2nd March 2009

WE visited the Immigration Museum which told the story of immigration from its early days by sailing ship which could take as long as 3 months with all its trials and tribulations. Now it can be done as 24 hour direct flight. An interesting section is were you can sit as an immigration officer and interview prospective immigrants and decide whether they are suitable new citizens. It was interesting to note that there was even immigration from Israel.

Melbourne summation, It is an easy place to get around as the city centre is based on the grid system, the availability of free trams and buses was excellent and made getting around very simple. Cafe culture is also very much in evidence, even if all the coffee we had was pretty foul.

3rd March 2009

After an early start we flew to Alice Springs. While we were at Melbourne Airport we learnt of several shark attacks in and around Sydney Harbour including Bondi Beach, still we can be pretty certain we would not hear of any shark attacks at Alice Springs!!!!

After a 3 hours flight we arrived at our hotel and after a quick sandwich we were off on our afternoon trip around the area. First stop was to the School of the Air, a fascinating insight in how the children who are spread over an area of 521,000 square miles are taught. To give you an idea of the size, that is 10 times the size of England!!! Initially using old fashioned radio, the advent of the digital and satellite era has made contact between teacher and pupil more 'hands on'. The next stop was the Flying Doctor Service headquarters. The founder was Rev. John Flynn whose vision was to set up a Mantle of Safety for health in Central Australia. The first Flying Doctor started operation in 1928 and has gradually grown to be the size it is now. It covers an area of 7,150,000 square kilometres, and now has 51 aircraft.

For those who have not discovered who or what Chloe is I will tell you. It is a painting in the Young and Jackson Public House which is situated opposite Flinders Street Station in Melbourne. The painting of a young lady dressed as she was outraged Victorian Australians and this outrage only disappeared during World War 1 when the people discovered that soldiers going to war were going into the pub to drink a toast with Chloe as they went off to war from Flinders Street Station. This tradition continued during the Second World War. If your eyes are not too delicate look at the picture below. (I joined in the toasting of Chloe by indulging in 2 Natural Blondes, whilst Rosalyn watched on. - Beer for the uninitiated).