This is a mini-trip report and general update on the family.
Dorothy, Toby and I flew to Brisbane on October 1st. The reason for going there was to visit EXPO 88. I didn't really want to go because I had heard about the crowds, but Dorothy and Toby wanted to go. The day before we left, Dorothy learned that the one day we were definitely going to be there was going to be Northern Territory Day, with special events planned to publicize the N.T. So she checked with her editor to see if he wanted her to cover it - he said, sure. When we arrived in Brisbane she had to go to the EXPO site to receive her media accreditation, so Toby and I took the luggage and went on to our motel which was over an hour by bus (the closest accommodation to Brisbane). Dorothy followed a couple of hours later.
The next morning we caught a bus at 8 to get to the park at 9. Toby and I bought our tickets and had to stand in line for an hour until the gates opened. Meanwhile, the primary instigator in this plan was able to walk through the media gates. I was not amused at all. All day Toby and I would occasionally see Dorothy between her covering one of the events to mark N.T. day. The only way I can describe EXPO is to compare it to Disneyworld on a busy day but compacted into a smaller area. Some of the lines were unbelievable - the wait to get into the New Zealand pavilion was about 4 hours (we gave that a miss.) Toby and I only bothered going in about four pavilions. I did get into the one I really wanted to see - the People's Republic of China. In addition to the fantastic works of art, six of the terra cotta figures, which were dug-up a number of years ago after having been buried for about 2000 years, were on view. I figured that was about my only chance to see them. I doubt seriously that I will be allowed to visit China any time soon. Toby and I also went to an aquacade (water show) with swimmers and divers, saw a show with some incredible Chinese acrobats, arid saw some beautiful diamonds in the Western Australian pavilion. The second largest diamond producing area in the world is in Western Australia, and some colored diamonds are being found there. One necklace with a pink diamond as a pendant and the rest of the necklace using white diamonds was priced at $2 million. We stayed at EXPO until after the nightly fireworks and left at about 11. I was barely able to walk to the bus. However, since we had stayed all day, we decided we did not have to fight the crowds the next day.
We spent three days driving to Canberra. The only thing we did along the way was stop to tour a power plant. I thought this plant was nuclear because it had the big cooling towers that are always present at nuclear power plants in the U.S. But it was coal fired there are no nuclear power plants in Australia. I guess I am out of practice because I minded the drive, especially the winding two lane country roads we were on part of the time. I guess the flat open spaces of the outback are affecting me.
We stayed with a friend in Canberra. Ronnie used to live here in Alice Springs, but now lives in a rather small house in Canberra with another lady and her 5-year old daughter. In addition, there are also Ronnie's two Old English Sheepdogs, and a small terrier. Consequently, there was not a lot of room to move around. I wasn't around long because I attended the Federal conference of the Australian-American Association, The first day was mostly festivities - a tour of the new Australian Parliament House, lunch at the Canberra Hyatt, a wreath-laying ceremony at a memorial to Americans who died during WWII, a reception at the U.S. Embassy (the U.S. Ambassador is the patron of the Australian-American Association), and finally a buffet dinner at the National Press Club.
The next day, the conference got down to business, after being officially opened by a former Prime Minister. The item which most affected our division was the agreement that next year's conference will be held here in Alice Springs. That afternoon we attended a reception at the Governor-General's house - he is the Queen's representative in Australia. That night there was a formal dinner at which the Ambassador was the speaker. He has been very involved with the association and this was his last Federal Conference since he will be going home the beginning of the year.
While I was at the conference, Dorothy and Toby did a bit of shopping (Toby can always find something to buy) and went sightseeing at the War Memorial Museum, the Mint and a space tracking facility just outside of Canberra.
Saturday morning, after I returned the tux that I had had to rent for the formal dinner, we drove to Sydney. We spent some time at a flea market which we had gone to once before in Sydney, then spend quite awhile at a big new complex, called Darling Harbor, on the Sydney waterfront. There were a lot of interesting shops and good places to eat.
Sunday, we spent the day at an amusement park outside of Sydney. The highlight of the day was getting drenched on a water raft ride. We had ridden a similar one in Brisbane a year ago. It involves a seating area for 6 people surrounded by what looks like a big inner tube and goes around a water course with rapids along the way. The difference in this one was that it also had geysers that shot up and drenched you with water. It took hours to get dry, and then Toby and I decided to ride it again just before we left for the day.
We drove through rush hour traffic Monday morning to reach Sydney International Airport. The U.S.A.F. cargo plane, which normally flies into an RAAF base outside of Sydney was supposed to land at the commercial airport because the military airport was preparing for an air show. However, when we got there, I was informed that the cargo plane was not landing there - it was going into Brisbane instead. I asked why and was told because of bad weather in Sydney. The sky was blue with no clouds; however, I learned later that there were apparently severe wind conditions at higher altitudes. So, although the commercial planes were still landing, the military plane decided the conditions were too rough! So we had to pay $900 to fly back to Alice Springs via commercial airliner, instead of flying for free.
While we were away, Dwight was studying for exams. He just went through a round which was a combination of trials for the upcoming matriculation exams, and in some cases a part of his grade for the year. In addition to those exams he just completed and the matriculation exams in November, he is also scheduled to take the S.A.T exams again the beginning of November, and is also busy filling out his application forms for college. He is applying to a number of schools, but his first choice is Stanford. I have no idea whether he has any chance of getting in or not. Meanwhile, he is still busy on the weekends working as the photographer for the newspaper. I believe he has also been offered a job after he finishes school in December.
Toby is still involved in a number of activities. He seems to really enjoy indoor cricket, although his team usually gets beaten pretty badly. He just laughs it off. He is looking forward to attending a new school next year. The 8th, 9th and 10th grades are called high schools here and he would have had to go to Alice Springs High if this new school (St. Phillips) had not opened. Alice Springs is pretty rough, due to the number of aboriginal kids that go there, and Toby didn't want to go. Now, he not only is looking forward to going to St. Phillips, but has decided he doesn't want to come home. The only negative aspect to St. Phillips is that the kids are supposed to wear uniforms, including black tie shoes for the boys. Toby is going to talk to them about his cowboy boots - he has worn them since he was about 2 years old and is not going to give them up that easily.
Dorothy is still very involved with the paper. She recently was in the office until 3:30 a.m., when I called and threatened to come down and put on a performance. She has had a couple of rounds with sub-editor in the last month or so and has threatened a couple of times to quit. I hope she doesn't - she doesn't handle unemployment well. I guess for the moment, things are going OK. One day this week she got to interview the former astronaut, Alan Shepard, and I told her there was no way she was going to do that without taking me along. So, I got to meet him and at least shake his hand. Unfortunately, he was preparing to leave town and had to get to the airport to catch his plane. He had been here on a fund raising drive for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Oh - although there was some trauma about faxing her notes back from the east coast and then the paper not using her article, after she returned from our trip Dorothy's article on N.T. Day at EXPO did appear in the paper.
Well, as time approached to start to think about coming home, we got more and more depressed, and then Dorothy received a couple of letters from friends back home complaining about conditions at that expensive school that the kids attend. So I had a chat with my boss, and told him we did not necessarily want to go home, but I would like to think I had at least some hope of getting promoted. The end result was that there is some hope of getting promoted, and he said he'd like me to stay, so I am going to take the gamble, and we are going to stay one more additional year, until the summer of 1990. Dwight will come home on his own to attend college beginning in the fall of 1989. Meanwhile, we will use our R&R again to come home over Christmas., However, we will leave the east coast a bit early so we can stop in San Francisco for Dwight to visit the Stanford campus. From there we'll drive to L.A. so we can go to Disneyland (mostly for Toby's benefit).
I guess that is really all the news at the moment, so I will stop here.
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