On the Road - by Bob Van Leer

Brisbane, Australia 16 May 1988 On the road again...

by Bob Van Leer

Brisbane, Australia, May 16, 1988:  Betty and I arrived in Brisbane this morning after a trip of about 9000 miles that couldn’t have gone smoother. Every schedule was met, usually with time to spare.

We left Gold Beach at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 14, for a drive to the Medford Airport, stopping at Medford to visit old friends Gerry and Lois Latham there. Vice President George Bush’s plane was at the airport – surrounded by troops. Bush was in Medford for public appearances and a fishing trip on the Rogue with guide Mel Norrick.

Brisbane, Austrailia 17 May 1988 A tour of Expo '88

by Bob Van Leer

(BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA, May 17, 1988)  Today we toured World Expo 88, an internationally sanctioned exposition billed as a $600 million project. The 100 acre site is on the south bank of the Brisbane River across from downtown. More than 50 governments are participating and 25 corporations and the theme of the fair is “Leisure in the Age of Technology”.

Brisbane is Australia’s third largest city with a population of a million people on the shores of Moreton Bay. As were other Australian cities, it was founded by transported English convicts. It was pointed out to us that the American Revolution was responsible for this shipment of convicts to Australia as England shipped them to the U.S. before the revolution.

Brisbane, Australia 18 May 1988 Korean dances impressive; U.S. pavilion is disappointing

by Bob Van Leer

(BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA, May 18, 1988)  Today we revisited Brisbane’s Expo 88 and the standout of what we have seen of the whole Expo was the dancers at the Korea Pavilion. A dozen dancers did a series of Korean folk dances that was outstanding. The female dancers were as pretty as China dolls and their smiles seem to have been painted on along with their makeup. No change of expression was permitted.

Sydney, Australia, 20 May 1988 Austrailian visitors experienec Koala Sanctuary, long train trip

by Bob Van Leer

(SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, May 20, 1988)     Yesterday we boarded a bus for a final tour around Brisbane before departing for Sydney.  A mandatory tourist stop is the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where they have a number of the cuddly small bears for which Australia is famous.  We lined up and had our pictures taken one by one, each holding a koala.  Only one of our party had the misfortune to be holding a koala that was not properly toilet trained.

Sydney, Australia 21 May 1988 Sydney Opera House highlights activities

by Bob Van Leer

(SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, May 21, 1988)    The standout today was attending a performance at the famed Sydney Opera House. The Sydney Philharmonic Choir and the Elizabethan Philharmonic Orchestra performed Dvorak’s Requiem Op. 89.  There were about 160 in the choir and 70 in the orchestra.

      The opera house itself is worth a visit.  It was originally estimated to cost $7 million but 17 years after construction began it was completed in 1973 at a cost of $102 million.  It was paid for by a lottery so the taxpayers didn’t suffer for the construction.  However, the state (New South Wales) government pays 40 percent of the operating cost.

Sydney, Australia 22 May 1988 Publishers take boat tour: coast drive

by Bob Van Leer

(SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, May 22, 1988)    The highlight of today’s activities was a boat trip up the Broken Bay estuary, about 30 kilometers north of Sydney.  Boats haul local passengers and freight up the waters of the Cowan waters and Hawksbury River.  However, most of the passengers on the boat are tourists sightseeing, which somehow seemed familiar.

      Our bus drove us up the coast to the dock on Barranjoey point and we boarded a boat that would seat about 70.  The trip is all in tidewater, and deep water at that, so size and draft of the boat is not a problem.  The boat had restrooms and a bar and one of the crew barbecued pork and beef on the fantail for our lunch, which was served on board.

Canberra, Australia 23 May 1988 Tour of sheep ranch: jouney to Canberra

by Bob Van Leer

(CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, May 23, 1988)  Our group left Sydney this morning at 7 for a trip to Canberra with a stop at a sheep station. 

      It’s not a long trip, 295 kilometers.  A kilometer is about .6 mile.  Australia has converted from the English system of measurement to metric in this generation and the older people are still having a little difficulty with it.  Temperature in centigrade presented a problem but one of our bus drivers gave us a handy rule of thumb that gets us within a degree or two – double the centigrade reading and add 32.

Canberra, Australia, 24 May 1988 Australian government, trade with U.S. are topics

(CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, May 24, 1988)   Our group started the morning with a tour of the Canberra Times.  The newspaper is in a new plant that includes a large conference room and, after the tour, we heard from two Australian cabinet ministers, the ministers of trade and defense.

      The working relationship between the newspapers and the government is closer than in the United States.  At home we wouldn’t expect to see Frank Carlucci, the U.S. secretary of defense, coming over to the Washington Post office to talk to a group of newspaper people.

Melbourne, Australia, 26 May 1988 Stay at Australian farm home is trip highlight

by Bob Van Leer

(MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, May 26, 1988)    Our party arrived in Melbourne this evening.  This is the last stop in our Australian tour, nearly 1000 miles from our starting point at Brisbane.

      Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia with a population of about 3.5 million and is the financial capital of the country.  It is the southernmost mainland Australian city.  South about 200 miles across Bass Strait is the island state of Tasmania, the last land mass north of the Antarctic continent.

Melbourne, Australia, 27 May 1988 Zoo Australia offers different mix of animals

by Bob Van Leer

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, May 27, 1988)  Several of us this morning visited the Melbourne Zoo, reputed to be one of the world’s oldest.  We were able to see a number of Australian animals I had never seen in the flesh before.

      The odd creature, the platypus, that has a bill like a duck and lays eggs, but the body and fur of a small animal, was on display in a tank of water in a building with the unlikely name of Platypusary.

Christchurch, New Zealand, 28 May 1988 Australian visit ends in Melbourne

by Bob Van Leer

(CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND, May 28, 1988)   The day began in Melbourne, Australia with a visit to the Queen Victoria Market, a covered market for produce, meats, fish and general merchandise similar to, but better than, Paddy’s in Sydney.

      The food sections of the market were a bedlam, jammed with people and merchants volubly selling their wares.  If the price of the vegetables was too high for the customer the sellers were willing to make a deal.  Much of the produce was familiar, but there were some strange ones, a knobby green thing about the size of a baseball called custard apples, passion fruit, and some strange vegetables.

Dunedin, New Zealand, 29 May 1988 New Zealand features sheep

by Bob Van Leer

(DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND, May 29, 1988)   This morning we left Christchurch for a drive south.  The morning fog burned off early and we had a clear view of the mountains to the west.  Our drive was through the Canterbury Plain, a flat agricultural area between a mountain range with peaks to 7000 feet and the Pacific Ocean.

      Some row crops are grown but mostly what we see are sheep, thousands of them.  We are told that there are 21 sheep for every person is New Zealand.  Pine plantations are replacing some of the sheep range.  Our bus driver said this is Pinus Radiata, which he says is the principal timber tree.

Te Anau, New Zealand, 30 May 1988 Glow worm cave is visited Monday

by Bob Van Leer

Te Anau, New Zealand, May 30, 1988     This is a resort town of 3000 people located on a huge lake of the same name on the eastern edge of Fiordland National Park, at 1.2 million acres, New Zealand’s largest.  The standout of the day was a visit to the glow-worm caves.

      We left Dunedin in the morning, driving south and west through sheep country.  The land is beautiful rolling green hills with thousands upon thousands of sheep grazing, broken up by an occasional pasture of deer.  As we got farther west we began to see snow-capped mountains.  The countryside gradually changed to alpine scenery.  Peaks range to over 3000 meters.

Queenstown, New Zealand, 31 May 1988 Glacier-carved Milford Sound scenery is breathtaking

by Bob Van Leer

(QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND, May 31, 1988)   This morning we drove to Milford Sound, a glacier-carved fiord on the west coast of New Zealand.  The road to the sound is narrow and landslide prone.  Last week it was closed for three days by the first snow of the season.

      The road isn’t too bad until you pass through the Homer tunnel and then it is steep switchbacks to the sound.  The tunnel is ¾ mile long and drops 423 feet inside the tunnel.  From the tunnel to the sound is about 10 kilometers in a straight line measurement, and the drop is 926 meters.

Queenstown, New Zealand, 1 June 1988 Boat, helicopter, gondola rides highlights of day

by Bob Van Leer

(QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND, June 1, 1988)   Today Betty and I took a jet boat ride on the Kawarau River, the outlet for Lake Wakatipu.  We wanted to compare it with the Rogue River jet boat rides to see if there were any lessons to be learned that might be useful at home.  The answer is that there aren’t.

      The boat ride was interesting, but did not compare with what is already being done on the Rogue.  What they are selling here is a boat ride on the river, not a trip to anywhere.  There is white water near here but we didn’t get a chance to see it.  Our boat ride was about six kilometers down the river and return.  The boat was a 16.5 foot craft powered with a 300 h.p. engine.

Christchurch, New Zealand, 2 June 1988 Travelers fly by Mt. Cook, New Zealand's highest peak

by Bob Van Leer

(CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND, June 2, 1988)    This is our last night in the southern hemisphere.  Tomorrow we begin our long trek home.

      The highlight of the day was a light plane flight around Mt. Cook, at 12,349 feet the highest peak in New Zealand.  This is called the Southern Alps.  There are in the vicinity of Mt. Cook more than 50 other peaks over 2300 meters in height.

San Diego, California, 3 June 1988 Final day begins in New Zealand, ends in U.S.

by Bob Van Leer

(SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, June 3, 1988)    Today was a long, long day that began in Christchurch, New Zealand, and ended in San Diego in the U.S.A.  Actually, it was two days but on the return trip we gained back the day we lost going over, so we had two June 3rds.

      The day began with a visit to the Christchurch newspaper, The Press.  In production methods the New Zealand papers are behind Australia, which is behind the U.S.  It is largely a union problem, not that the managers don’t know what is happening in production equipment.  The Press plans this year to convert its reporters from using typewriters to using computer terminals, something almost universal in the U.S.  At the Curry County Reporter we made this change nearly 10 years ago.