Brian (USA 05) & Julie Stirling, a son, Ben

Noelle (Scotland 96, Rally 00) & John

(Wales 99, Rally 01) Hanna, a daughter,Ellen

Helen (Rally 95) & Glenn (England 96,

Rally 98) Mayne, a daughter, Sarah

Fiona (Scotland 02)& Shaw Hanna, a

daughter, Zoe

Thoburn (Rally 03) & Claire (Rally 04)

McCaughey, a son, Samuel

Engagements:

Congratulations to the following people who have been selected to represent the YFCU as ambassadors for 2011.

Team leader-William Wilson (Cappagh),  Louise Mc Ginley (Moycraig), Alan Boyd (Straid), Ruth Marshall (Moneyrea), William Cochrane (Coleraine)

Wales—Lou-Ellen Warnock (Ballywalter)

Australia— Ruth Blackburn (Seskinore)
USA - Alice Cunningham (Cookstown)

Best wishes to them all for what will, no doubt, be one of the most eventful and memorable experiences of their lifetime!

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Ruth ends her visit to Tasmania

I have been in Tasmania as part of the YFCU exchange programme for nearly three months now and I am coming to the end of my trip and a truly action packed time I have had.

I have stayed with clubs and families all over the north, north west and south of Tasmania.

Tasmania advertises itself as the natural state of Australia. This is easy to see with half of its land mass in conservation or wilderness protected areas. This is mostly in the south west of the region where there are no access roads so it can remain 'wild'. The scenery and landscape of Tasmania can change dramatically in a short distance, from large mountains and hidden valleys to beautiful beaches and bays on the east coast to the ruggedness of the west and gum trees everywhere.

The northern parts of the state are where the majority of dairy and cropping properties are located. In the southern midlands and south this is where you will find most of the areas for wool production from the Merino sheep. Beef production and tree plantations occur throughout the state. Tasmania has a large forestry industry, as trees planted have a turnaround period of 20 -25 years compared to the UK of up to 90 years. The most popular beef cattle are Angus, Hereford and Murray Greys.

I am currently in my 11th week of exchange and with my 18th family and have enjoyed every minute. I have stayed on a variety of properties, from large wool production, to beef and cropping, dairy farms, hobby farms, one horse riding school and with members who have nothing at all to do with farming, however, enjoy being part of the rural youth.

I have done much sightseeing while in Tasmania and have visited several national parks. A few of my favourites have been Wineglass Bay on the east coast, Cradle Mountain which is one of the most popular and the day we visited, also the wettest. I have been to Mount Field and Mount Wellington which is above the main city of Hobart in the south and particularly enjoyed a day's hiking with the North Midlands Walking Group to the top of Table Mountain.

Of the farming families whom I have stayed with many have given me tours and invited me to help on their properties. I say help and mean hopefully not too much of a hindrance. This has given me the opportunity to do milking, rounding up and penning sheep, checking and putting up fences, collecting firewood, assessing grass growth, attend cattle sales and a day in shearing sheds where I was shown how to skirt a fleece, class the wool and even gave a go at shearing a Merino sheep, for this I apologise to the ewe for the poor haircut.

Members of Rural Youth have been generous to me and been able to arrange a variety of farm and factory visits for me to enjoy. These have included tours of local honey and salmon farms as well as around Houston's lettuce farm which produces more than 15 varieties and supplies the two major supermarkets in Australia and transports for consumption all over the mainland. I was given a tour of Botanical Resources Australia who grow pyrethrum for the produce of natural insecticides by the returning exchange, Robin from the UK who also arranged a tour around an agronomy lab where they specialise in producing seed potatoes, both which transport worldwide.

Other activities I have enjoyed whilst being on exchange is sleeping in a swag at a club sleep-over followed by a day at Campbell Town Agricultural show and seeing wool judging in action. Visits to three different chocolate factories, four if you count visiting Cadbury's twice and it does indeed taste different. Ours is much better though. I have visited several wildlife parks and been spotlighting to catch glimpses of the native wildlife including possums, penguins, wallabies, wombats and the elusive Tasmanian Devils which are cute but ferocious. I also gave a go eating wallaby and black swan and enjoyed both, especially wallaby as it is a very lean meat.

One of the most interesting visits I have done has been to Port Arthur, the convict site where secondary offenders were sent to carry out their sentences. I would like to take this opportunity to thank YFCU for selecting me and Kerry Megrath at YFCU HQ for all her help and my friends and sponsors

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