In November/December 1992, I took a three-week, all expenses paid, speaking trip to Australia. Shannon and I got home from a vacation in Belize Monday night, November 23, I had a couple of days to do laundry and catch up on things, we had Thanksgiving with my parents, and I left early Friday morning for Brisbane, Australia, arriving (over the date line) Saturday around midnight – some 28 hours later.
I was invited to speak on Campus-Wide Information Systems at the AARNET conference in Brisbane, where I demonstrated our information service at UNC-Chapel Hill, which used precursors of gopher and World Wide Web. There were about 400 people and my presentation was carried live on the Internet and recorded (Video Part A and Video Part B, about 30 minutes each).
During the week I was in Brisbane, I did a lot of walking (including the botanical garden), took a boat ride to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (a small zoo of local animals), toured the Queensland Performing Arts Complex and art gallery and South Bank Parklands that included a butterfly house, and had fantastic dinners at Pier 9 and on the Kookaburra Queen Paddlewheeler. The last day, I took a day-long bus trip to Mount Tamborine, Natural Bridge, and Byron Bay, rode down the length of the Gold Coast, had lunch at a banana plantation and a tour of the plantation. My room in Brisbane was on the 24th floor, the Executive Floor – a very nice room!
Sunday, December 6, I traveled from Brisbane to the Gold Coast. Monday was a particularly busy day, with 6 am pick up and breakfast with people at Bond University, then back to Brisbane for a 10:30 presentation at the University of Griffith, and then a flight to Canberra.
I was the luncheon speaker for a librarians’ Christmas party at Australian National University in Canberra, spent the afternoon in the National Science and Technology Center, and that evening had dinner in a lovely private home. The next afternoon, one of the librarians at the National Library took me on a quick tour of the Telecon Tower on Black Mountain, the botanical garden, and a one-hour tour of the National Art Gallery. In the evening, I flew to Sydney.
After a half-day workshop at the University of Technology in Sydney, I was treated to dinner in the Bennelong Restaurant and the Australian Ballet in the Sydney Opera House! The next day, I spent quite a bit of time at Darling Harbour, particularly at the Sydney Aquarium, and rode the ferry to Manley and a Jetcat back. I also took a day-long trip into Hunter Valley for wine tastings at three wineries. The last day I was there, a Sunday, I went to the botanical garden. The view of the Opera House, bridge, and bay was marvelous. There was a small band playing on the steps of the Opera House, about 20 old Morgans parked in a row out in front, and small booths of crafts (Sunday market) on the street. A wonderful day!
From Sydney, I flew to Melbourne for a half-day workshop at Monash University. While I was there, I visited the National Gallery of Victoria and the royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens, walked among the kangaroos in the Bushland section and also through another butterfly house; I saw the platypuses and the baby gorilla and lots of other birds, animals, and reptiles in their wonderful open, natural zoo. I had dinner at the Treble Clef (smoked salmon pizza with capers, dill, and horseradish cream – delicious), then to the Playhouse Theater. The next day, I flew back to Sydney.
I flew home from Sydney at 3:45 pm December 17, arrived in Los Angeles at 10:00 am that morning, and then home about 10 pm, the same day. I really enjoyed the trip!