General News
30 August, 2025
Gilgandra PROBUS Club News
President Pat Thompson welcomed a large attendance of members and a new visitor to our club, Robyn Turner (nee Tierny) who has returned with her husband to live in Gilgandra.
Contributed by Margaret Schier, Publicity Officer
Pat extended sincere sympathy to our member Beryl Marchant following the passing of her son Harry very recently. Also, our sympathy to his wife Michelle and family.
Our club tour director told us of ‘Sculptors in the Garden’ at Mudgee in October. Contact Denise for further information.
Following morning tea, Rod and Christine Howchin were our August guest speakers, and they told us of their trip last September to China.
A couple from China, Ping and Yun had lived on a farm near the Howchin’s south of Gilgandra and invited them to visit their homeland.
Tourists can not stay more than 14 days, so Ping planned an amazing trip for them.
They flew into Guangzhou and were met by their friends and taken to the Sheraton Hotel. They noted how clean the streets and trains were.
From there they flew to Beijing and stayed in the Beijing Friendship Hotel which looked like a palace. They drove to the great wall which Rod walked part way. The wall is 10,000 miles long and some of it was built in the seventh century BC. They saw the Olympic stadium and Destroyed Palace also that day.
Next day they went to Tiananmen Square and saw mostly electric cars, everybody is employed and there is no dole. There seems to be no road rules, as people ride bikes on roads and footpaths and through traffic lights. A very fast, 300 kms/per hour, train took them to meet Yun’s family in Bautou, Inner Mongolia. Due to the freezing weather for much of the year, this city has three main coal hot water power stations and two are used to pipe hot water through every house built, in floors and bed frames. They were welcomed by Yun’s 90-year-old mother.
They were taken to a restaurant and the first foreigners ever to eat there. Rod and Christine told us of the amazing food with so many new things to try each day. They stayed four nights and were treated like royalty.
Then they drove to Dalad Xiangshawan Tourist Area where green meets the desert and tasted ‘donkey’ in a restaurant.
From there they went to Xian the very old capital of China, walked to the 2000-year-old city wall. They visited the Terracotta Army, found by a farmer in 1974 and as old as the city wall and still being discovered.
They enjoyed a stage show, a traditional Chinese massage, and markets. They returned to Guangzhou and visited the 2000-acre Chimelong Safari Park Zoo where most animals roam freely, lots of bush and shade land and pandas were a highlight to see. Onto a 17-hectare park and saw 100 varieties of bamboo trees and thick forest. The children’s play area there was like our Luna Park.
The flight back to Sydney was from that city and they have amazing memories of their trip.
Ping and Yun now live in Bautou and gave Rod and Christine the most wonderful holiday. Thank you, Rod and Christine, for taking us on your journey.
