MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

 Personally, I spent Christmas time and several weeks in January in Switzerland. Winter in our home country felt almost like a new experience as I hadn’t been there at this time of the year since 1988. It was cold, yes, but as one always rugs up well when going outside, and because all houses, restaurants, shops, trains and buses are warm and draft-free, one does not feel the cold as much as in the Australian winter.  Snow was scarce and the landscape and towns looked quite bare in many places.  

However, this made for interesting experiences too, for instance looking down from the Pfalz (the area behind the Münster in Basel) over the river Rhine and at the very long row of houses of Kleinbasel, I realised that I had not seen them like that in all those years. In spring, summer or autumn, the green trees in front of the houses prevent that view. It shows that you should always try to see the positive (a good view of the houses in this case), even if the negative seems to prevail at first sight (cold weather, bare trees). 

Our society's 2026 outings start with a lunch at the Little Snail restaurant in Pyrmont on 5 March. When you look up EVENTS (above) you can find the dates for the other social undertakings for the year. 

You may also consider to occasionally join us at the monthly Casual Lunch in Tempe. There’s no need to book, just come along and enjoy the company of twenty or more Swiss having a good time. And/or, if you like to play the great Swiss card game, come and hit the table at the Jass afternoons. For more info just keep browsing this website. 

From the committee we can report that we have found a new secretary. She was officially elected into the role at the AGM. Darina Herden is from Geneva, young and energetic, and she is looking forward to assisting our society. We're confident that we'll continue to have a great working relationship.