The Lions Club’s Youth Exchange Camp took place in South Australia with 10 participants from all over the world attending the camp this month.

The chosen candidates hailed from Mongolia, Canada, New Zealand, Austria, Malayasia and Australia’s eastern states such as New South Wales.

The campers visited Hahndorf, Willow Creek, Victor Harbor, Goolwa and Port Elliot for their first few days before travelling to blue light outdoor adventure camp Noora Yo-Long in Rendelsham for the rest of their experience.

Over the duration of the camp participants travelled all around the South East including stops at Rendlesham, Millicent, Beachport, Naracoorte, Mount Schank and Mount Gambier.

Among their fun filled schedule they got the opportunity to learn paddle boarding at Beachport, visit the Naracoorte Caves and Mini Jumbuk, go snorkelling in Kilsby Sinkhole and play disc golf in the Crater Lakes.

A cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages and toast was one of the final treats for the group of overseas teenagers who attended Millicent’s annual Australia Day Breakfast at Jubilee Park on Friday.

For 18-year-old Canadian Emma Lewis, her Australian odyssey was the perfect way to spend part of her so-called “gap” year.

After completing secondary school, Ms Lewis is heading for tertiary studies in town planning.

“I work three part-time jobs back home in Canada: gym coach, barista and hostess,” Ms Lewis said.

“I was encouraged to come to Australia by my grandfather who is a Lion and my local Lions club is meeting some of the expenses.

“This trip is about expanding my world view, learning about Australian culture and having fun and I have achieved this.”

Asked to nominate her favourite experiences in Australia, Ms Lewis praised the Duckeroo animal rescue service at Beachport, paddle boarding at Southend and knee-boarding with the Beachport Surf Lifesaving Club.

“I was surprised to see the Australians drive on the wrong side of the road and another new experience was eating kangaroo meat,’ she said.

The C2 district is the largest Lions Club district in the world spanning from the Northern Territory – encompassing north western New South Wales and north western Victoria – all the way down to Port MacDonnell.

Lions Club C2 immediate past district governor and Lions Club Noora Yo-Long Youth Exchange camp director Darryl Morley described the camp as ‘brilliant’ and ‘absolutely awesome.’

“The kids came together really quickly as a group, they made friends very, very rapidly and the entire camp exceeded everybody’s expectations,” he said.

“As far as everything the organisation was fantastic, the cooperation from all the Lions clubs both on the Fleurieu and here in the South East was absolutely outstanding.

“The way the children encompassed all the activities was fantastic and especially down here at Noora Yo-Long the work that was done at the Blue Light, it just surpassed all expectations.

“The kids just gelled and what they learnt within leadership and their own personal growth was fantastic.”

Mr Morley hailed the camp a huge success.

“Moving forward we have a memorandum of understanding with the Blue Light for three years,” he said.

“Our youth exchange person (Amber Cauchi) will be taking over the role of camp director and youth exchange after the coming years.

“The bones of our camp program have now been set and everything is going full steam ahead.

“We will be doing a debrief very shortly in a few weeks or so.

“We will look at what did work and what did not work from our perspective, and we will be surveying the young people via a survey tool to see what their thoughts were and let that guide us for next year.”

Mr Morley said the camp goers thoroughly enjoyed the paddle boarding at Southend, the surf lifesaving with the Beachport Surf Lifesaving Club, and the high ropes at camp Noora Yo-Long.

“They were only a few, they had so many life experiences they have got them to carry for life,” he said.

“They have made fast friendships; they have created their own chat group and they will keep in contact with each other.

“They have made so many friends, just to watch them develop has been brilliant.

“I would just like to thank all of the Lions Clubs who have put in an extraordinary amount, the cohesion hat has been there amongst the Lions … has been outstanding, they were doing what Lions do and they serve.

“I would also like to thank the organisers of all of this, it’s two years in the making this camp and a few people have put in the hard yards.

“In the end the camp is not about us as Lions, it’s about our campers and developing them as future leaders.”

Mr Morley said camp will be going ahead for at least the next three years and hopefully longer.