The trip to Australia was uneventful but with a long lay-over at the Newark, N.J. airport. Thank goodness we had United Airlines club passes to help pass the time. We were happy to learn that we were eligible for the fast screening procedure in Albany, so we did not have to take off shoes, belts, jackets, and did not have to remove the computer for inspection. When we arrived in Sydney we were the only plane. We were in row 2 of economy class, so we breezed through security. We arrived at Betty's around 8:30 am. We spent 4 days there, having a chance to get over jet lag. Barre went into the Botanic Garden to visit and collect pondweed data. On Saturday night we went to dinner with Betty, daughter Ellen and family, and son Geoff and wife. There was still smoke in the area on Saturday from the fires to the west of Sydney. Sunday morning we flew to Brisbane to spend time with friend Gail. Gail was originally from Adams, MA. and served as host to Barre during his 1997 sabbatical in Australia.
 |
| Queensland University of Technology Interactive Wall
|
We went into Brisbane for the day on Monday. We took the ferry up the Brisbane River to the center of the city. Our first stop was to the University of Queensland Technology to check out the Interactive wall in the Science and Technolgy Center. There were three sides to the display. The first was the Barrier Reef (above), the second side was the Brisbane Flood of 2011, and the third was the demonstation of what gravity was like on the different planets. The reef displayed allowed you to touch the screen as the fishes swim by. This would bring up information segment s for the fish. The gravity display allowed you to change the gravity to correspond with that on the various planets. You could "throw" various things into the air. Jupiter material hardly moved, while Pluto and Mercury went very high.
Brisbane City Hall
We went then walked to the Brisbane City Hall and took the tour through the building. The most interesting area was a wall that was above a "long urinal trough" that was used during World War 2. Soldiers from Australia and the United States had signed the wall. The guide told about people on tours over the years recognizing names of relatives. We toured the museum while there.
The first Tuesday in November, Australia is totally involved with the running of the Melbourne Cup horse race. This is the richest horse race in the World. First place is over six million Australian dollars. We went over to Coochiwmudlo Island for the celebration. Gail had lived there previously, so we joined her friends for lunch and to wait for the race. It is hard to expain how "crazy" Australia gets over a horse race. This was the number one news item. Melbourne Cup day is a holiday in the State of Victoria. The rest of the country literally comes to a halt at race time. We enjoyed the time on the island visiting and playing various "horse racing " games.
So far the weather has been fair and warm. Rain is desparately needed. We will stay here in Queensland until Friday, then fly back to Sydney. Betty will join us next week for a trip to Tasmania.
No comments:
Post a Comment