Sunday, June 18th 2006
Monday - On The Road to Mildura06/18/2006 09:54 PM Location : Still on the coach!
I'm still on the same coach I was on when I last wrote about our Sunday at Norwood. This morning we reported to Norwood Corps at 7:00 am for a 7:30 am departure for a 420 km (250 miles) ride to Mildura which is north and east of Adelaide.
Before beginning our drive to Mildura in earnest we stopped at Trinity College for a quick 50 minute concert for children in grades 2-7. There were about 300 children present sitting on a cold multipurpose room floor for the entire time. We did several hands on kind of pieces for them that included "Instruments of the Band" and "Island Dreams". We also did "Alexander" and they enjoyed Shaun playing "Grandfather's Clock". Shaun even had the chance to sign his autograph and have his picture taken with some of the students there.
We do have three Melbourne Staff Band members with us. Alan Collett, now retired from the MSB, is our official liaison. Shaun Maxfield, MSB Quartermaster is driving our equipment and Rob Beasy, solo cornet, is our bus driver. Prior to the concert we presented the three of them with our official CSB Australian tour jackets. The jackets have been very handy in the evenings and early mornings.
Following the concert, as the students returned to class we packed our truck and then headed for a cup of coffee. Then we headed back to the bus to begin the serious part of the trip.
The area we are heading into is along the Murray River. Irrigation from the river enables this area to grow a significant amount of citrus. So, in addition to seeing quite a bit of sheep we're also seeing lots of orange and grapefruit trees. As we entered the bus had to pull over and we had to either eat or discard any fruit we had on the bus. It's a serious effort to keep insect infestation under control in this area of the country that counts heavily on their citrus crops.
We do have a lunch stop scheduled soon and then later we have tea scheduled at Woodsie's Gem Shop. However, we are running just a bit late and unless our lunch is quick may not make it to Woodsie's.
We are sort of out in the country and my cell phone says "SOS Calls Only". I guess that means that full service is not available.... only emergency calls will get through.
Adelaide is in the state of South Australia and that state is 14.5 hours ahead of Chicago. However, Mildura is in Victoria and we will lose another half an hour so we will be 15 hours ahead and I think we stay 15 hours ahead for the remainder of the tour.
I'll write more about Mildura later although I don't know when I will next have Internet access to be able to update the site!
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