January 1983: New Zealand

January 1983

New Zealand

New Year's Day we flew out of Hobart to Christchurch. The weather was clear over N.Z. so we got a good view of the Southern Alps. It was a fantastic sight. Some of them still had snow on them. Budget Rent-a-Car picked us up at the airport, took us to their office, where we got a Toyota Corona wagon. We found a motel and went to look for a place to eat. We walked around the downtown section. The wind was very cool but it wasn't too bad in the sun. The city center is Cathedral Square and the area around the Cathedral reminded us somewhat of European cities. We ate at a place called "The Jail" which the boys enjoyed. The partitions are bars and a noose hung over the table at which we ate (at the insistence of Toby and Dwight). The customers are also allowed to write graffiti on the walls in chalk. We also found a place selling "American hotdogs," which was the closest thing to the real McCoy I've seen since we left the states. Later that evening Dwight and I went for a walk in the park across from the motel. We walked along the Avon River and noticed a lot of ducks on it, which we ran into later on our trip.

January 2nd we drove to Hokitika over Arthur's Pass. The first 100 km were through flat farm or pasture land before the road started into the mountains. There are many, many streams with rock streambeds so the water is incredibly clear, in places appearing to be greenish blue. The road was not bad except there are quite a few one-lane bridges and signs warning of wandering stock. (I felt like we were back in Queensland.) The road rose gradually to Arthur's Pass and like I said, for the most part, was not too bad. We stopped at the visitor's center at the Pass and saw a movie of stage coaches going across the pass in the old days. It was hard to believe it was possible. Past the pass the road descends rapidly with many steep curves and descents. The road eventually leveled off before we reached the west coast where we turned south to Hokitika. This small town is famous for its greenstone factories. Greenstone is a type of jade (nephrite) and most of this particular type is found in the district around Hokitika. After getting settled we walked along the beach for awhile. There was a tremendous amount of driftwood , as well as lots of rocks which kept Dwight busy. We visited the greenstone factory (and the next day Dorothy went back and bought some), and then visited a museum. That night we drove a short way out of town to see a glowworm dell. We walked back through an area between high banks to a circular area into which fell a small waterfall. At first we saw nothing and were about to leave when some people pointed out a small blue.pinpoint of light in one spot under a plant. As it got darker, more and more of the little lights showed up.

The next morning we left Hokitika and visited the Blue Spur Gold Mine. There are lots of old tunnels you can walk back into and with water dripping down from the ceiling and no light except from a dim flashlight it was eerie enough, but when I shone the light on the wall and saw a large strange bug, I decided I didn't need to see any more mine shafts. We wandered around looking at an old prospector's shed, a windlass over a mine shaft, numerous mine shafts, and a rock dam the miners built to provide their water. I took the kids for a ride in an old ore cart. We also watched a guy demonstrate a gravity-fed "sluice," then we got to the part the kids had waited for — panning for gold. Thanks to the help of the guy there, each kid left the proud owner of some small flakes of gold. ^—

We drove on down the coast, up and down mountains, along winding roads and across many one-lane bridges, one of which was different - railroad tracks ran across it. At one point we turned off the main road and drove back to the Okarito Lagoon (10 km of gravel road) to see the white herons that nest there part of the year. We saw one, so it was successful. We drove on to Franz Josef Glacier. We couldn't see it for clouds. We started to drive back the road to the glacier, but the road was being rebuilt and was in pretty bad condition and trying to go through a stream, I hit the car bottom on the stream bed, forcibly - what a racket. So I decided to turn around. We drove on to Fox Glacier and settled in a motel and headed for the glacier itself. We drove back a dirt road as far as we could and walked from there. On the way back to the glacier signs along the road mark the points at which the glacier has terminated in years past. It's amazing how much it has receded since 1790, and even since 1960 it's quite a bit shorter. We walked far enough that we were able to get a good view of the lower part of the glacier. To have walked up onto it would have required much more effort and no one really wanted to do so, so we looked at it, took pictures, the kids threw rocks in the very rapid stream coming off the mountain. I fished some pieces of ice out of the stream for the kids and we headed back. Toby carried a piece of ice back but it melted before we got to the car. The valley carved out by the glacier is bounded by quite steep walls and numerous long waterfalls come down off the mountain to empty into the stream which flows over a stream bed composed entirely of rocks. On the way back to the main road we stopped at one place where a wooden, cable footbridge crosses the stream (or now more like a river). The bridge bounced up and down and sideways and it's a very strange feeling (fear?) crossing it. We made it across and walked through a beautiful rain forest — fantastic ferns, moss covered rocks and trees and lovely little streams. I was able to thoroughly enjoy it knowing N.Z. has no snakes. We climbed a hill which has a good view of the entire glacier. Although the top of the mountain was still cloud covered we were able to see a good bit of the top part of the glacier. That night we saw more glowworms in a spot near the motel.

The rain finally caught up with us the next day (Jan 4th). We spent the day driving from Fox Glacier to Queenstown (33.0 km). During parts of the trip on the road we played a guessing game of how many km to the next town. The road was two way except for about 30 one-way bridges and some narrow curves up and down the mountains which were marked "single lane." The scenery was varied, but there were few straight sections; some through mountains, some dark tree-lined corridors, sections running right along the rocky coastline, broad valleys with streams and fields full of sheep. It rained hard for part of the trip causing countless waterfalls off the mountains. There was a picture at almost every turn, but we only took a couple of shots. There was one section 50-60 km of gravel road including sharp narrow single-lane curves. I almost got wiped out once by a bus and by a car shortly thereafter. Fortunately, I was on the inside, next to the mountain, instead of next to the cliff. We stopped in Wanaka for lunch and it was a beautiful location, on a lake, but is a favorite vacation spot with swarms of people. Toby and Dwight fed ducks and went down a slide in a playground that was built in the form of a dinosaur. Toby through that was great. We finally got to Queenstown after a 5 and a half hour trip. We didn't do much in Queenstown that day. We did find a very American-type restaurant were almost everyone was satisfied with the food (Toby didn't like their hot dogs). That night we finally got to see at least part (episodes 3 and 4) of "A Town Like Alice."

January 5th was not a big day for sightseeing. We drove to a small town about 20 km away, called Arrowtown, which used to be a gold mining town. It is one block of little shops and a nice little museum. Back in Queenstown we took the cable car ride up to the top of one of the mountains from which you can view the entire Queenstown area including practically the entire lake on which Queenstown is located. Later that day the weather fumed extremely cool.

January 6th was almost a total loss except we got to Te Anau about noon and were able to find a motel (we had no reservations). We tried to get on the boat to the glowworm caves but it was having mechanical problems so it was cancelled. Then the weather turned bad and it rained off and on all day and was cold enough that we needed our jackets. One man told us it was the worst summer in the 20 years he had lived there (my black cloud strikes again). We did go to a trout observatory (I was not impressed). Later in the day we tried to get on the boat again but it was fall.

The next day we drove to Milford Sound. We woke to cold wet weather with fresh snow in the mountains. Dwight had a terrible congested cold and put on his dying routine. The first part of the trip to the Sound was not too bad — paved road, relatively flat, and then some short distance of unsealed road. We finally got into the mountains. At one place there was a valley full of pink and purple wild flowers by the Mirror Lakes. It was obvious that the lakes were very clear because there is a sign on the far side which has "Mirror Lakes" printed on it in reverse so it reflects in the lakes. It didn't that day due to the rain. The rain and low clouds only allowed glimpses of the mountains. The road finally started to go up and by the time we reached Homer Tunnel it was snowing! The tunnel is only one lane wide so the traffic goes in one direction for 25 minutes of each hour followed by a 5-minute break before the traffic flows in the other direction. We had to wait for about 5 minutes before we could go through and while waiting a Kea landed on our car and began-to investigate it. He first landed on the hood, jumped to the mirror and looked in and then jumped onto the roof and peered in over the edge to look in. They are very curious birds. Dorothy-opened the window a crack and held out a piece of bread and he took it. After coming out of the tunnel we began the descent around very sharp curves down into Milford Sound. When we got there some of the bread was still on the roof.

After settling in the Milford Hotel, we took the 2-hour cruise out into the Sound, clear out to the Tasman Sea. Even with the rain, the view was fantastic. The clouds occasionally broke giving glimpses of snow-capped mountains rising almost vertically out of the Fiord. There are several permanent waterfalls, one over 500 feet. But with the rain there were many, many waterfalls, some running for thousands of feet down the sides of the mountains. It was a beautiful trip and standing there on top of the boat shivering in the rain I felt that the whole trip was worthwhile just to have seen Milford Sound. (That was Jack's opinion.)

We didn't see any of the dolphins which sometimes swim by the boat, but we did see one seal laying on a rock. The rest of the day we spent in the hotel because it rained, sometimes poured, all day. The one day record rainfall for Milford Sound is over 20 inches and the total rainfall for 1982 was over 339 inches. I heard later in the day that it was still snowing in the mountains by the tunnel. I ate in the hotel restaurant and had a delicious fish dinner- grouper with anchovy butter. Then apple pie with whipped cream and ice cream. One of my truly memorable meals. We spent the rest of the evening loafing around the hotel — one TV channel (probably a tape), other entertainment included lawn bowling on the carpet in the hotel lounge.

We awoke the morning of Jan 8th in Milford Sound concerned about the road conditions at Homer Tunnel so we got on the road as soon as possible. When we got to within a couple of km of the tunnel, the road had two inches of slush and was very, very slippery. Fortunately, there were no other cars on the road to worry about on the hairpin curves leading up to the tunnel. The road wasn't nearly as bad on the other side of the tunnel, and eventually the weather cleared up. We were then able to see the entire range of mountains leading back toward the Sound and amazingly they were all snow-capped thanks to the unseasonable weather. As a matter of fact, after we got back to Te Anau, we could see snow-capped mountains all around the area. On the way back to Te Anau, we stopped several times to take pictures, including Mirror Lakes.

In Te Anau we finally took the boat over to the glowworm caves. The boat motored up the lake for 35 minutes to the caves, which are located on the other side of the lake. We all piled off the boat into a little cottage where one of the guides gave a talk on these living caves, which caves were used by a Maori tribe to hide for years from another hostile tribe. They eventually left there to become the lost tribe. Then the caves were lost for years and years, but were mentioned in Maori legend and were finally rediscovered not too many years ago. Groups of 14 people left 10 minutes apart to go into the caves. We walked to the entrance and had to stoop over for about the first 30 feet, then up past a 5-ft waterfall. From there we got in a boat which was pulled along hand over hand using a chain strung along the cave. We got out and walked some more. The water rushes through the cave very, very fast and at one place it swirls into a whirlpool before falling 16 feet and continuing on down the cave. The highlight of the caves, of course, is the glowworm: area. You climb into another boat and that one is pulled through, in total darkness and surrounding you are thousands of glowworms. The rocks are sometimes so close that if you'd try to stand up in the boat you would hit your head on the cave walls. With the rain the area had been getting there was quite a bit of water dripping from the roof. The part of the caves that we saw was a very small part of the entire system. You need a permit to go further, and besides you have to go underwater to go any further. There is one small stalactite (1.5 inches) in the cave which is 350 years old. That was the extent of our sightseeing that day.

The next day we drove from Te Anau to Dunedin in a little over three hours (about 290 km). The land almost the whole way was basically pastoral with sheep, sheep and more sheep. We crossed another one-laned road/railway bridge. Dorothy and I liked Dunedin so much we both feel that we could live there. It's a good size town (120,000) - not too big or too small, and is a college town (Otago University with about 6000 students). The town is built on a number of hills surrounding a beautiful blue harbor. We drove up to Larnach Castle via a road running across a series of hills and the view was fantastic. Larnach Castle is a neat old place that was built in the mid 1800's but had fallen into disrepair. It was bought in the 1960's and apparently restoration has. been going on ever since. It's in pretty good shape now but still needs work. We toured it and climbed to the tower from which there are excellent views of the coastline and harbor. The outstanding characteristic of the house is wood carving (furniture, panels, ceilings) done by one man who was employed there for some time.

We left there and drove down to the harbor side of the coast. (We were on the Otago Peninsula and the Pacific is on the other side.) We stopped at an aquarium run by the Otago U. It has a very good variety offish and other marine life. We continued on down the coast, stopping to look at an old Maori church, and finally reaching the tip of the peninsula, where there is a protected Royal Albatross Colony. Unfortunately it is only open a couple of days a week and then only to small tours so as not to disturb the birds. The tour is expensive and we heard the birds are still hard to see. Around the curve from the Albatross colony is a farm which borders a part of the coastline where seals and penguins live. We drove the 3 km of dirt road up and down some steep hills, through wandering sheep and horses, until we reached a parking area near the coastline. I hadn't really expected much but there on a rock lay 10 or more seals and walking around the hill we almost stumbled over one. I took a picture of the kids close to him and he sat up and acted like he was posing! We also saw a whole colony of strange looking birds called Shags which were roosting on the side of a cliff. We then walked over to an area up on the side of a hill overlooking a long flat beach which backed up to a steep sandy bank. On the beach waddling back and forth between the water and the bank were four, possibly more, penguins. Unlike the seals, we were quite a distance from them so we couldn't see them all that well. The amazing thing was that the penguins struggle up that steep bank to roost in the plants at the top of it. We finally drove back to town. The tide was out leaving large flat areas, and there were thousands of sea birds either looking for morsels in the sand or circling overhead looking for food.

The next day (Jan 10th) we roamed around Dunedin, going to the bank, post office, book stores, tourist bureau and finally stopped at Qantas to confirm our flight back to Australia. They supposedly had no record of our booking. I left them to sort it out and later that day I got a message through our motel that we were confirmed on the plane. At the tourist bureau we got tickets for an excursion train which was to run up the coast to a beach that afternoon. We returned to the motel and changed to shorts and bathing suits and returned to the train station. The train left promptly at 1 o'clock. It ran all along the coast for an hour and a half, up and down hills, through tunnels and along the edge of a 300 m cliff overlooking the water. We finally got to the beach town and got off the train, but we still had to walk about 1/2 mile to the beach. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it. Toby had a ball in the surf, and Dwight and Dorothy had a good time looking for shells. (I took pictures and also looked for shells.) We found some little round shells that have what looks like mother of pearl on them. When we returned to town, we stopped at Pizza Hut for a pizza. (Unlike Australian pizza places, they actually had beef and onion pizzas.) We took the pizza back to the motel and ate it in front of the TV, while Toby and Dorothy ate sandwiches. That night we saw the last two segments of "A Town Like Alice."

A note on Australian and N.Z. motels - most of them only have showers (no tubs). They do have refrigerators which is great for keeping drinks. Since Toby is really too small for showers, I came up with a method (plastic bag over the drain held down by a soft drink can) to fill up the -shower floor (which is usually several inches deep) and Toby uses it as a tub. A couple of places had full sized bath tubs and Toby was overjoyed.

January 11th we went to the Otago Museum, made a quick stop to double check on the plane tickets and to pick up a book Toby had asked for and then headed north. The road was good. We passed through a number of small towns and drove along the coast for a bit. We stopped for the night in Timaru and there we visited another animal park. It was not all that impressive. The only thing that stuck out for us city folk was watching a brand new lamb struggling to its feet for the first time, and seeing a good sized elk with a fantastic set of antlers. (Teddy Roosevelt gave some to N.Z. and they were almost ovenrun with them.) We also saw the movie "Slap Shot" at the motel.

The next day we drove to Christchurch. There were more small towns to pass through and traffic got heavier and faster. It was a beautiful day in Christchurch - warm and sunny. We rented two-man boats and spent an hour paddling up and down the Avon River through the botanical gardens. The river is only a foot or so deep. There are fish in it and lots and lots of ducks. At some places trees overhang the river (which is about 15 to 20 feet wide) so you end up ducking branches. There were many boats on the river and a lot of the people were not good at using the two bladed oars so collisions were frequent. Dwight acted as a coxswain to the utter dismay of his mother. We finished wet and tired. We spent the evening watching videos at the motel.

The next day was wet and cold. We drove to the QE II Park (where the Commonwealth Games had been held in 1974) to see the hydroslide at the in-door pool. Dwight declined to go in. Right next to the pool was a kids drive-it place. They had mini-racers, mini-bikes and mini construction equipment. Dwight and Toby got on a mini-racer together. Toby sat in front and drove while Dwight worked the accelerator. That went okay until the accelerator stuck and Toby ran them into a wall. That finished that ride. Then Dwight had a turn by himself. The rest of the day was spent shopping and arguing about what we were going to do. The boys watched two videos at the motel while Dorothy and I went shopping unsuccessfully.

Jan 14th was a much more successful day. We drove down to the botanical gardens, parked there and walked to the museum. The gardens are really beautiful and many flowers were in bloom. The museum had a very interesting Antarctic exhibit and some fantastic Maori carvings. Another section was built in the style of old (1890's or so) Christchurch. It had a cobblestone "street with shops on both sides of the street. 'Each shop or shop window was fall of merchandise from that time. We left the museum and walked back toward the parking area, but detoured to a beautiful play area. There were lots of people - kids playing, people having picnic lunches. I left the kids to play, Dorothy to hold the fort and went for sandwiches, which we ate there. Sandwiches with just filling and fresh bread purchased in halves are very popular and prevalent in New Zealand. After lunch we spent two hours downtown on a very successful shopping spree. From there we drove to yet another animal reserve, the big feature of which was one of those areas in which you drive in amongst lions roaming free. While the park was not that great, none of us had gone through one of those areas before. The lions didn't approach the car but we drove within 10 feet of one cat lying in the grass looking at us. That was too much for Toby and he yelled at me to drive on. Back in town we fed some ducks on the Avon, turned in the car (2300 km) and were taken to the airport. Reluctantly (at least for me) we left N.Z. The trip to 'Melbourne was on a 747 and was very smooth. We stayed overnight in Melbourne and there we watched Johnny Carson live on TV. The trip back to Alice the next day (Jan 15th) was somewhat rough - we wondered if the pilot was learning.

P.S. Although the weather on the west coast was miserable for the majority of the time we were there, we were still lucky, because the roads were at least still passable. After we left there it continued to rain until roads and bridges were washed out stranding people at various places along the west coast, and an earthslide closed the road to Milford Sound for a couple of days, stranding people there also. Queenstown also had problems. The lake rose to a record level, - flooding some of the shops nearest to the water. Also the glowworm caves at Te Anau had to be closed due to flooding.

Notes during the typing in this format in 2011....

Prince Edward walked the Milford Track around the time we were (or just before we were there) and there is a myth that bad weather occurs when a member of the Royal Family is in N.Z.

I also didn't mention that when we were in the glowworm caves in Te Anau I heard whispering in the dark. It was Toby and when I asked what he was saying he told me he was counting the glowworms. And according to Toby he liked the ham sandwiches in N.Z. but didn't like the ham sandwiches when we got back in Australia.

December 1982: Tasmania

Dec 1982/Jan 1983

TASMANIA

We left Alice Springs at 12:15 p.m. on December 27th and flew to Adelaide where we stopped for 30 minutes. A friend of Dorothy's from the newspaper (?) met us at the airport to say Hi. We flew on to Melbourne where we stopped for an hour and a half before flying on to Hobart. The good thing about going to Hobart is that it's located at the southern edge of Tasmania so you get a good view of the whole island as the plane descends into Hobart. Enroute we had two snacks and a complete meal. The South Australian Rifle Team was on the plane to Hobart. At the airport we picked up a brand new bright yellow Holden Camira (Australian built/GM product). It was cool but pleasant as we drove the 20 km into Hobart. The road to town goes over the high arched Tasman bridge and just on the other side of the bridge is a fairly high hill in the Botanic Gardens. Driving toward the bridge, that hill and Hobart in the background present quite a view. That night we stayed in a hotel which had been booked by the airline and it was very expensive.

The next day we found another motel, stopped at the Tourist Bureau, and left for Port Arthur. The trip took a couple of hours (on a two lane road) and much of the countryside was pastoral. We stopped at a place called Eaglehawk Neck, on the coast. The erosion patterns of the rocks were very interesting and a tunnel through one rock to the other side produced what is called a blowhole, in which the water from the sea comes rushing through the tunnel to spray against the rocks on the other side of the hill.

We drove on to the Tasmanian Devil's Park. It is privately owned and the setting is very rustic but nice. It was here we saw the first signs of the island-wide drought. The trout stream through the park was completely dried up. We saw Tasmanian Devils, wombats, wallabies, birds, etc. There was one small wombat in a cage out in front of the place and one kid picked it up (apparently it is OK to do so) and then handed him to Dwight. Dwight said that he wiggled. We moved on to Port Arthur and tried to find something to eat, which presented a constant problem throughout Tasmania (and New Zealand) due to the lack of American type fast food places and my family's problem of finding things they like. We finally found some hamburgers and took them to Port Arthur and ate them at a picnic table (it was windy and very cool). Port Arthur was a penitentiary for criminals too tough for the penal colony at Sydney in the early days of Australia. It was quite a sizable place with a number of the buildings, or parts of buildings (the dormitory, hospital, church) still standing; however most of them are in very sorry shape. They are trying to restore them, but it looks like a large-scale project is needed. We returned to Hobart and that night saw E.T. (for $19.50).

December 29th we drove to Launceston, about 2 and 1/2 hours and approximately 90 km. Most of the area we saw was hilly (some flat plains) not heavily forested. We arrived at Launceston, got a motel and drove out to the Tasmanian Wildlife Park This is also a private park. Many of the animals roam free and we were able to feed kangaroos and wombats by hand and Dwight and Dorothy were able to hold a wombat. A girl from the park fed Tasmanian Devils by hand and then brought one out so everyone, could pet it. Devils are thought to be vicious, but these have been raised in such a manner that they can be handled. Later she showed the wombat that Dwight and Dorothy had held. Toby tried to hold it but it was too big and Toby was too unsteady with him. The girl also brought out a koala to be petted. She was very good talking about the animals and had a good sense of humor. We returned to town, spent about an hour trying to find a place to eat and ended up eating in the room.

Breakfast presented special problems. Most motels we've used in Australia and New Zealand only serve breakfast by room service and it's not cheap, so we look for alternatives. In those motels which have kitchens, we make ourselves something to eat. The other problem is that people in Australia and New Zealand eat things like steak and eggs for breakfast, and have never heard of anyone eating sweets for breakfast. So it's almost impossible to find doughnuts. Anyway, on December 30th in Launceston we had 3 lamingtons (sponge cakes) and two eclairs for breakfast. We then drove out to the Waverly Woolen Mill. A cute female guide showed us through the various buildings, some of which are original, dating back to the mid 1800's. In one shed different types of sheep and a type of goat which provides the raw material to the mill were displayed. From there we were shown the scrubbers which washes the wool before it's processed. From there the wool is dried and stored until needed. It is taken from storage, combed, then turned into thread. We saw the looms where it is turned into material and then ended up at the shop where they sell some of their goods. One item which I thought was a neat idea was a blanket for picnics, etc. which had a rubber backing. We bought one, and a woolen tie.

From there we drove out to the lavender farm that Dorothy wanted to see. We finally got there after driving 50 km through mountains and back a dirt road. It is the biggest lavender farm in the southern hemisphere and is only open Christmas to January 23rd. The lavender fields were quite extensive and the lavender was either in full bloom or close. The cutting hadn't started yet. The part of the plant beneath the bloom, not the bloom itself, produces the oil. There were thirteen different colors, including white. We drove back to Launceston, (tried a short cut and ended up on a dirt road which eventually disappeared), stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch and headed toward Hobart. We stopped at a town called Ross, and saw an old bridge built by convicts in 1834. We saw some more old buildings and another old bridge in Richmond before reaching Hobart. We ate supper in the Godfather Pizza Restaurant where they show videos (slang for video tape recorded movies) and Dorothy finally got to see at least part of the "Muppet Movie," which has a Studebaker in it.

December 31st we spent the day shopping - stamp stores, book stores, etc. We walked down to the harbor to see all of the sailboats which had taken part in the Sydney-Hobart and Melboume-Hobart races. Looking for one book store we ended up on a hill (or mountain) in the outskirts of Hobart from which you could see the entire harbor area, Tasman Bridge and suburbs and it was quite a beautiful sight. That evening we just stayed in the motel. At midnight we were awoken by people celebrating New Year's so we got up and looked down toward the harbor and saw fireworks being put off over the harbor. I guess we should have kept the kids up and joined the mob scene at the harbor to see the fireworks.

August 1982: Ayers Rock (Uluru)

August 1982

Ayers Rock

The weekend of 7-8 August, we rented a 4-wheel drive vehicle from the base and drove down to Ayers Rock and it gave me a good chance to see the area south of Alice Springs. The reason we used a base vehicle was because some of the roads we were. on were dirt and even though we did not really need a 4-wheel drive, the roads are hard on my little Datsun. Ayers Rock is 280 miles, by road, southwest of Alice Springs, and 32 miles of that is still dirt and rocks. Can you imagine a road to a major tourist attraction in the U.S. having a section that is dirt?

Ayers Rock is impressive. It's a large red rock, almost 2 miles long, 5 1/2 miles around and 1100 feet high and is all the more impressive sitting alone out in the middle of a flat plain. The Aborigines believe it fell from the sky and seeing its location, it's possible to think that is where it came from. The Rock is supposedly the largest monolith in the world, but there are still only so many things you can do with a rock: photograph it from different angles and at different times of the day (publicity about the Rock makes, a big-deal out of the colors it turns at sunset and sunrise, but we were not overly impressed with sunset so skipped sunrise); visit the Aboriginal caves around the base. (we did and weren't convinced that the paintings in them were original -' the paint seemed awfully bright to be old); and climb it.

From seeing all the T-shirts around town saying "I climbed Ayers Rock" and knowing that many people have climbed it, you are lulled into a false opinion that it is easy to climb. Wrong! It is very steep in places and is not easy. The route to the top is about a mile long and, like I said, goes up 1100 feet. The literature handed out in the park says not to be blase about the climb - 12 people have died doing it (four from falls and eight from heart attacks). We all started up, but Toby soon decided that it was too steep for him and he and Dorothy waited for the rest of us (Dwight, myself, and an Australian friend who went along). Ross and Dwight went on ahead while I panted and puffed convinced that I was going to be the ninth heart attack victim. The first part of the climb is so steep that the park has installed a chain handrail and I used it (and slid part of the way coming down). I guess it was worth it for getting different views of the Rock, but as for seeing in the distance, the country looks all the same no matter how far you can see. The only thing on the horizon was the Olgas.

We drove over to the Olgas on Sunday before returning home. The road over, about 20 miles one way was dirt. The Olgas are a group of rocks tike Ayers Rock, apparently formed during the same time period, but instead of one rock consist of numerous rocks with interesting shapes. Because we were on the way home, we didn't stay long. If I were to go back there I would spend most or all of my time at the Olgas, rather than at Ayers Rock.

Like I said, the trip gave us the chance to see much more of this part of the country then we'd seen before. Australia is almost the same size as the U.S. with less than a tenth of the population of the U.S., so although you can drive for miles in the U.S. without seeing many signs of civilization, you can literally drive 1000 miles here and see very few houses, and if you drive from Katherine, south of Darwin, to Adelaide, a distance of almost 2000 miles, the biggest population area you go through is Alice Springs. You could probably drive further than that east and west without passing through a town of any size. The other staggering figure is that Australia has about 270,000 miles of paved road versus about. 3.9 million in the U.S. so just about anywhere you travel outside of the metropolitan areas, you are apt to end up on a dirt road, and some of the paved roads are one lane only.

This part of Australia is called the Red Center and it's easy to see why. The earth is a vivid red, more so in some places than others and especially noticeable where there is a lack of vegetation. Dorothy likens the color, if not consistency, to the red clay of Georgia. As you drive along, you are struck by a variety of things; the distances and lack of towns, of course, but also by things like the lack of billboards (I saw three from just outside Alice to Ayers Rock, and small ones at that); apparently little fencing is used for stock anywhere in Australia, and we saw continual signs both during this trip and the trip in Queensland warning of wandering stock, as well as the cattle themselves in the middle of the road. (Incidentally, as late as 1964, there was one station here in Australia that had over seven million acres.) There is also a lack of paper trash along the road, possibly because it has blown away across the open plains, but there are many, many beer cans (called "tinnies" here) and bottles. (This is true much more here in the Northern Territory, than it was in Queensland.) And strangely enough, the change in scenery is striking, from very open range with clumps of low shrubs, to areas of quite a few large desert trees. There are also quite a few signs warning of floodplains, because, from what I've been told, when it rains here it can be very hazardous due to flash flooding, similar, I suppose, to Arizona. We have seen very little wildlife along the road, but there are many birds - budgies (very similar to parakeets), cockatoos, galahs, and other colorful birds (including a type of parrot). I believe to really see wildlife you have to be out either at sunset, sunrise or at night.

Notes from re-typing in 2011....

I recall finally getting to the top of Ayers Rock only to see Ross sitting there with a strange expression on his face. I asked him what was wrong and he said he forgot he was afraid of heights. I told him I was not going to ask the rangers to get him a helicopter.

We stayed in an old motel (the Inland Motel - long gone) that was so poorly constructed that the walls didn't come together well and you could see daylight out through the comer. But at least it had a bit of heat in it. Ross had decided to take his swag to the campground (presumably the one Azaria Chamberlain was "taken by a dingo") and the next morning we had to pick him up and defrost him on the radiator in our room. . . .

On the way to the Rock from Alice Springs we stopped at a roadhouse to get a drink and Ross asked if that place-was a culture shock to us. I told him no, the culture shock was the dirt road out in front of the place going to a major tourist attraction.

When I managed to get to the top of the chain handrail on the Rock, I sat there puffing and some elderly gentleman with a cane sauntered past me and said Hello.

Now that an Aboriginal organization owns the park there has been talk about a ban on climbing Ayers Rock, but it hasn't happened yet. If they did that they might not be able to collect the large fees they charge for entering the park.

August 1982: Henley-On Todd

August 1982

THE HENLEY-ON-TODD REGATTA

The biggest event of the entire year in Alice Springs occurred on Saturday, July 28. The 21st annual Henley-on-the-Todd Regatta was held on the dry Todd River bed. Thousands of tourists and participants (an estimated 8000 attended the actual races) were in town from all over Australia and overseas and camera crews from, here in Australia, as well as the U.S. and Germany, were present.

The events started at 10:30 a.m. with a parade through town of all the teams and those bringing their own boats were carrying them. (I did not view the parade because I was getting some sleep after working my first mid prior to going down for the final events.) When I originally heard about this race I envisioned old canoes with the bottoms cut out but most of the boats are made of a very light frame surrounded by cloth - the lighter the better because it's -tough enough-running in that thick sand in the river bed without having to carry a heavy boat.

There were something like 100 teams participating (possibly including all events - both races and special events) and consisted in part of the following events:

a. A board on wheels running down a track on which a guy would lay on his stomach and push himself along to the end of the tracks (about 50 yards) where he picked up a girl on the board and then the rest of the team pulled them in using a rope attached to the board. This was the lifesaving-type event. .

b. A small-boat also on the tracks in which two guys "rowed" with oars pushing through the sand back and forth the 50 yards. On the way back, some of them could hardly push themselves along.

c. Ten-man (or woman) crews carrying something that really did look like a bottomless boat.

d. Larger boats complete-with sails that were carried by 12-person crews.

e. Bring-it yourself.boats (the others were provided) manned by 4-person crews.

Some of the special events included:

a. A beauty pageant in which at least three of the participants were American exchange students (one of which won). There was at least one ringer, a woman calling herself Miss Inflation. In past years some men have entered.

b. Sand shoveling contests in which the contestants had to fill a 55-gallon drum with sand.

c. Greasy-pole climbing. A pole about 25-30 feet high was greased and bottles of booze and champagne were hung from the platform on the top and teams tried to climb up on each others shoulders to reach the bottles.

d. The final event was a battle between three motorized ships each with about a 6-man crew. Ammunition consisted of water, flour bombs, confetti, and C02 from fire extinguishers. The boats have been around for awhile and one was a Viking ship, but with cannons, and two that looked like P.T. boats. By the end of the fight, the crews, boats and area where they fought were a mess. The end of the battle was when the ammunition was gone and by that time all three were bogged in the sand.

However, the real highlight of the day was.the Australia Cup, which came about in response to the America's Cup. This is a two-boat race between an Australian team and an American team. The Americans put in a lot of work training to uphold the tradition of always crossing the finish line first. However, they were disqualified, as usual (in. good fun). Last year it was for training on kangaroo meat, a joke on the fact that kangaroo meat had been exported to the U.S. under the guise of beef. This year they were disqualified based on a report by Penthouse magazine alleging that some illegal alien Americans had been flown in the week before on the U.S.A.F. cargo plane that comes in once a week. This was, in part, joking about the fact that this month's issue of the Australian Penthouse has yet another expose on Pine Gap, our base here in Alice Springs. Even a protest by the U.S. Ambassador to Australia, who was here as the honorary commodore, couldn't overturn the decision. One part that I didn't realize until later was that the Australian team were all employees here on base, also. Of course there was a lot of alternate booing and cheering by the Australians and Americans in the crowd.

Besides the races, there was plenty to look at. People watching was in vogue. There were about 400 motorcyclists in town for the Regatta and they provided some sights. (One team. in the races all wore motorcycle helmets.) There were also a lot of scantily clad young ladies (someone told me about them -'I didn't notice) and a lot of interesting T-shirts. T-shirts with messages/sayings, etc., are definitely "in" here.

The Henley-on-the-Todd may not be something you'd want to see year after year, but it was neat seeing this "world famous" event at least once.

Notes from the re-typing in 2011

The Henley-on-the-Todd event was started by the Alice Springs Rotary Club in 1962 (see attached section from the history of the Rotary Club of Alice Springs). However some years ago the major .sponsor became ASSA ABLOY, although all three Rotary Clubs in town participate.

There is still an event called-"Australia Cup" but in the 2010 program it says that it is "Invitation Only" and I am pretty sure it is not just the Australians against the Americans.

In 2000 Dwight and Brad Neider participated after going to the Olympics in Sydney. They were seen in some footage of the event on one of the networks in Australia.

The greasy pole is no longer an event.

Dorothy, as an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Alice Springs often helps by working at the-bar.

July 1982: Queensland

July 1982

Queensland

We took off from Alice Springs on a beautiful afternoon, July 7th, and flew to Mt. Isa, a large mining town, and then on to Townsville. We picked up our rental car, a little yellow Ford Laser. It's really strange shifting with your left hand. We drove around downtown looking for a grocery store, but didn't see one and finally headed out of town. We found a large new Safeway and stocked up on emergency-type supplies - crackers, peanut butter, bread, etc., to use on the road if we couldn't find anywhere to eat. We started north and got to Ingham about 6:30 p.m.. The two motels were full and we ended up at the Royal Hotel. It was run and operated by an elderly Italian man and what appeared to be his family. The hotel was obviously old with high ceilings, baths down the hall and no apparent signs of any heating source. We had two rooms and also had supper and breakfast thrown in. The homemade supper was not bad and afterward we went back to the rooms and to bed early. It was too cold to do anything else.

I didn't sleep all that well due to trucks roaring by just outside the window and other assorted things like one of the owner's big white German Shepherds barking sometime during the early morning hours. After breakfast we headed down to a nearby beach. While we were looking at the water a man joined us and told us a lot of tales about his life in Australia. We moved on and stopped at a sugar mill. This was the sugar-cutting season and all over the coast we saw the sugar cane fields being burned prior to cutting to get rid of vermin and some of the weeds, etc. It is really something to see, and we saw the little narrow gauge trains and little cars they put the cut sugar cane in. Those cars are taken to the mill and put on a device that turns the entire car upside down to dump the cane out. Anyway the tour at the mill was entirely self-conducted, following arrows and wandering around this mill totally unsupervised. It was very interesting and I think even the boys enjoyed it.

We also stopped to see an interesting cemetery, which we had seen on a postcard. It was mostly Italian and the graves or crypts were very ornate, with their pictures on them, statues, wreaths, etc. We finally got on the road and headed north again. We had lunch in Innisfail, at a Kentucky Fried Chicken, but Dwight and I thought everything tasted like sugar cane. We drove north again to Gordonvale past some impressive mountains and turned west. We drove up the mountain on a very winding narrow road and then down onto the Tablelands at Atherton. After we got settled in our motel we went back out to a rock shop Dwight wanted to visit. It wasn't that great and we went back to the motel in time for Toby to see "Battle of the Planets." One of the overriding factors of our trip was attempting to get to a motel in time each evening to see "Battle of the Planets." (Whose kids are spoiled?) That evening on the way to supper we stopped in a book store and met an interesting man who told us about a tour that sounded good so he called up the people, whom he knew, and got the details for us. The next day we awoke to rain, so we went downtown and found some plastic raincoats, then headed out to Lake Barrine to take the tour the guy had told us about. The weather cleared up and at the lake we took a slow trip around a very pretty lake, surrounded by a very old rain forest. The guide talked a lot about the plants and animals in the area and did his best to find one of the pythons that lay along the bank, to no avail. We also saw no platypus, which we had hoped to see. Three pelicans followed the boat the whole way begging for bread the guy would throw out occasionally, and at one point we stopped to feed some scrub turkeys. We also saw a rather large eel in the water.

We left there and drove to a national park, to see a crater, which is a big round hole in the middle of this solid rock. It's kind of eerie. We moved on to Herberton. It's a little old mining town reminiscent of some towns we had seen in the mountains of Colorado. There's a tin mine there still in operation and we ate lunch at the "Dorothy Cafe." We left and drove back through Atherton, through Mareeba, back down the mountain over some more winding roads through some beautiful country, past Kuranda and into Cairns. We drove around Cairns looking for a motel but were not impressed with the beachfront because there are some wide mudflats between the town and the water. We tried to find a place to stay at one of the beaches north of Cairns, but could find no vacancies, so finally went back to town and stayed.

That evening I bashed my toe on a bed leg and after suffering finally went to the hospital at 1 a.m. The nurse told me it would be a couple of hours before I could see the doctor, they don't X-­ray at night and they don't do anything for broken toes anyway. She sent me back to the motel with some pills and told me to elevate it and put ice on it, which I did.

The next day we fooled around Cairns, going to various stores, including a stamp shop. In the afternoon we took a boat ride in the "Cairns Everglades." It was basically boring. We saw lots of the same type of trees with fantastically complex root systems, which sprayed out of the tree above the soil.

The next morning we got up early, left at 6 a.m. and drove to Mission Beach. We got there at 8 and the boat for the outer reef (Great Barrier Reef) left at 8:30. We were warned that it was ' choppy but didn't realize how rough it really was going to be. Also, I didn't realize until after I bought the tickets that it was a 2 1/2 hour trip to the reef. It was a long, rough 2 and a half hours and I got terribly seasick and Dorothy got almost hysterical thinking the boat was going to capsize. The kids had no problems and had to fend for themselves. Fortunately some nice couple (Karl and Berta Schneider, originally Austrians, now Australians) looked after the kids and tried to comfort Dorothy: We finally got to a little island, and the boat anchored offshore. They had a little glass-bottomed boat that they used to take us all in to the island, showing us the coral reef on the way. (The little boat even bounced around too much.) We stayed on the island almost two hours and collected some neat shells and coral. Some people snorkeled around the reef, but I didn't feel up to it and besides it was pretty cool. On the return trip to the big boat they again spent a lot of time showing us the coral.. The colors and variety are truly something to see. There was grey and blue antler coral, a flat brownish type, brain coral some that looked like rocks, and bright green coral that fluttered. Also there were the giant clams (one supposedly 100 years old) and beautiful brightly colored fish. It was worth the agony to see it. We got back on the ship and it moved to another spot where they gave everyone a line, hook and bait to try fishing. Only one man caught anything — a beautiful bright red Emperor fish. We finally left and went back to shore. I thought we'd never get there, but I didn't get sick again. Dorothy and the kids played cards the whole way, while I suffered in silence. We got back to shore at 5:20 p.m. We drove to Innisfail and collapsed in a motel.

We got up to rain the next day and drove up the Palmerston Highway (back up the mountain). We left the main road at one point to visit a tea plantation, but it was closed on Monday, which it happened to be. But we did see some birds that I think were cassowaries, kind of rare, and some cattle in the middle of the road. Later we saw a kangaroo along the road. After taking one wrong road (where we saw some scrub turkeys), we stopped at Millstream Falls, the widest in Australia, outside of Ravenshoe. It was very pretty, but we could see that in the rainy season it is probably twice as wide.

We stopped at Mt. Garnet and visited a couple of rock shops. A mile off the main road, back a dirt road, at a house, where a lady was selling stones, mainly topazes. Dwight bought a topaz crystal sample for $3. We stopped at a store, picked up some supplies so we could eat on the road and left. We got on the road to Charters Towers, 450 km away and the whole way only saw one town, about 20 cars, lots of dead kangaroos and lots of cows in the road. I averaged about 110-120 km/hr and Dorothy was a nervous wreck looking for cows and kangaroos. The road was one lane most of the way, but was not in bad condition- We only saw one live kangaroo, well off the road. (Dorothy claims to have seen another one but no one else saw it.)

The next morning, in Charters Towers, we drove out to the Lady Bird Gold Mine. I was standing at the gate looking in, trying to decide whether to drive in to it or not, when a man yelled out to come in. Joe Donovan is well into his 60's and the mine was originally his father's. He showed us a hunk of what he said was 19 ounces of pure gold, and talked to us quite a while about the trials and tribulations of mining and life in general (never tell a lie). He finally took us on a tour of the mine, which is pretty dilapidated. He has controlling interest in the mine, but has a minority partner that wanted to bring in a lot of new equipment which, according to bits and pieces I could understand, either didn't work properly (or needed people who knew what they were doing to get it to work properly) or was junk. It sounded to me like the other guy ripped off poor old Joe. Eventually, we got away from him, only because some other tourists arrived.

We wandered around Charters Towers for a bit looking at some of the interesting old buildings and then headed east toward Townsville. We turned off the main road to go see Ravenswood, which is almost a ghost town. It was about 41 km off the main road and 33 of it a very rough dirt road. (After the boat trip, I'd rather not bounce around for a while.) Ravenswood once had 30,000 people and now has 70. It has some old abandoned buildings, mill, and mines. They took a lot of gold out of that town in the past. There were cows and goats roaming all over town. (Dwight thought the 70 included cows and goats.) We did stop and investigate the old ore crushing mill and I wished I had had my metal detector. We did see one building with swinging doors that looked fairly well fixed up. As with every other place we did not have the time to really look around the way we would have liked.

We drove oh into Townsville, got a motel and went shopping for a couple of hours (including another stamp shop). After watching some TV, we went out and ate and on the way back saw neon lights up on the top of a high hill in the middle of town so decided to drive up. The view of the city from up there was fantastic. The neon lights were a restaurant and I peeked in the door and asked if I could look at the menu. We were all invited in, in our dirty clothes and introduced to the hostess, waiter, chef and shown their smorgasbord table. It must have been 30 feet long with anything you could want. If I had not just eaten, I would have splurged and eaten there, but will certainly remember it if we ever go back.

We left Townsville on Wednesday, July 14th, to return to Alice Springs, and after driving almost 2000 km in about seven days, the flight home was uneventful.

Notes during the re-typing in 2011...

The evening after we took the trip to the Great Barrier Reef "Love Boat" was playing on the TV in the motel and Dorothy felt she was getting sea sick as she watched. The bed seemed to be rocking. Somewhere on the trip we stopped by a stream where there were supposed to be stones (possibly emeralds) in the water. We used our bare hands to sift some sand (the water was cold) and found some flakes that looked like gems. 1 never forgot that restaurant on top of the hill in Townsville, but when Dorothy and I went through in l994 it was gone.

I think this was the time that the boys made me wash the car at the motel in Townsville before turning it in the next day because it was so dirty. I did it again in 1994 (I believe at the same motel) – part of a tradition.

Dorothy still exchanges Christmas cards with the Schneiders, the couple on the boat to the Great Barrier Reef.

October 1981: The Arrival

THE FIRST GRIMM TRIP TO AUSTRALIA

NOTE: - On-April-27, 1999,.while going through boxes in our shack in Hawaii in anticipation of our possible return to Australia, we found Dorothy's notes about our first trip to Australia in 1981. I am going to transcribe them and. may from time to time insert comments.

October 4, 1981

Trip from Alexandria VA. to Alice Springs Australia

Well, believe it or not we are on board a 747 heading for London. - the plane is now taxing for takeoff - we are airborne!

We have discovered we are in the Clipper Class section of the airplane, not El Cheapo (JRG note - the U.S. govt. made all of the bookings)- We were given little slippers to cover our feet while we take off our shoes, also a toothbrush and toothpaste.' Dwight is anxious to watch the movies. He had been harassing his father earlier that maybe they would show an R rated movie. Sure enough, "Outland" and "Agency" (JRG - neither memorable)'- both R rated (although edited)-

We have discovered this Clipper Class fare is designed for businessmen flying across the Atlantic - very nice service. We are already passing Philadelphia and Atlantic City. Dwight noted the time the flight started was 7:50:30 on his digital watch. Flight time is 6 hours and 38 minutes and Dwight is going to check the pilot's time. [We landed at 7:33 and 40 seconds, London' time - five minutes late.]

It is still hard to believe this-is really happening. It sure was a frantic 48 hours from the time I left work until we left for the airport. I was frantically wrapping packages to mail and we added an extra bag to the intended luggage. The two carry-on bags weigh a ton too - -everybody's got a camera --actually I think we are averaging-more than one per person- (JRG - this was in addition to the two per person we checked in - so for two adults and two kids, 5 and 10, we had 12 or more bags -- all of which we had to carry in some places.)

A number of persons came to the airport to see us off - Mr. and Mrs. Grimm, Mr. and Mrs. Bellinger, Dr. and Mrs. Dwight Bellinger, HeSang du Busc and son, Victor. The boys were so excited about the trip, they really didn't feel too badly leaving their grandparents behind. The dog is staying with friends, the cat is with my parents. The last that mother reported she (the cat) was stuck under the motel bed not real happy about her present predicament. I think the hard part is realizing that we will probably not be back on U. S. soil for almost 2 years. I remembered how glad I was to be back after a 30-day absence in 1969 and wonder how much I'll miss it. (JRG - my, how times have changed!)

Dwight reported that lights are no longer visible and that we are over the ocean. So far the flight has been pretty smooth. Now and then the plane vibrates. The stewardesses are British. Between the head sets and the activity kits, the boys haven't had a chance to get bored yet. Dwight can hardly wait until dinner is served.

Toby is enjoying his PAN AM kit. He just finished making a colorform airport, a detective badge and a panda head mask. Dinner - filet mignon, Le Papillon de la Reine vin rouge, shrimp, cheesecake, Camus cognac (JRG - not our normal Hawaiian fare.)

We are now 1/2 hour from landing in London. Dwight has obtained his first souvenir - a flight map. The pilot on this PAN AM flight is on his last flight. He is retiring after 35 years. We all got some sleep and so far everything is "under control," but my back is already hurting and I haven't even starting carrying luggage.

It's still Oct 5. We just wandered through Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, and are waiting for the show to start at the Planetarium. I dragged all morning, now Jack is dragging, and this adds to the usual grumping. Our favorite statements have become "come on Toby" and "Have you seen Dwight?" We have ridden the London Underground - first from the airport and then to here from the hotel. We are staying in a small London hotel recommended by "Europe on $20' a Day" (JRG - boy does that date this report.) (JRG - the name of the hotel was the Alhambra -found .in the very same copy of "Europe on $20 a Day," which we still have, of course.) What was really remarkable was that it took 6 1/2 hours to get from Washington D.C. to London and 4 hours to get from the London airport (Heathrow) to the hotel. Over an hour was spent waiting in line to get our ..passport checked. We are actually in the planetarium now. I just realized that this is Toby's first experience with a planetarium. I remember taking Dwight to the one in Denver when he was 6. Madame Tussaud's was pretty good - a lot of new figures ~ thought the ones of McEnroe and Bjorn Borg were pretty good. They are at the foot.of a referee who is sitting in one of those stands. I told Dwight today's subject matter included history and now science. We ate lunch at Wimpy's - had hamburgers and "chips" which is what the English call our French fries. From here I think it is back to our hotel. Hopefully we'll, be able to get a good night's sleep tonight and do London right tomorrow. Weather today or rather this afternoon is damp, overcast and chilly though the sun was out this morning. We heard the weather yesterday was horrid.

Oct 6

5 pm London time, noon at St. Stephen's in Alexandria - Dwight has been keeping track; as to what his friends have been doing. We just got back from a day of London sightseeing — first the Tower of London and then a boat trip down the Thames, to Westminster Abbey. Dwight said he really enjoyed the Tower of London and looking at the tombs and memorials in Westminster Abbey.

We are back in the hotel room. Dwight is reading "The Ghosts of the Tower of London" and Toby is eating peanut butter and crackers. I am glad I brought that along. Finding things Toby will eat is difficult. He had pancakes last night for supper and an egg this morning but nothing at lunch time. We've eaten at Wimpy's, a chain called 'Old Kentucky,' the hotel and a sandwich place at lunch that was inexpensive and crowded. In fact all of London is crowded and everybody is in a hurry. I don't remember that from '69 - also a lot of new modern buildings are hiding the old famous ones.

We haven't had too many catastrophes - a few about cameras - can't get Toby's to advance the film and the flash unit on mine doesn't work (DG note: in 30 years I don't think my mother has ever had a reliable flash attachment). We wanted to take a picture of an armour-clad elephant (only to later find out they did have postcards). Jack is also complaining about how fast the money is going — which I completely expected (JRG - I am not sure she meant how fast the money was going or my complaining.) I had hoped to have space and money to buy a few inexpensive souvenirs and things like stamps and coins, etc., but Jack is watching each and every pence. He also got mad because Toby and I were bringing up the rear so missed the first of the Thames boats, and put on a brief Ugly American scene which was really just an ugly Jack- scene put on in London (JRG - I have no idea what she is talking about and besides - I've mellowed - just ask anyone.)

Let's see, what else. The sun was shining when we left, it was raining when we got back. The day starts out warm -and gets colder and wetter. The Tower of London was interesting. I saw part of it I didn't see in '69, including the crown jewels. Toby liked the Beefeaters. (JRG - I thought the ravens were neat). We rode the double decker bus back - saw McDonalds, as well as Wimpy's. Lots of Australian places too. (JRG - We both read this last sentence and are not sure what it meant.) So far, we have not encountered any other Americans. A couple on the boat were from Canada.

(Editors note: - If this is not as polished as other Grimm reports, it is because I am basically typing it as written - as Dorothy sat on a plane, bus, wherever -we are just glad the notes still exist.)

Oct 8

Back at Heathrow Airport waiting for the Air France plane to Paris, we just saw the little fellow from Fantasy Island (JRG - from the original show, the actor, Herve Villechaize is now deceased) with his, tall wife wheeling their luggage through the airport, dressed in blue jeans, etc. and looking frustrated. Maybe all international travelers look put upon. Our luggage did not make it through the X-ray machines - one I don't know why, the other because, the peanut butter knife showed up. The (security) lady commented she had to carry both smooth and crunchy when she traveled. It is overcast again today. Jack and I, after almost 11 hours- worth of sleep, are still dragging. The kids are doing fine. Jack and I are beginning to wonder if we will ever make it to Alice Springs. Both boys are missing their classmates. Jack is upset over how much money we spent in London - also whether or not it is overcast and raining in Paris, They are about to have a test of the fire alarm equipment here (airport). Those stupid electronic games are all through here too.

We are now airborne on an Airbus and air bus is the right description. It's more like a crowded subway. It will be interesting to spend the next 10 days among non—English speaking people. I have never mentioned what we did Tuesday night and Wednesday. Tuesday night we tried to see the Elvis movie but at $6 apiece (3 pounds) decided not to. Instead we went to a musical comedy magical review starring Paul Daniels, a British magician. Since Dwight and I had studied magic with Christian at the Smithsonian this past summer and London is the place to see shows I thought this would be entertaining. It was. For not too expensive tickets we had pretty good seats and the show was really very good. Both boys enjoyed it too, though Toby slept through the second half.. By the way, we ate dinner at Burger King and every one ate a Whopper or French Fries and ketchup. Here they were called French Fries, not 'chips.'

Wednesday morning we almost slept through breakfast then spent some time in the room writing postcards. We then left for Buckingham Palace in hopes of seeing the changing of the.guard. Unfortunately, from September 1st to March 31st it is held only every other day and this was not the right day. So we walked through London to Harrod's Department store and spent a couple of hours wandering through it. Talk about an elaborate department store - a whole city block. Jack particularly liked the idea that it had kennels in the basement in case your dog had accompanied you on your shopping trip.

We then started the afternoon walk — first to a place called Mandy's so Toby could get a peanut butter sandwich. Then, in an attempt to find Pollocks Toy Museum we kept walking right, when we should have been walking left. After much walking and asking directions we finally found it. .It was not very big but the kids enjoyed it. Needless to say the adults were pushing exhaustion. Thank goodness it was Jack leading the way and not any of.the rest of us. From the museum we went to Trafalger Square where I bought stamps at the P.O. while Jack and the boys sat on the steps. From there we went to the National Theatre so I could see the structure close up. By then Jack was ready to drop. We caught a double decker bus to near our hotel where we got something to eat at a buffet then staggered back to the hotel where Jack collapsed and the rest of us joined him about 8:30.

So much for our English adventures. The plane is descending into Charles de Gaulle airport and the next leg of the journey begins. Jack does not think he'll live to reach Alice Springs. (JRG - This is due to attempting to carry four suitcases and two carry-ons for long distances.) We have told Dwight if we should both drop dead to head for the U.S. Embassy and ambassador. We are landing through fog - wonderful. Flying a French airline is quite different than a U.S. airplane. No pussy-footing around ~ just do it - and everyone around you is taking it all in stride.

(JRG - I want to add a part that is missing, but which I remember well. Everywhere we went we took public transportation - a real adventure with two kids and 12 or so pieces of luggage. After we arrived at the airport, we had to take a bus far enough in town to transfer to a subway. I had written ahead to a hotel listed in Europe... but had received no answer. We took a chance anyway and got off the subway in Pigalle - the red light district.'' As we were wandering around looking for the hotel the boys say the Girlie shows and admired the photos in the windows. One of them said, "Hey Dad good choice of area to stay in." The hotel had never heard of me but said we could stay but only had a room for three. I wasn't about to carry the bags again so said we'd take it. I slept on the floor.)

It is now Friday, Oct. 9 at 3:45 p.m. and we are sitting under the Arc de Triomphe while it rains cats and dogs. If you ask how the trip was going -today would not be a good day. Let's see. We went to Notre Dame this morning. That was fairly interesting. We wondered around inside as well as part way up the tower and saw a narrated slide show about it. Boy is it dirty. The pigeons have done a great job. Toby wanted to take a picture of each and every gargoyle. Just as we left it started raining and we all got wet- We were trying to walk to Le Louvre. We finally got there and bought our tickets.

Back in our room writing postcards- It was a lot of fun looking for a French Post Office along the Champs d’Elyses. We finally found one but couldn't buy any stamps for my stamp collection because Jack is really uptight about money. (JRG - this was in the days of travelers checks - no ATMs.) We finally found a place where Toby got something to eat - Burger King. He got a cheeseburger, french fries with ketchup, and a coke. There are a number of Burger Kings and McDonalds around town- McDonalds have no seats. There were a whole lot of French punks in there, playing Elvis Presley music on a tape recorder - really weird. Let's see. After Notre Dame saw Le Louvre. Toby really enjoyed all of the paintings. We were surprised that he showed so much interest in them (maybe because so many were nudes!) We did see the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory (statue) and the painting of Napoleon.

We are airborne again. It is now Oct. 10, Saturday. We just left Paris and are headed for Rome Where we will change planes for Athens. Let's see what else. We caught the Metro (subway) to a bus to the airport. We found a mail box to post a letter- Breakfast was rolls and coke and Jack had a cup of European coffee. Jack then panicked that we would miss the plane, but we ended up sitting at the gate for 40 minutes. As things stand we won't have long to wait between flights.

Last night the kids and I retired by 9:30. Jack went out to check out the girlie shows but said he didn't want to spend the money for the live shows so went to a movie instead. There were an awful lot of girlie shows in the Pigalle area where we were staying.

We are now on the plane to Athens. There was a brief panic when it appeared that the flight from Paris would not arrive in Rome in time for us to catch the plane to Athens. We were told 90 minutes should be alloted and those persons making our reservations had only alloted 25 minutes. We were given some advice and were told we would miss the plane and that we would have to make alternate plans including our luggage which had been checked all the way through to Athens. While we were riding up to the gate at the Rome airport, it was announced our flight to Athens was not leaving until 2 p.m. which provided us with enough time to change planes, get on the proper flight and also hopefully get our baggage transferred too. Dwight thought he saw them being transferred from one plane to the other. We were surprised when we entered the terminal to find a gentleman waiting for us - called us by name and escorted us through the rigamarole to get us on the plane to Athens. It's now 2 o'clock. We are on a TWA L1011. The flight is supposed to take 1 hr 26 minutes.

I am airplaned out already. I don't really think I need to ride anymore airplanes. This trip might better be described as how to see Europe by airplane.

The gentleman sitting next to me on the flight to Rome said that Italy has nationalized the airport so that all airport employees are employees of the Italian government - that none of the airlines have any personnel working at the gates or airports or landing crew, and sure enough everything was in Italian green- Therefore, there was no way of notifying the TWA flight that there were passengers coming for another TWA flight. He implied that this made things more difficult but after our experience of being met by an English speaking official and escorted through all of the check-in points, etc., I have no complaints.

As you might guess riding an airplane bound for Tel Aviv is different than one bound for Norfolk, Va. or Indianapolis, Indiana. The character of the passenger body is very different. (JRG - In case you are confused, I believe our plane to Athens was/going on to Tel Aviv.)

Let's see- what did we see; in Paris Thursday afternoon we went to the Eiffel Tower. We rode the elevator to the top. We took.some pictures. It is a good thing we.did it when.we did because Friday was cloudy with occasional rain. The boys.enjoyed the Tower. Toby said he'd like to go back. They are getting ready to feed us and.once again. We have encountered small pockets of air turbulence. (JRG- I-believe we are back on the plane to Athens.)

I wish I felt I was getting as much out of the trip as the boys are. Jack just complains morning to night about expenses, luggage, people, the various checks like our tote bag being inspected in the Louvre. (JRG - at least "in defense of the last - we had this now famous,bag in which Dorothy had many pounds of cameras. I carried that damn bag everywhere we went. They didn't want to let us carry it in the Louvre and Dorothy wouldn't allow it to be checked... So I started to pull everything, out of it in the middle of the corridor until the French guard disgustedly told me to take it and move on.)

Monday Oct. 12

We are on the airplane heading for Rome.. The-trip has formed a pattern or such a routine it has lost most of its appeal to everyone but Dwight. Toby still cries for his school and his friends. We discovered that his 'nighty-night' (his security blanket from infancy), was left in Paris and after much walking to find an 'international phone center in Athens and calling the hotel in Paris we found that they had not found it. I don't know if he realizes it is gone or not. When Jack, Dwight and I were agonizing over it, we thought he was asleep-Jack thinks maybe he overheard and is not saying anything because he knows how upset I was when I discovered we had lost it. Our trip to Athens was short. We did see the Sight and Sound Show at the Acropolis Saturday night which Dwight really liked. Toby got eaten alive by mosquitoes. Today he is covered with bites and is constantly asking us to put stuff on them. The big tube of stuff is in one of the suitcases.

I don't know which one and these had been packed so they could be left in lockers in Rome if we found some and not had to lug them up and down these streets like we did in London and Paris. I still am not used to all of the plane shaking and what amazes me is that a flight that took 1 hr and 26 minutes from Rome to Athens takes almost 2 hours from Athens to Rome- Toby is still not eating much - a few crackers and peanut butter, some cereal and pancakes when we can find some. Dwight alternates between hamburgers when available and spaghetti - like spaghetti in Greece. I ate chicken and a ham sandwich. So far the sandwiches here consist of one small slice of meat. . . . ,

(JRG - I can't remember how many mosquito bites Toby had — he counted them, but Dwight told us a year or so ago when he went into the Wahiawa Botanical Gardens here early one morning that he received more. Also, our hotel. Hotel Alkistis, was not that well known with the taxi drivers. When we arrived, I had the address on an envelope and that helped the driver find it. However, when- we went to the Sound and Light Show I forgot to take'the envelope, so afterwards when we got a taxi the guy didn't know where it was, so.I had him drop us off at a square I knew was close to the hotel. But, we couldn't find it and were wandering around the streets of Athens around midnight looking for our hotel. Finally, someone thought they knew where it was and we found.it.)

Sunday morning I got-up early and attended 8 a.m. communion service at ' St. Paul's Anglican Church. Supposedly this church was built on the spot that St. Paul first preached to the Gentiles. It is a small church, like all of the ones in Athens. I went to this same church when I was in Athens in 1969. I think the small Byzantine churches are neat looking as are the clergy. I had hoped to photograph some of these churches but we ran out of time. After church (I got lost walking there but didn't have any trouble following the map back) I rearranged the suitcases and then we walked through Athens to the Acropolis- All of the merchants were out and the streets were full of people. It was a nice walk only the bag (the infamous camera bag') was heavy and the sun hot. Dwight wanted to examine each and every ruin but we struggled up the hill to the Acropolis. Boy was that packed with people. Sunday is free day in Greece. I don't know if that contributed to the crowds or not, but one had to just shove. We couldn't even fit into the museum up there. It sure was a mob scene like a big sale in a department store. There was a lot of scaffolding and a lot of numbered rocks on the ground where they must be in the process of restoring sections of it, but all the reliefs at the top of the Parthenon were gone.The amphitheatre on the side was more impressive. I then thought it was important to see the National Museum where a lot of the statues, funeral stones and pottery are located. Since it closed at 2 p.m. and it was almost noon, we decided to hurry over. We got a taxi and went. Toby was exhausted, so he and Jack waited outside and drank lemonade while Dwight and I walked through. Then we looked for postcards while they walked through. Dwight has asked hundreds of questions on this trip that should have academic answers. Unfortunately enough, I don't know them. We discovered that Toby's now throughly enjoying paintings and statues and sculptures. I don't know if this is a new interest or something he has never been exposed to before. Guess we have been remiss.

Oct 15 - At the Rome airport waiting for the flight to Vienna- Rome in some respects was a disaster. Toby discovered "nighty-night" is gone and was pretty upset. Also my 135mm lens for my camera got left on the floor of the Vatican City Museum snack bar and was not turned in to the lost and found despite Jack's repeated checks including in person. The other material damage encountered was a big rip in the side of the big new suitcase during the Air France trip from London to Paris.

Rome — I was not real fond of Italy when I was here before and my impressions sure have not improved. They have a subway (metro) which one can't ride because there is no place to buy tickets. One needs 50 lira pieces to put in the machine. We got on a bus there was no ticket taker, so everyone rode free and this type of bus operates all through the city and then it is 'unreal how many people can squeeze into one of these buses. Going to St. Peter's, there literally wasn't enough breathing room. If the windows had not been open we would have passed out.

Let's see- We got to Rome and our hotel before 2 p.m. (JRG — this is one of my most vivid memories. We had to walk from the train station, to our hotel the YMCA — which was only a couple of blocks., but I was carrying four suitcases and had two other bags over my shoulders, arid was sure I was going to die - meanwhile Toby wants to be carried!) After lunch we headed for the Colosseum which the boys found fascinating. We then walked around the area, including parts of the Forum, Capitol Hill, and the room where supposedly St. Paul and St. Peter were held before they were executed. We wanted to see the Monument to King Victor Emmanuel built in 1911, but it is now fenced off from the public. (JRG - I walked up onto the monument in 1964 when I was in Rome). We later learned that the reason it is now closed is that there have been bombs left there and that the people have been harassing the soldiers who stand beside the tomb of the unknown WWI soldier. We had the usual fight over where to eat and ended up eating at a place called the American Bar, but at least there Toby discovered he will eat spaghetti. So that was something.

Tuesday morning we slept in until about 7:30 and then went down to breakfast. We had hard rolls, tea, hot chocolate and coffee. We then left for St. Peter's and after a very crowded bus ride, got there about 10. We walked around St. Peter's - took some pictures, got a coke and headed for the Sistine Chapel. We did see the Pieta in St. Peter's. The hike to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel was every bit as long and tiring as I remembered. We walked and walked and walked. Then we arrived and had to walk and walk and walk through the Vatican Museum itself to get to the Sistine Chapel. It would have been nice to spend time in many of the other rooms. They had really interesting exhibits and artifacts. I liked the hall where there were paintings of old maps, but we just kept walking to the Sistine Chapel. It was now noon time and the last ticket was sold around 1 and as we found out, they close everything up at 1:30. We raced to the Sistine Chapel and on the way back we found a snack bar that had hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, cokes, etc. It was while Jack was getting the food that I used the 135mm lens for the last time. Then Toby was holding the lens and case when the food arrived and Toby remembers putting the lens on the floor. It was not missed for about 3 hours when we were at the Spanish Steps.

(JRG - I believe some details-are missing here. From Rome we flew to Vienna. I had wanted to stay in a really neat hotel listed in Europe but they were not listed in the phone book, so we ended up in a new wing of a very old hotel. It was neat an open courtyard in the middle - I have no idea what the name was, but it was in a central location near St. Stephen's Church. Also I believe the first day in Vienna we went to see the St. Stephen's Church, especially since the boys' school was. St. Stephen's. I also was able to ascertain that just as the last time I was in Vienna in 1964, both the Vienna Boy's Choir and the Spanish Riding School were on tour out of the country. I was very disappointed.

Oct 17 - on the flight to Frankfurt. The basic trip is over. We are to spend the night in Frankfurt and then on to Bangkok and Sydney. Today we got up early (in Vienna) ate breakfast and then took the subway to the flea market. We walked through the produce area which was crowded but the food looked much better than the food viewed in similar markets in Rome. We then walked through the non-food area which was packed. I didn't really see anything of interest but Jack said there were a lot of things he would have liked to look at closer but we didn't have the time. I'm still not sure what he had in mind. I heard Toby having a todo anyway, which was pretty much par for the course. (JRG - I love flea markets and odd items, so who knows what I was interested in, and as for Toby, it was probably the usual todo about being tired and wanting to be carried piggyback.)

We went back to the hotel and checked out but left our bags. We walked over to Mozart's house for the second time to find that on Saturday it doesn't open until 2 instead of 10 like we thought. So we walked to McDonald's - the signs of which we could have seen on Thursday when we were standing at Stephenplatz arguing over where to eat lunch only then I never would have had any Weiner schnitzel. (JRG - now Dorothy doesn't like food like I do, so you can imagine how disappointed I was that we had to keep eating in McDonalds in Vienna because that was the only place in which Toby would eat.) This time they gave the boys balloons on wires like coat hangers which presented problems later when I tried to dismantle them for easy transport to Alice Springs. Toby ate two cheeseburgers. I ate some french fries, but somehow I could not bring myself to eat in McDonalds in Vienna. We then went looking for the museum with the musical instruments and armour. We finally found it but had to check the infamous camera bag. It was a pretty interesting museum. Dwight was fascinated by both the musical instruments and the arms, mostly from knights of the 1500's including horse stuff. We only had an hour so hurried and found some sort of ruins on the way out. There was all kinds of information about them, but unfortunately it was all in German and we couldn't figure out where they came from and why. The place closed at 1 and that's what they meant. Everything started closing down at 12:45 and by 1 p.m. the doors to the whole building were closed and locked and all personnel were gone.

We wondered how to kill the next hour before the stables opened (at 2) or Mozart's home opened (also at 2) and ended up at McDonalds both for cokes, another cheeseburger for Toby, and to use the bathroom. That's one good thing. about McDonalds - bathrooms are available and free. (JRG - still true in Hawaii.) We went back to Mozart's place and this time it was opened. We looked at the exhibits quickly and then hurried over to the Spanish Riding School. (JRG -since they were on tour, the best we could do was see the horses left behind in the stables.) What a ripoff to pay 5 shillings apiece to see the backs of about 20 of the Lippazaner horses among a big crowd. There' were 3 young girls ahead of us in line who said there were from St. Lawrence College in N.Y., studying in Vienna for a semester. I have the feeling that is the sort of thing that Dwight would enjoy doing.

From there we went back to the hotel (Vienna) to collect the bags and go to the airport- That operation transpired without much trouble and we arrived at the airport around 3:30 with 90 minutes and 100 shillings to kill. We got some cokes and pastry, postcards and stamps and killed the time and money without any trouble.

We are now 15 minutes from the Frankfort airport and had chicken/cheese sandwiches enroute. They didn't offer any coke so Toby is fussing and blaming his chapped lips for his distress. Dwight is complaining about his ears so now both are chewing gum. It hasn't seemed to help Dwight's ears any.

The weather in Vienna was nice today, not too cold, sunny and no wind. Yesterday it was not raining but it sure was cold and windy, but we did get out and see a few things. We first went by Mozart's home but it was closed - not open until 10. (we are getting ready to land in Frankfort and going through cloud cover - it is choppy. I used to fly all the time and always thought air travel was smooth. It sure would be nice to be on a totally smooth flight - maybe it's my age, or the fact that a lot of years passed between the time I did a lot of flying and now. But I am really planed out now and the long one starts at 11:30 tomorrow. Maybe it will fool me and be smooth.)

So we went to Strauss' house. Imagine our surprise when the ground floor on the building in which Strauss wrote the "Blue Danube Waltz" contained a McDonalds. We had 10 minutes to kill there which we did - saw Strauss' rooms and since it was too early to eat there went to the next spot which turned out to only be a plaque. From there we went to the opera house and walked around outside it.

Oct 18th

Noon or actually 11:55 by my watch and we are airborne for New Delhi. Flight time is 8 hours and 5 minutes putting us in New Delhi about 8 p.m. on the time we are now on. Who knows what time it is in India. We are hoping that they will let us get out and at least walk about the one section of the airport. Our stay in Germany was short. We landed about 6, got money and a cab to the hotel which was nearby and looked deserted. The cab wanted to make sure someone was there to let us in. A nice young woman let us in and showed us our room and explained how to get the subway to Frankfurt if we wanted (JRG - the airport and hotel were some distance from the, city center.) We decided to give it a try and started walking in the damp overcast night. We walked a couple of blocks and decided we didn't know where we were or where we were going. We met some people leaving a construction site who turned out to be from Yugoslavia - they didn't speak either German or English but we were able to get across where we wanted to go. (-JRG - we did get the subway in town and I was able to get some bratwurst and German beer - which had been my goal when we went looking for the subway.)

We just flew over Beirut Lebanon. There were a lot of buildings and town(s) along the coast - the Mediterranean the pilot said - and then nothing but rocky hills — very dry and barren looking. If you looked closely about the barren rocky hills there were small clusters of buildings & villages I guess. Hearing so much about Lebanon and Beirut in the news almost every day it is hard to believe such a small area could cause so much trouble. It is now 2 hours into the journey — good lunch - filet mignon - we are flying Clipper Class again and the boys are watching the movie (Agency). I can't see it from where we (Jack and I) are sitting, and it is dark inside. Jack is sleeping. We had pretty clear weather since leaving Frankfort and have seen a number of sights from above - we have been told it will be 12:30 a.m. New Delhi time when we arrive. It is a good thing we are flying Clipper Class on this flight- The back of the plane is full of Indian people going to New Delhi and I mean a lot of people with small children to adults in native dress. The place is littered. I saw an elderly lady eating an apple and throwing it on the floor and since men are superior (JRG - she is speaking of the Indians, of course) the men precede the women to the toilet. I gave up waiting and used the first class ones. Boy there is nothing on this part of the earth. (JRG - I couldn't figure out this remark at first but think she was talking about what we were flying over.)

It is dark outside the plane. The stewardess just announced that. we are passing the city of Bahrain - but stupid us don't know what country Bahrain is in. (JRG - Bahrain is a country, I believe there is also a city with the same name.) We have been on the plane 5 hours - 3 more to go.

Oct 19th

Everything is lost in the carry-on, so I don't know where I stopped writing. I don't even know where my pen is. (JRG - obviously she found something with which to write. On the flight to New Delhi.... By the time we landed even the flight attendants wouldn't go into the economy section. We wanted desperately to get off the plane in Delhi, but were told if we were going on we would have to stay on the plane. They had no transit lounge. So we sat, and walked around while a multitude of Indians came on the plane and cleaned it - entirely by hand — no vacuum cleaners. A whole group of them got down with brushes and dust pans and swept up the entire 747. We finally took off and flew to Bangkok. I have no idea what time it was on our clocks, but we got in about 6:30 a.m. or so and had until 3:30 p.m. until our Qantas plane was to leave.)

We are finally on the Qantas plane for Sydney; however it stops in Melbourne first. Toby and Dwight are both asleep having conked, out shortly after we boarded this plane for Australia. How did the day go? Tiring. Dwight woke up shortly before landing not feeling very well. Toby and I barely slept an hour. We did manage to get over the plane ride only to be greeted by some Thai who wanted to give us a tour of Bangkok, having us back in the airport by 1 p.m. He wouldn't take no for an answer and waited, or rather escorted Jack around while we got organized. (JRG -the choice, was going on the tour or spending the time in the airport. The nerve-racking part was handing in our luggage at a luggage room that was full of bags and wondering if we would ever see them again.) We finally agreed for $50 for the four of us (less in Thai money). So after a coke - off we went.

He drove us through Bangkok-to meet a lady who did the talking, and a driver. Just the 6 of us in one rather large Datsun sedan. We went first to the 5 1/2 ton solid gold Buddha. Boy, talk about impressive and huge. It was behind all of these rather shabby buildings. Bangkok seemed a city.of contrasts. The rice/flooded fields we could see coming in — the poor shacks providing shelter - then big fairly new fairly large office buildings and hotels, and then all of the open flea market stalls. It's very hard to describe. The temples where the Buddhas are magnificent — everything hand done and exact. After the temple of the Buddha, the lady tour guide bought little birds in a cage for Toby to set free. Also we had to take off our shoes to enter the temples. Very different than anything we had seen before. From there we went to the Grand Palace which they are completely redoing in anticipation of the 200 year anniversary celebration in 1982. So exacting work and so many people doing it — crazy — we took a lot of pictures — hope some come out. It was also very hot and humid. The car was air-conditioned.

These tours are run by the Institute of Tourism of Thailand, so I guess they are legitimate. I certainly feel we got our money's worth. After the Grand Palace we visited a couple more temples - one of the Emerald Buddha and another of marble. This one had a canal just full of turtles, and cats sleeping. The guide explained that any animal on the temple(s) grounds is considered protected by Buddha. She then explained that after visiting these things and before taking us back to the airport she had to take us by a couple of stores where people rushed up with cold drinks, first orange, then coke, and tried to pressure us into buying ' jewelry or some sort of expensive "souvenir" like rings. Jack just hates forced shopping so by the second one his patience was wearing thin. We ended up buying some postcards and stamps -and returned to the airport. En route saw somebody riding an elephant through the streets of Bangkok. Jack and boys fell asleep. Jack thought he was going to pass out when he first got out of the cab. While they slept I had an interesting chat with the lady about Thai vs Chinese customs on eating dogs and monkey brains, etc. also the lotus flower, because I was reminded of James Barrett’s book, the Lady of the Lotus. The lotus were growing on the banks of various water/swamps/what have you, that were on the side of the road.

We then staggered into the airport, got the luggage, some postcards and stamps and waited for Qantas to open. It finally opened and then Jack ran into trouble because we don't have visas. (JRG - let me tell this part. I checked in our luggage, and handed the clerk the tickets. She tagged the luggage and sent it on the way, processed the tickets and then asked for the passports. She then informed me that I didn't have visas. I said that was correct, I was traveling on official passports, and going to Australia under U. S. Dept. of Defense orders, and therefore didn't need a visa - only the 'status of forces agreement' which was stamped in each passport and which I showed her- She insisted that I needed visas. After arguing with her for some time she called her supervisor who explained that I was correct. Fine, she said - show me the orders. At some point I asked what business it was of the airlines. She explained that if they take someone to Australia that is not allowed to enter, they have to return them to the original place of departure. Fine, I said, but I didn't expect to have to show her my orders and my orders were in a bag I had checked in. I'll bet I am the only American who has seen the basement of the Bangkok airport. I was escorted down to find the cart with my bags, located them, located the bag with the orders and pulled out the orders - all of which I accomplished.) Then it was wait, wait and more wait -.a $10 airport fee - and Jack feeling worse and worse by the minute. Then there was a mixup on which gate to use to get on Qantas for Sydney. Toby has on his kangaroo shirt that his teacher made for him as a going away gift. Everybody seems pretty excited about finally being on the plane to Australia.

From Bangkok we flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Once again transit passengers were not allowed to get off. We were on the ground for and hour and a half. It is 7 hours 5 minutes, flying time from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne. We looked in the magazine and it is 7500 miles from Bangkok to Sydney. It was"only 5500 miles from Frankfort to Bangkok. And now we are into another night. We are sitting 3 across -with strangers at the window seats. The man by Toby and I is very nice. He let Toby put his feet on his lap and stretch out to go to sleep.

It is 4 a.m. and we are sitting in the Perth airport! Our Qantas flight was diverted from Melbourne and Sydney because of heavy fog over both cities. This transit lounge is very crowded. Jack is investigating other possibilities for getting to Alice Springs without waiting for the weather on the east coast to clear. Right now he is trying to get money so he can call the airline that flies into Alice Springs. This transit area is packed to the gills. Some people like first class have 'been called to reboard the aircraft. What a mess. It is hard to believe that we have flown about 1/2 way around the world without any major difficulties, except the little bit in Rome on the way to Athens and then this – bad weather on the east coast of Australia. The people say this only happens 2 or 3 times a year. We are all so dirty I can't stand us - 48 hours in the same clothes - yuck!

(JRG - thus ends Dorothy's notes. I will pick up the story from here and bring it briefly to the end. I managed to get us (and our bags) on a flight to Adelaide - in those days there were not daily flights from Perth to Alice Springs. However, it was still only about 7:30 in the morning and our plane to Adelaide didn't leave until 1:30 or so. Although we were all near exhaustion, I said maybe it would be better to do something than sit and suffer. So we decided to take the bus into downtown Perth. We got on and on the way in town the bus had to stop and call for medical help when a passenger had what was probably an epileptic attack. We went on in and walked around for a short time then went back to the. airport. We flew to Adelaide where a guy working for the U.S. government met us and took us to the flats the U.S. government owns for transients, or people sent to Adelaide for medical reasons. After settling in the flat, we took a bus to go get something to eat, returned and went to bed — about 52 hours after we had gotten out of bed in Frankfort. We slept for 13. hours. The next day we flew to Alice Springs. One of the boys was surprised we didn't have to go through passport control - we had in every other airport. This was the first time I had been there and when you arrive at the airport there is nothing to be seen for as far as the eye could see. I have to admit I wondered if I had done the right thing. Events, as you know by now - proved that I had nothing to worry about.)