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Newsletter #12 - September 5-10, 1959 |
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News letter No. 12
September 4 to 11, 1959 Mailed from Singapore on September 15, 1959 Received in Wilmington, Del. on September 22, 1959 Hello again, It's Saturday [September 5] and we're rolling nearer to Sydney and our mail stop. It has been over five weeks since we left Hong Kong and we sure are hungry for news from home. We have been going through much lovely mountain area today and we are seeing a different species of tree and scrub as we ride. The lovely tree fern and cabbage palms at times makes you feel as if you were deep in the jungles. Then, all of a sudden, you see the Pacific Ocean and its lovely beaches. Today we stopped early and are staying at Ulladulla Beach. Ulladulla means "safe harbor" in aboriginal language. We watched the fishing boats come in about four o'clock and watching the fishermen scrub their boats after unloading their day's catch and then hanging their nets to dry provided a most interesting experience. The fishermen also repair many of their nets which are torn during the day. Our hotel is very nice and I might add the most modern we've had while in Australia. Again we are learning to know the other twenty-seven tour members quite well and have learned many interesting things from them about Australia. We surely would have many friends to visit if we could come back to Australia. Sunday [September 6] and we are again in another state of Australia -- now we are in New South Wales. The scenery today is really the most beautiful we've seen in Australia. The mountains, hills and dairy farms are most picturesque and remind us of what we expect to see in Switzerland. We even saw snow on one mountain. New South Wales is the mother state of Australia and developed from the first settlement in 1788. The state was so named because part of its coastline reminded the early mariners of the shores of South Wales. This state is particularly rich in minerals - particularly coal and iron ore - and has more than 45% of Australia's total sheep population. We arrived in Sydney about four o'clock and received our first view of the famous Harbor Bridge and Sydney harbor as we drove into the city. Our hotel is in the downtown area called Kings Cross. This section is comparable to New York City's Times Square. Again we missed church as it was the last day of our tour and, after we arrived in Sydney, we were too tired to hurry, eat and dress for evening service. |
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Since we have only two days and nights in Sydney, we've decided to take a few city tours. Our first tour took us past the main shopping streets and important city buildings which included: Parliament House, the Conservatorium of Music, the Registrar General's Office and St. Mary's Cathedral which has gorgeous Gothic architecture. Later we drove via Mrs. Macquarie's Drive past the lovely Botanical Gardens to the historical Wentworth House for a tour through it and morning tea. Next we viewed the entrance to Sydney Harbor and the city skyline. We next went to Watson Bay and the return drive provided ample views of the eastern surfing beaches of Bondi, Tamarama, Bronte and Coogee. We also saw Randwick Racecourse, Hyde Park and the Anzac War Memorial and St. Andrew's Cathedral. On our own we took a ferry to Taronga Beach Island. Here we saw many animals native to Australia such as the koala bear, the platypus, the kangaroo, the wallaroo and the wallaby. These are all marsupial animals and this means that the young remain in the mother's pouch until they are old enough to look out for themselves. The word "Koala" means "no drink" and the koala bear gets all the moisture necessary for its existence from the juice of the gum leaves or the foliage of only a few types of eucalypts it enjoys. The koala bear weighs about twelve to twenty pounds when full grown and has soft, round, furry body. I bought a cute stuffed one so that we can study marsupial animals in third grade when I return. Most of these marsupial animals are nocturnal creatures and spend most of their daylight hours sleeping. On our second tour of Sydney, we went over the massive Sydney Harbor Bridge to Milsom's Point where an unusual view of the bridge is seen from beneath the north pylon. We later drove through pleasant suburbs to Roseville. Crossing Roseville Bridge we came into hilly bush country and then went through French's Forest which offered more charming scenery. We were then driven along Wakehurst Parkway and past more of Sydney's lovely surf beaches. I must give New South Wales credit for hundreds of beautiful beaches and scenic waterways. On Prince's Highway we traversed on a mountain road to Sublime Point where, spread before you with coastline of over fifty miles, there is a panoramic view acknowledged to be one of the finest in the world. However, I'd say this opinion is held only in Australia as, on this trip thus far, I've seen some much nicer views. We tried to get our mail on Monday [September 7], but the American Consulate was closed as it was Labor Day. Australia does not observe this United States holiday, however. We did get our mail on Tuesday [September 8] and received a total of nineteen letters. I can assure you they were all interesting and greatly appreciated by both of us. We would like very much to answer each one personally, but I hardly find enough time to write these newsletters. To the girls in my Sunday School Class, thanks for the most interesting round-robin. I must mention that it surely is nice to have to many letters from my pupils, family and friends. All these letters help to keep my spirits up as occasionally I would like to be at home — especially for some food the way I like it. I know just what I'm going to cook and prepare for at least the first month after we return. |
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In case I might forget myself, I want to tell you that Captain James Cook, an English naval officer, is responsible for discovering Australia's fertile Pacific Coast in 1770. From this date, you can easily understand that Australia is still a very young country. We left Sydney at 7:15 P.M. [September 8?] on an express bus to Brisbane and drove all night and the entire next day until 6:30 P.M. This made almost a twenty-four hour trip, but, fortunately for us, we had short times for breakfast and lunch stops. It was strenuous but again we enjoyed the trip as we drove through an entirely different type of terrain and saw miles and miles of banana tress. The bananas are in large, beautiful bunches but just a bit too green for picking right now. We also passed many fields of sugar cane and other tropical fruit producing sections. We are now in Queensland - the Sunshine State as it is known to Australians. Queensland has 7,000 acres of pineapple groves growing on its tropic terrain and pawpaws are grown all along the coast. Other tropical and sub-tropical fruits grown commercially are mangoes, avocadoes, custard apples and passion fruit. We drove along Queensland's "Riviera Coast" which extends for nineteen miles and is called the Gold Coast. This is an all-year-round holiday region where you find glorious surfing beaches, placid waterways and ideal sheltered havens. You can enjoy swimming, sailing, motorboating and all other water sports any time of the year in this section of Queensland. During this same drive, we passed and enjoyed some lofty inland areas. These areas rise up to a height of 4,000 feet and possess superb panoramas, exuberant sub-tropical rain forest and vine jungles. You might be interested in the American names of a few of their Gold Coast beaches - Southport, Surfers' Paradise, Miami, Mermaid Beach, Palm Bay, Palm Beach, etc. While in Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, we used our few days to take tours so that we could see the places of interest in this city. Right now, the people of Brisbane are celebrating their centenary year and the city is arrayed with gay flags and decorations for this occasion. The city has beautiful buildings and we saw the City Hall and Tower, Parliament House, the National Art Gallery, the Queensland Museum and some other interesting buildings. We also saw Queensland University and the site of buildings to be completed on the Brisbane River. In and around the city, there are three beautiful bridges which are illuminated at night. We went to the summit of Mt. Coot-tha where we saw the principal thoroughfares and other features of interest. Mt. Coot-tha revealed many attractive views from several excellent vantage points which overlooked the city of Brisbane. Here we had our tea and scones before touring the tropical fruit growing area on the southern shores of Moreton Bay. Another tour took us to Lone Pine Sanctuary where we saw lovely koala bears and I had an opportunity to hold one. To me, this was quite a |
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thrill as the koala bears are adorable animals. At this sanctuary we saw other marsupial animals and also many species of tropical birds which are native to Queensland, The sanctuary was in a delightful setting on the upper placid reaches of the Brisbane River. During these tours we noticed flowering trees which we learned were known as bottle brush trees, bawkinia trees, bougainvillea and red and orange flame trees. All these trees are quite unusual and add to the beauty of this state. We also noted many wildflowers which are known to Australians as white clematis, the purple sarsaparilla, the golden sun daisies, the common heath and the colorful coral red waratah. While having lunch in a small town called Lismore N.S.W, we were able to see the arrangements of flowers at their unique celebration called "Flower Carnival Week". We tried to obtain information on this carnival week. However, our time was so limited that we didn't have time. I thought this might be an idea for our Garden Club to organize. If the club is interested, I'll write to the Chamber of Commerce in Lismore later. In the lobby of our hotel, we met a lovely couple from Sydney whose daughter models for Norman Hartnell - the Queen of England's dress designer. They want us to look up their daughter when we get to London. I'm sure we were in conversation with this lovely couple for at least 2 ½ hours and we certainly enjoyed the evening with them. They were in Brisbane on a holiday and are so anxious to get to America some day. On our many bus tours, we always play the game of finding as many white horses along the highway as possible before the next person. The game became popular with most of the other tourists and they became so taken with the game that even the bus driver began to help. I tell you the Australians really like Americans and have a great deal of respect for our country and would all like to get to America for a visit. The older homes in most of Australia's large cities have beautiful ornamental steel balconies and cornices which to us, are quite attractive. Some of the Australians have used these ornamental steel designs to form very nice architectural styles. Many of these homes reminded us of those found in the French Quarters and other homes in New Orleans. Brisbane, with its fine climate and perpetual sunshine, is a city of healthy, out-of-door-loving people. The city has facilities for sports of all kinds - cricket, football, tennis, golf, racing, bowling, lacrosse, swimming, surfing, fishing and many others. Of course, these can all be enjoyed year round. We saw the Queensland Turf Club and their three racecourses which provide regular weekly races at either the Ascot Track, the Albion Park or the Doomben Track. The tracks were abounding in single and double poinsettias while we were there. They also have thirteen excellent golf courses. So, anyone interested in visiting Australia can be assured that Queensland is ready to welcome them. |
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Tomorrow we take a BOAC plane to Darwin. This is a 2,000 mile plane trip. So, I'll end our newsletter for this week and catch you in the Northern Territories tomorrow night. As usual, we have that disgusting job of packing for the plane so that we will not be overweight with luggage. It certainly was grand this past month in Australia to travel and not worry about weight problems with our luggage. Again, we send our love and regards to everyone and hope you're all feeling as well as we are. Charlotte and Meredith
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