarneau.org Our first visit of the day was to JFA, where we were accompanied by two potential EGE (NZ – GSE) members for the trip to New Zealand in March.
JFA specialise in high end boats and yachts and showed us around their design area and ship building facilities, where we were taken through a new super yacht that was about 25m in length. Amazing! www.jfa-yachts.com
Chaintier Naval Piriou was our next stop which specialized in the design and construction of tugs, fishing boats and fast passenger ferries. This was an impressive factory with boats up to 50m being constructed in three different warehouses.
Lunch was at another seafood waterfront restaurant filled with men and Moule (muscles). Once again were we amazed at the quality of the seafood.
The afternoon was spent at the Musee De La Peche, which showed us the history of fishing. The models within the Musee were amazing.
We had some time to wander the walls of the La Ville Close which was a medieval town from the 16th century, spectacular in the sun! We were also shown an art gallery that had works by Sydney Thompson, a well known New Zealand painter that lived in Concarneau from the age of 23.
The evening meeting went well, with the refined presentation proving to be a hit, with numerous ohhhss and ahhhss at our amazing scenery.
By now the amazing Antoine had graduated to agent 002, with a licence to kill rabbits (late at night in our Renault Transit Van on back country roads).
The day started with a visit to Entremont, a very large cheese factory that is 1 of 26 throughout Europe turning over more than $2 billion Euro annually. The factory produces 20,000 ton of Chedar cheese per year, as well as a large variety of their cheeses and well as Whey powder and other dairy products.
Our 2nd presentation was at Quimper and did no run like the smoothly refined machine that we had anticipated. We had the afternoon (5 hours) to gripe and moan about what was required but were all very happy with the results of our efforts. Antoine and Claude worked above and beyond the call of duty to help us to correct and refine our translations for which we were very grateful.
A quite evening followed which was appreciated by all.
Antoine, by now aka 007, accompanied by Jose and David showed us the coastal area of Douanenez including stops at Pointe Du Raz, Pointe Du Van and Baie des trepasses. This drive provided spectacular vistas western cost of Brittany. Lunch for the day was at Le Charcot and included the famed Escargot! It was a great meal which set the standard for the meals to follow.
In the afternoon we were welcomed to the sardine factory Le Connetable, which has been in operation for over 120 years.
We also wandered around the port areas to see the local industry and boats/yachts in the river and harbour.
This evening was our first presentation which was invaluable in providing us with an idea of the changes that were required to meet the expectations of our hosts/audience.
Vocational: The first official day of our exchange was also our first vocational day. We each spent the day with a host being shown places of interest or relevance with regard to our individual vocations.
Lundi Soiree Ben, Chris and Don were entertained by Jean and Denise as well as our host families. This was a hiliarious night with some lovely vin rouge, cidre and rhum being consumed while our host for the evening prepared glorious Crep’s in savoury and sweet. The quote for the evening was ‘just one more drop’ given by our wonderful and ever entertaining driver, Antione… before he was escorted to the car for the drive home.
Second Group Meeting (23 August)
Our second planning meeting was in Palmerston North and focused on deciding the group look. This included flyers, business cards, badges, gifts and uniforms. Soul Street Wear, Taihape offered the distinctive look for Kiwi clothing, while Federation http://www.federation.co.nz/ portraying the casual kiwi image we wanted in France. As the only woman in the group, Mary’s direction and involvement provided a vaulable insight into today’s well dressed man! We men were completely at her mercy. She decided on black suits with a variety of shirts and ties in an identical set for each of us males, plus other ties from Kia Kaha http://www.kiakaha.co.nz/index.pasp.
Mary selected her clothes unaided by the rest of the group tres chic!!
Third Group Meeting (19-21 September)
This third planning meeting was hosted by Don and Phyl Cameron in their new house in Horopito. The location is most impressive with the house surrounded by native rainforest and with great views of Mt Ruapehu. Our thanks to both Phyl and Don for their hospitality.
The group from Rotary District 9940 http://www.rotary9940.org.nz/index.php will consist of one group leader (Rotarian) and four group members (non-Rotarians):
Stephan Symonds
Mary Blackman
Ben Dunsheath
Don Cameron—Group Leader
