Red Deer Royals Down Under

It's been an experience. Our early buses left Calgary early on Sunday morning and those kids managed to score some time at Manhattan Beach in LA, thanks to a 12 hour layover. For the Vancouver bound folks, it was a bit dicier,with a lengthy delay in Vancouver. Some of our more persistent and assertive Royal's adults managed to persuade Air Canada that they needed to get our folks down there, pronto.

We left LA about an hour behind schedule, but the Quantas crew was very professional and skilled. Those hot moist towels were just the ticket in the wee hours of the morning. Our kids aquitted themselves admirably during the flight and I'm happy to report that we were well received by the airline staff.

We spent the morning of the arrival at the Taronga Zoo, which has been around a while. It may have one of the best views that a zoo could have, thanks to the spectacular Sydney Harbour. We then got to our hotel (Sydney Metro City Center Hotel) in the late afternoon and eventually crashed for the night.

I was able to find an Internet cafe just down the street from our Hotel called Gobal Gossip. It has great ambiance and is relatively cheap ! $2.00 AU per hour. Tommorrow, I will get access to a computer that I can post photos from. As I write, several other Royals members are feverishly emailng their friends and family.

We're not the only youth roup in our Hotel. A contigent of Student Ambassadors from People Helping People (North Carolina)is also at the Hotel asking "Where Y'all from". Nice young folks.

We've had two performances today (July 5th) and I will post pictures tommorrow. Until then, catch you later.

Phil Norris