Dear Cha-Wel-Dor-Sue:

Our trip to Australia this year was via Hawaii and Auckland, New Zealand, whereas the last time we visited Australia, we had gone via Tahiti and Auckland, New Zealand. We spent some 23 days in Australia on this visit and were very much impressed with this magnificent country which next year will be celebrating its 200th Anniversary. It was obvious that preparations were being made all over the country to commemorate this occasion and they were particularly prominent in Sydney, where streets were being torn up to provide mass transportation facilities.

Australia, incidentally, is the world's largest island and is approximately the size of the United States. Yet, however, it is this planet's smallest continent and is approximately half the size of Antarctica.

As a consequence of this trip, both Pat and I have a very good feeling for this country "down under", having previously visited Sydney and its capital, Canberra, and on this occasion, visiting Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Fremantle, Alice Springs and Ayers Rock, as well as Cairns, the major approach to the Great Barrier Reef.

Our previous trip, I might reiterate, was part of a 12 day visit to the South Pacific and included four days in Tahiti, four days in New Zealand, and four days in Australia, the time in Australia being spent largely in Sydney and Canberra, but we also managed to visit a sheep farm in the country, where we watched sheep dogs at work and watched expert shearing of the wool from the sheep.

Our trip on this Odyssey actually began in Melbourne, the capital of one of the seven Australian states, the State of Victoria. Sydney is the capital of New South Wales, Adelaide is the capital of South Australia, and Perth is the capital of Western Australia. Darwin is the capital of the North Territories and Brisbane is the capital of Queensland. We did not have time to visit the island state of Tasmania and its capital, Hobart.

Melbourne is a beautiful, sophisticated, academically-oriented city with a predominantly English atmosphere. It is the financial capital of Australia and has many beautiful parks and is divided by the lovely Yarra River, where we saw more rowers and sculls than I have seen anywhere else in the world.

It was here also that we saw koala bears snoozing in the green eucalyptus trees. They are nocturnal animals and are active only at night. It was here also, at Phillips Beach, that we saw the Fairy Penguins, which are the smallest species of penguins. They are the kind that live in burrows on the mainland and swim out and back to the island each day.

Our bus trip from Melbourne to Adelaide took us into the countryside with nights spent on the Murray River at Echuca and Mildura, two very beautiful towns. We had a paddlewheel steamer ride at Echuca that at least might have been reminiscent of a trip that Mark Twain might have made in the early days of the Mississippi River. The Esplanade at Mildura consumed a whole roll of film as I walked the two miles from the center of the town to our hotel, photographing literally every floral arrangement in the middle of this dual lane road. No other town of comparable size has such magnificent floral decorations and it is interesting that many of them are sponsored by civic clubs and local business enterprises. Perhaps it is the sort of project that might well be adopted in our own country.

In approaching Adelaide, we drove through the Baroosa Valley, home of many vineyards, and stopped at two of them to sample their products. They make excellent wines in Australia and this particular area is famous for some of their products. They have fared well in international wine competitions.

Adelaide is a beautiful city with a magnificent city center and cultural complex, but our stay there was much too short for any significant comments about the city. Everyone regretted our all too brief stay there.

We left Adelaide for Perth on the famous Indian Pacific Railroad, and spent two nights and an entire day crossing the Nullarbor Plain. The scene outside the window did not vary one iota during the entire trip and on one stretch, the railroad tracks were perfectly straight for over 300 miles! En route, we did stop at Kilgoolie, formerly the site of a gold rush in the 1850's, after our gold rush in California had panned out.

Perth, to both Pat's and my mind, was the most beautiful city we visited. It is young, westernized, and with a beautiful location on the Swan River. Just downstream is Fremantle, on the Indian Ocean, where the America Cup races were held. Evidence of the recent race's activities was everywhere to be seen and many of the racing yachts were still there in the Marina, being readied for return to their respective countries. It seems that Dennis O'Connor is "God" in Fremantle, having recaptured the title of the America Cup Championship. We spent a beautiful sunny day taking a steamer ride down to and back from Fremantle and saw many, many yachts, marinas, and nautical activity along the shore, as well as innumerable beautiful homes built on the hills overlooking the river. It was a gorgeous day and while we were in Fremantle, we had lunch at one of their seafood restaurants and enjoyed the catch of the day, which was a delicious sea perch.

Perhaps the highlight of our trip to Australia was our trip to the Outback. Our plane took us from Perth to Alice Springs, a two and one half hour flight. On the following day, we flew to Ayers Rock, site of the largest monolith (rock) in the world, and also the site of an unusual arrangement of rocks called the Olgas. These stand out on this vast flat plane, which, apparently, according to geologists, was formerly an inland sea. I am not sure that I thoroughly understand the geological basis for the presence of Ayers Rock and the Olgas as well as another unusual rock formation called Tower Mountain. While at Ayers Rock, we stayed at Yalura, a private deluxe hotel complex built to accommodate some 5,000 visitors a day, and we were bussed to and from the rock and the Olgas. Some of our group were nimble enough, or sturdy enough, to climb the rock, but unfortunately, I chickened out, much to my later regret. Those who did make it got up early in the morning and said it really wasn't too exhausting and could have been done by a lot of the rest of us had we chosen to take the time. Our return to Alice Springs was via bus and consumed approximately six hours of travel time. In driving this distance, we got a very good idea of what this desert-like area is like and saw vast stretches in which there was little or no activity of any kind and then again, we would see cattle ranches, one of which apparently was the size of the State of Rhode Island. En route, we stopped at a camel ranch, where some of our group rode the camels. Having previously had this experience in Egypt at the foot of the pyramids, we elected to forego this pleasure this time. The camels, incidentally, had been imported from Afghanistan during the construction of the first telegraph line from Adelaide, through Alice Springs, to Darwin in the far north and, later, these camels were used to construct the railroad from Adelaide to Alice Springs, now referred as the "Ghan Road".

From Alice Springs, we flew to Cairns, on the northeast coast of Australia, to see the famous Great Barrier Reef. These coral islands are over 1,200 miles long and afford one the opportunity to snorkel and scuba and to see almost an unlimited variety of marine life and coral formations. Unfortunately, it rained virtually every moment that we were in Cairns and so, we did not see it at its very best. This was to be expected, however, as this was their rainy season. While on Green Island, we did spend a little time on a glass bottom boat and were able to view the marine life through the bottom of the boat. From Cairns, we also went up to the famous Katang area using a bus to take us through their famous rain forest and after we had seen this old community, we came back on the famous Katang Railroad with a guide pointing out all of the interesting sites to be seen.

Our final stop was in Sydney and since this was familiar from our previous visit, we did not take any of the organized tours that were available. We did, however, take the Harbor Tour again so that we could see this magnificent bay area and also see the famous Opera House from the water. Incidentally, tickets for the opera were in great demand at all of their theaters and we were lucky enough to get the last two seats in the Symphony Hall, where we heard the performance of Mahler's Third Symphony. This concert hall accommodates 2,700 people. As far as Pat and I were concerned, the acoustics must have been almost perfect.

One cannot conclude any trip to Australia without commenting upon the Australian people, whom we always found most congenial, cooperative, helpful and friendly. It seems that no question that was asked was ever left unanswered, and they would go out of their way to be of assistance. I can't imagine people in any of our large cities who would be as kind as those we met in Australia. Even the clerks in the stores were warm and friendly, with gracious manners, and would assist us in every imaginable way in finding the articles that we were seeking, even if it meant sending us to another store nearby. The Australian cities are clean and free of litter and graffiti and it is obvious that they have a sense of pride in their country.

While in Australia, there was a Prime Minister election being carried on and we were listening to the opposing candidates. The Premier of Queensland, Sir Job Peterson, was rather impressive and his platform consisted of recommending a flat tax of 25%, no compulsory unionism, and more "privatization" of governmental activities. As I dictate this, I can relate that he was not successful in his quest and the so-called liberal group or Socialists prevailed. Australia, like the United States today, is a debtor nation, and is even being referred to as one of the "Banana Republics". I find all of this rather difficult to believe, as Australia has vast resources, particularly in the Kimberly section of Western Australia, where tremendous wealth is found in its mines. It is interesting that Australia produces more diamonds today than South Africa and is the major source of precious opals in the world. With its cattle and sheep industry, its copper and coal mines, and its potential gas and oil production, it obviously has a great future. Both General Motors and Ford make cars in Australia.

Australia does have a minority problem, its Aborigines. They have been treated like the Maoris in New Zealand, like the Indians in the United States, and like the Eskimos in Canada. Most of them are unemployed, exist on the dole, and are addicted to alcoholism. However, movements are afoot to improve their plight through education and job training. Their art is primitive and fascinating and I brought home with me a painting that is illustrative of their bark paintings. Perhaps the most interesting fact about the aboriginals is that they existed as a race as far back as 40,000 years ago and it is assumed that they crossed over from New Guinea during the last glacial Ice Age. How a group of aboriginals could have survived for as long as they did with so little cultural evolution is surprising. Perhaps a temperate climate is essential to cultural development.

Lastly, Pat and I can heartily recommend Saga Tours. They are modestly priced, provide very adequate accommodations, excellent tour leaders, and most of all, provide travel, baggage, and health insurance in their package! They are the organization that makes all of the travel arrangements for both the domestic and international Elderhostel tours. They are well experienced and dependable.

Love,

DAD

CEJ/ngb

T10/13/87