January 30, 2005

"Dianne and the kids finally arrived today at about 10:45AM."

"They were in L.A. for 2 days at Shirley's(Dianne's aunt) and visited the beach and Disneyland. Their flight from LA was about 1 hr. late because of turbulence and strong head winds. Apparently Brett and Trent were very good on the plane- 19.5 hours from LA to Sydney".

"Apparently everyone is mad at me for going off to Australia, especially Don and Phyllis."

January 29, 2005

January 28, 2005

Driving on the "wrong" side of the road, ie left, was a new experience. They also have a rule that you have to give way to a vehicle approaching from the right. This is an interesting concept when you are travelling along a main road at 60 miles an hour and some one approaches on a side road from your right and expects to have the right of way. Lots of collisions.

I bought a 1967 Ford Falcon car for $1600.00. The first day I drove from Gilgandra to Sydney. It took about 12 hours, most of it a night, through the mountains, in fog, and too often on the wrong side (right) of the road. It is a miracle that I survived.

jd @ 9:32 p.m. | |

January 24, 2005

Brett, in 1972, feeding a 'joey' with a baby bottle. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRETT! 

jd @ 9:26 a.m. | |

Main Street Gilgandra, circa 1972. Note the reddish tinge to everything. Does this remind you of a wild west movie set? 

jd @ 9:22 a.m. | |

This is what faced me when I descended from the train at Gilgandra ( the literal end of the line ). I thought maybe a mistake. Note the cloudy sky. It rained a few drops as I walked into town ( an act of faith ). Little did I know that it would not rain again for 8 months. 

jd @ 9:19 a.m. | |

This is a new building - a water company 

jd @ 9:15 a.m. | |

ha ha ha

yes, the famous "aigues de Barcelona" tower. (a water company). it is a brand new building.

ernic
----- Original Message -----
From: doug lamb
To: visitor@virtourist.com
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 12:15 AM
Subject: VIRTOURIST.COM visitor request






On a recent trip to Barcelona I took this picture of the city. In the middle background of the picture is a conical structure that I have not been able to identify. Can you tell me what it is? Doug

jd @ 9:08 a.m. | |

January 23, 2005

Friday, Jan.21/71( actually 1972 but I was still in 1971 )

"Yesterday I finally got my appointment -to Gilgandra- boy! Was I ever disappointed. Gil. is a town of about 2000 people 300 miles north west of Sydnley -across the Great Dividing Range from the coast."

I flew to Dubbo last night and stayed in Dubbo overnight (40 miles south of Gil., in a motel, and took the train up this morning. I wasn't feeling very well last night- tense I guess- and was sick to my stomach this morning before I had to catch the train. I felt some better afterwards, but still not very good."

The appointment to Gilgandra came as a shock because I was expecting to be posted to a city school. No one (Aussies) that I talked to knew were Gil. was loctated. Some had never even heard of it.

jd @ 6:00 p.m. | |

January 22, 2005

Jan. 22, 2005. 01:00 AM
Portable laptop stand instant work station

Road warriors who travel with their laptop computers will like this new Cyberlegs Portable Laptop Stand from a Toronto computer furniture company called Paralax.

Similar to a camera tripod, it has three telescoping aluminum legs that can be adjusted from 46 cm to 99 cm high. They can also be adjusted individually so you can alter the angle at which the laptop sits.

The computer attaches to the stand with tough Velcro, making it easy to pull off.

It supports up to 11 kilos of weight yet weighs less than a kilo and comes with ballistic nylon bag with hooks to clip to backpacks, briefcases or computer cases.

In a U.S. study, recently published in the journal Human Reproduction, medical researchers have found that the heat given off by laptop computers, when used on the lap, is enough to affect the production of healthy sperm and could lead to infertility, giving another good reason to get laptops off laps, at least male ones!

The laptop stand sells for $89.98 from Paralax. Call 1-800-871-5882 or email info@paralax.ca.

jd @ 2:22 p.m. | |

Jan. 22, 2005. 01:00 AM From today's Toronto Star


The 10 destinations where travellers will be seen in 2005



Ten Destinations that are Generating Buzz in 2005

1. Hana, Maui, Hawaii: One of the world's top honeymoon spots.

2. South America: Peru (Machu Picchu), Chile, Argentina and other red hot South American spots.

3. France: World's No. 1 international tourism destination. Paris continues to sizzle with the publication of The Da Vinci Code.

4. New Zealand: Lord of the Rings keeps drawing people to the outdoor playground.

5. Spain: This is the new hot place for great food while Italy is trendy with the learn-to-cook crowd.

6. China and Hong Kong: Now that they have recovered from the SARS crisis.

7. Eastern Europe: Prices are lower than Western Europe, Croatia has wonderful beaches and the capitals of Prague, Budapest and Krakow remain popular.

8. Alaska and Yukon: World's best wilderness adventures in the last frontier.

9. Las Vegas: New shows and casinos continue to draw visitors with 37 million expected this year.

10. Belize: World class snorkelling, spectacular wildlife and Mayan ruins.

SOURCE: AOL CANADA

jd @ 2:17 p.m. | |

January 21, 2005

Barcelona is the Capital of Catalunya (Catalonia) and has a language and culture of its own. They are not into bull fighting, a favourite attraction of more southerly areas of Spain, such as Seville and Madrid, so their only bull fighting ring, framed here by the window of the bus, is being turned into a gigantic shopping mall. 

jd @ 10:07 p.m. | |

Gaudi had a dislike of straight lines in his creations. These are the windows of another structure that he designed. 

jd @ 10:01 p.m. | |

The Sagrada Familia's temple is being completed as the funds become available. No public money can be used to complete it so all the funding has to come from private sources. The most recent additions are three fruit clusters that have been placed on three spires. The architecture style of the back of the church is different from the front because the back has been completed since Gaudi's death. 

jd @ 9:57 p.m. | |

The Temple Expiatiori de las Sagrada Familia, the incomplete creation of Antoni Gaudi, is , without a doubt, the most famous structure in Barcelona. Not everyone in Barcelona, though is a fan of Gaudi it seems. 

jd @ 9:52 p.m. | |

Barcelona has a temp. of 7 deg.C at this moment, according to the weather underground, and it is jsut after 2:00 am. The high on Sat. will be about 12-14 deg.C. Its not warm but it sure makes our -18 deg. C. look pretty good. Barcelona does have a bit of a smog problem because of its location on the coast, surrounded by higher land. It also has a strange cocoon-like structure that contrasts with the surrounding architecture. 

jd @ 9:44 p.m. | |

It is -18 deg. C.( 0 deg. F) outside, the Raptors are losing, and there are no other BB games on TV so my mind has turned to Barcelona, my favourite city of those we visited on our Med. Cruise. Barcelona is probably the most modern city in Spain, and is the most expensive to visit. Hotel rooms in the central city, in reasonably good quality hotels start at E95.00 per night.

La Ramblas struck me the most interesting street I have ever been on. It is a wide street with a central walking corridor between the 2 lanes of traffic. It is the only street that we were on that had more locals than tourists, even though there were tons of tourists. The incredible variety of living statues, from artistic to very creative and funny, create a vibrant environment for the endless shops of various kinds on either side of the street.

We walked this street, from end to end, twice in one afternoon and found more interesting thins to see each time.

jd @ 8:46 p.m. | |

On an earlier post I presented our then,new camera. Well The Sony has been returned in favour of this baby. The Sony has an f8 problem that produces poor outdoor pics(they turn out dark). Its a great camera but the programmers screw-up and produced a camera that defaults to f8 in bright sunlight. The Canon G6 has no such problem and is equal to the Sony in almost every way except that the Sony has no time lag on Auto and the Canon has just a bit. After much research, and after buying both cameras and comparing them head-to-head the Canon G6 won out. ( atleast for the moment)

jd @ 8:38 p.m. | |

January 16, 2005

I think the "new look" SUNDAY STAR" is fantastic. Finally some interesting content for our $.

How about this from LAB REPORT


There are tourists who can't do this
Rats can tell the difference between Dutch and Japanese when the two languages are spoken by the same person, according to researchers in Spain. The study suggests that the skills supporting the use and development of language evolved long before language itself came into being. "These findings have remarkable parallels with data from human adults, human newborns and cotton-top tamarins," the researchers noted. A cotton-top tamarin is a small neotropical monkey.

I wonder how the rats would make out distinguishing among Aussies, Kiwi, S.Africans, and various UK ites.

Even better, can they tell the difference between a Canadian and an American?

jd @ 1:05 p.m. | |

January 14, 2005

Fri. Nov. 26/71 "...bought Brett a car and truck set for Christmas. We are going to give him part of the set for Christmas and part for the plane"

"Dianne told Brett he was going on a big plane ride, and ever since he has been playing airplane with Tammy." (our poodle- forgot about her- she joined the McIlveen household-Dianne's parents)

"I am having trouble deciding on the type of camera I should buy. There is a wide variety in lenses and discrepancies in price."

(The more things change, the more they remain the same. Or, how many times do we have to go there? We currently have 2 digital cameras, and have had several others, in trying to decide which camera to buy!)

jd @ 1:59 p.m. | |

January 13, 2005

Once the decision was made we had to sell our house, and our new car that we had purchased to go on the camping trip out west. One of Dianne's sisters in Oshawa had just bought a new house and didn't have any money to buy furniture so we allowed them to use our furniture while we were away.

"The weather , so far, has been fairly mild for November. We got some snow last week but it didn't stay. It has been raining for the past 2 days- hope we get some snow before we go. It will make it more of a treat going into the tropics.( well not exactly the tropics but at least summer)

"Dianne bought Brett a book about a Koala Bear today- trying to get him thinking AUSTRALIA!"
We sold the house at a good profit, but took a big loss on the car, so they pretty well cancelled each other.

Sunday Nov 29: " We are having trouble trying to figure out what to get Brett for Christmas as we will be leaving soon after."
Due to a variety of factors, but mainly not knowing where I was going to be posted in New South Wales, we decided that I would go first, go through the 2 week orientation in Sydney, find out where we were going and find some place to live, then Dianne and the kids would come after.

Wed.Dec.1/1971 "I got my itinerary from Mayne (Travel) on Monday outlining my flight #'s and hotel reservations."
Fri. Dec 3/71 "Dianne received a dictionary of Australian slang from QUANTAS today. Its almost as bad as French."(I only took 8 years of french in high school and university).

Wed.Dec.19/71 "WOW! Never thought we would make it. Yesterday we moved to Oshawa." (Thanks be for parents and siblings.)

jd @ 9:28 p.m. | |

January 11, 2005

The redoubtable Leslie Morris is off to Indonesia, to Banda Acheh, one of the worst hit areas by the recent tsunami, to do relief work for OXFAM. Good Luck. Stay healthy.

jd @ 9:03 p.m. | |

January 10, 2005

Back in March of 1971 I started a diary about our move to Australia. Religious adherence to the documentation of this adventure led to a 3 volume epic. Some writings bring back good memories, some are embarrassing and many are very boring. I don't intend to reproduce the complete three volumes here, but will be selective, and edit-out that which is necessary.
I was obviously not in a good frame of mind back in 1971 when I started this diary. I wrote the following introductory entry.

"NORTH BAY, ONT., CANADA Nov. 7/71
A winter of discontent and frustration, in retrospect, led to the decision. Forty years of teaching,(actually ends this year 2005),giving, giving and collecting lay ahead. Meaning?
An ad in The Bulletin (Secondary teachers' mag.) , a chance for adventure, for change, for excitement, for Australia, was the beginning. Where would it end?" Who would have thought that it would end in Glencoe! ( I had never heard of Glencoe, despite my partial Scots heritage, in 1971 ).

" On June 20/71 I received on offer of a position, with 10 days to accept. (After a trip to TO for an interview at the Park Plaza, I was not very confident that a job offer would follow as I was pretty persistent about getting a job.) On a trial run for our summer trip to the Black Hills ( camping with Brett- 21/2 and still in diapers, and Trent 6 months old with the worst case of diaper rash I have ever seen), I made up my mind to accept the position. Dianne hadn't, it turned out."

"I waited for the last day of school,but one, June 29/71. I went to see the Principal , John Cullis, and resigned effective Dec. 31/71. ( You think you took a big gamble resigning to do your MBA Meredith. How about moving to Australia with 2 kids under 3 years)

jd @ 10:18 p.m. | |

January 08, 2005

For those of us who would be golfers. 

jd @ 4:02 p.m. | |

Sharper Image will also help you plan your schedule for the next 200 years. 

jd @ 4:01 p.m. | |

Here is another from Sharper Image - a portable GPS

jd @ 3:59 p.m. | |

Victoria Stevens, in today's Toronto Star, has a great link to a site www. sharperimage.com, that has all kinds of gadgets including things like this travel pillow. 

jd @ 3:58 p.m. | |

January 06, 2005

And again. 

jd @ 6:41 p.m. | |

Just to prove my competence. 

jd @ 6:40 p.m. | |

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