Wednesday 4 August

Excursions
After breakfast we split into three groups and we went on different excursions.

One group went on a Moose Safari. First we went on a tourist train and drove through the moose park. The driver gave us tree branches so we could feed the animals with it. As we drove around the park the animals came to us and we could touch and feed them. We saw buffalos and bisons were also there at the farm.

Another group went to Varberg and visited the castle. The castle has an interesting museum which tells about life in a castle and the history of the region. There was also a stable museum where we could see cows and people working on a traditional farm. We had a tour guide who took us around the castle and explained the history from the 12th to 20th century. We also visited an old prison which is in the castle. At the end of the tour we watched some movies and saw furniture from the Titanic. After visiting the castle we went for a walk down the coast for about half an hour.

The third group went to the dairy farm in Wapnö with 1100 Holstein cows. Three calves are born every day during summer. We could see how the cows are milked and how they package their milk. At the farm they produce ice cream, cream, yogurt, and cheese. As a visitor you can also use different services including accommodation, restaurant and café. Their facilities for milking cows are 60 cows at one time, so they are milking 2,5 hours and 3 times per day. They have 50 employees. They feed 80 000 kg of silage per day. At the end of the tour we tasted all their products

One group also visited the horse-farm at Plönninge college. We had the possibility to improve our horse-riding skills or were driving around with a trotting carriage.

Host families
After the excursions we went to our host families. We went in groups of 2-4 people and enjoyed a fantastic stay with our families. Each family did very different things, giving participants a chance to enjoy activities they had never tried before.

Here’s a selection of experiences from participants:

• My host family was cute couple who lived in Varberg. We had a little tour around the city and some shopping. In the evening we had great bbq with other people who were at different hosts. We grilled, played games, and talked about our cultures. We went to the bed quite early because everybody were tired. We had really great time in the host families.

• After being picked up by our host family we spent a great time with the family and some of the family friends and made a BBQ. Later that night we had some relaxing time with other host family and rally participants. It was a good day.

• We stayed with Jimmy who runs a pig farm. We got there, ate some tacos and went to bed. The morning started off at around 10. We had a look around the farm, which was pretty impressive. The host had a big farm where he grew crops for the pigs, grew the pigs and sent them to the slaughter house. Later we had a drivie around his lands, saw some sights and then we got back to the Rally. We had a good time and really liked the stay.

• We visided a village called Ysby and had the chance to visit the church tower and enjoyed an breathtaking panoramic view. After that we went to an lake for an refreshing swim. In a city called Laholm we visited some sculptures and got them explained and bought some exiting souvenirs. In the evening we enyojed a bbq.

• My host family picked us up and drove with us to their farm and showed us around. It was very interesting to see how their farm is working. They have an milking robot and also an automatic feeding system for their 150 cows. Our host family is living very close to the coast so we went also to the beach for a swim in the 20 degrees warm water of the sea. For dinner we had a bbq as well and had an very interesting discussion and cultural exchange between our countries.