Red Deer Royals Down Under

...so you have seen the photo of the band by the water, trying not to fall in ...this is what the guard was up to while they were patiently waiting. Thanks Chris for being a great leader and helping our colorguard look and spin so good on tour!

Here the guard was warming up for the performance at Sydney Harbour:

I noticed this warning which appears at a lot of crossings in Sydney.The folks in Sydney thought of lots of things, including warnings on how to cross the street. Apparently, North American Tourists are prone to looking the wrong way before crossing the street. It appears that pedestrians do not have the same right of way that we do back home, so Sydney politely reminds us to look left, then right, then left again, before crossing the street. Another example of how thoughtful our Aussie hosts were.

We went to great pains to try and get a picture of the Band with the Opera House in the background. It was no simple accomplishment. Soem of the kids were close to the edge of the pier and some of the others were cheerfully offering to throw them off. You will notice that no Colour Guard were present in this shot, and you'll be pleased to know that they were not thrown off before this shot. (We waited until later)

This is a view of Darling Harbour at night. It had a wonderful selection of restaurants and shooping which we all had the opportunity to take in some of the sights of Sydney at night. I was quite impressed with how clean and safe the area we were in was. As you can see by the pictures, the staff and chaperones were working hard. By the way, some of us were able to eat Kangaroo for the first time, but don't tell Mrs Windrum!

Now that we've returned and had a chance to rest, it's given all of us an opportunity to reflect on the time away. These are entries of some of the sights in Sydney which was our first stop. Although we stayed in one place and walked to the locations (Darling Harbour, Hyde Park, Circular Quay)we saw a lot. We're hoping that people can agin share in some of the experiences through this Blog.
This picture is not what it seems. Australians would never eat this shy little creature. This is the name of a little eatery at the Taronga Zoo. Nice people running it and it was the first food some of us ate off the plane

I know the band is home by now but I have finally found a computer and the time to add these to the blog.
I am in Cairns which is in Northern Australia. It is the tropics here, hot but not muggy. Perfect in fact.

By the way some of us have talked about putting together a CD of some of the best photos taken on the tour.This would be made available to all. If you have some photos to add to the final CD, put them on a CD and let me know you have something. Just email the Webmaster on the Royals webpage.

Here is a shot of the band from across the water at the Ski Stage in Seaworld:

They certainly looked and sounded great:

After they performed they had the day to play around Seaworld.

Some of the rides included the Bermuda Triangle ride. These brave souls gave it a try:

If you want to see them closer up:

Others took a ride on a Viking ship:

It was a sad day when they had to leave Seaworld and head into Logan:

At Logan they stayed with and played for the John Paul College Marching Eagles. Logan is south of Brisbane, north of Seaworld.While in Logan they went into Brisbane to play at the Piazza where Marvin took that wonderful photo you can see on this blog.

Jo Anne