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Monday, June 19th 2006
Adelaide Photos Posted11:15 PM Location : Horsham, Victory
Check out the new photos published of our visit in Adelaide! Gotta catch the bus.... more later.
Friday, June 16th 2006
Arrived & Rested05:38 PM Location : Norwood (Adelaide)
It's just after 6:00 am Saturday here in Adelaide which is 14.5 hours ahead of Chicago time. I've been able to get a good nine hours of sleep and I'm feeling pretty good for it. So, I thought I would take advantage of the quiet part of this day to catch up on our travel.
For those following the blog that may be concerned the story about the oxygen masks falling was really no big deal. Mike reported that they were just sitting there and they fell out. Even though they tried the flight attendants couldn't get them to stay back up so the moved the three people in that row out. Mike ended up getting to sit next to Bill for the rest of the flight.
Apparently, just about 20 minutes before landing in Sydney a young lady sharing the row with Erin and Bob decided to "share her breakfast" with those around her. But, other than those two incidents I think our flight to Sydney was very uneventful.
Upon arrival in Sydney we gathered our luggage and prepared to move on to our next leg after meeting up with Alan Collett. Alan is a retired Melbourne Staff Band member who will be our host throughout the tour and a few of us have met him previously when we were here (1991?) or when the MSB was in Chicago.
Doug's trombone case was damaged a bit so when the rest of us went to check in with Quantas for the flight to Adelaide he went to make his claim. Unfortunately, the desk he needed to make his claim at didn't even open until 8:00 am so we lost track of him. Mike was with him though because his ticket was a little different from the rest due to his trip following the tour and he needed to check in somewhere else. We had four hours to make the connection so they had plenty of time to take care of things and join up with us at the gate and made it easily. The Executive Officer was on a different flight to Adelaide so he moved on to his flight as well.
At about 10:00 am we boarded a Quantas 737 for our flight to Adelaide which was very uneventful. We did get to see an episode of The Office on that flight. Felt just like home!
Upon arriving in Adelaide at about 12:30 pm local time we had safely logged in excess of 27 hours in transit. We were met by a number of Salvationists including the divisional secretary, Harry Matear and the Norwood officers, Major Glenda Daddow and Major Cindy Shellenberger. (Major Shellenberger is a Central Territory officer and the two of them were stationed in Racine, WI just prior to their appointment to Norwood about one year ago.) Again we collected our luggage with the exception of Doug's trombone (again!) For some reason his horn didn't make the flight. So, after making a claim we loaded our equipment on a truck, put our luggage under a bus and proceeded to the Norwood Corps.
Once there we unloaded and set up for a rehearsal that lasted about an hour and a half. Given the fatigue from our travel the rehearsal went pretty well. We then packed up our gear to store it, had a cup of coffee and prepared to meet our billet hosts where we will actually get to spend three nights in a row.
I can't speak for the rest of the band but following tea (dinner) I did my best to stay awake before giving up at about 9:00 pm when I went to bed. I slept very well and feel pretty good at this point. But, since I have Internet access here with my hosts I wanted to be sure to write to keep people up to date.
Today we do have a tour of Adelaide scheduled and then our first concert tonight.
Thursday, June 15th 2006
On Our Way Down Under Location : UA 863 Seat 41H
I'm sure the time stamp on this entry says it's something like 10:00 am on Thursday, June 15, 2006. In reality we have long since crossed the International Date Line and it's the wee hours of the morning somewhere out over the Pacific. In Sydney, our next stop, it's about 1:00 am. My world clock on my telephone helps me a lot to keep it all straight. As I usually do though I will likely keep my computer clock on Chicago time. For me it's just easier that way.
Glad to report that everyone made it to O'Hare in plenty of time and after checking in most of us grabbed something to eat since the leg from Chicago to San Francisco did not include a meal other than the $5 snack box you can buy. The flight to San Francisco was very full and we were basically on time. We didn't have a lot of time in the airport there though. We had to walk to the International Terminal which meant leaving the security area and going through security all over again. The walk wasn't long... maybe 10 minutes. Then we were only at the gate waiting about 30 minutes before we started to board this 747 that has been our transportation, cafe and bed for the last nine hours or so. And just think.... we only have about five hours to go before we land in Sydney! The plane is not full by any stretch of the imagination... but full enough to keep people from stretching out too much.
So far the ride over the Pacific has been uneventful. Just a few bumps where they turned on the seat belt sign but I personally slept through most of that. I've gotten what I would estimate to be about five hours of sleep. Most of us stayed awake until dinner was served (meat loaf or pasta) early in the flight. Then most lights went out and from what I can tell most of the plane has caught some sleep. Of course, it's "airplane sleep" but better than nothing.
About an hour ago we had a snack while the movie "King Kong" finished. I'm sure there were other things playing on the video but I was sound asleep and couldn't tell you what was on. (Wimbledon with Kirsten Dunst is currently playing...) My eye shade, ear plugs, Bucky pillow and slippers did the trick to help me sleep. Didn't even have to touch the Tylenol PM. I should probably still be sleeping but my body clock says it's time to be awake.
We did have one bandsman relocate on the plane for some reason. I woke up and saw the oxygen masks dangling over his seat and the flight attendants were working on relocating the people in that row. Don't really know what that was all about but will find out and write about it later. Don't worry... everyone is OK... but I'm sure there is a story behind it.
I guess that's about it for now... will write more soon.
Monday, June 12th 2006
Information from Morwell, Australia08:28 AM Location : Office
Upon returning to the office this morning I read an e-mail from Peter Roberts in Morwell. The CSB will be in Morwell on Friday, June 23 and Peter is the CSM and Acting Bandmaster. He provides the following information about Morwell:
"We are located in the Latrobe Valley area of Gippsland 160 kms east of Melbourne. The Latrobe Valley is noted for its power generation because of its brown coal resources, the surrounding tree plantations for paper making, the rural and bush environment as well as its range of small industries and educational facilities with Monash University being central to that. Morwell is the geographic centre of the Latrobe City and is situated in a very pretty part of Gippsland.
Morwell SA is one of three corps in this area... We are a medium sized country corps with a band of 9 and a singing group of a dozen. We celebrated our 50th corps anniversary in 2005. We have had a close relationship with the Melbourne Staff Band over this period with the band's first visit in June 1955 and its last in March 2005 - there were 16 visits over that period. In addition, we have had three bandsmen join the MSB at different times. As you can see we have a strong affinity with Salvation Army music making."
We look forward to meeting Peter and the Salvationists in Morwell in just a few short days.
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