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Sydney, Australia
It's Thursday morning and we
are packed and headed for the Cairns airport by 8:30 AM for
our flight to Sydney. It was hot and very humid with no breeze
and we were ready to head south for cooler weather. The airplane
still had not been fixed so we were happy that the weather
was good. We had arranged for service in Sydney at the Hawker-Beech
repair facility that has FAA approval. A replacement radar
display and gyroscope were expected to arrive on Saturday.
While we were in Bali, I had
noticed a growth on my right forearm. I was quite certain
that it was new because I had been to the dermatologist a
few days before leaving Arizona and, as a matter of fact,
I am fairly sure that it was not there in Bangkok. It had
grown significantly in a short period of time so I decided
that it should be looked at by a dermatologist. I had called
MedAire from Perth and arranged for an appointment in Sydney.
MedAire is a medical service that provides medical service
to worldwide travelers. We gave them our medical profiles
before we left home and they provided us with a medical kit
including drugs and syringes to carry on the airplane. They
have a physician available for telephone consultation twenty-four
hours a day seven days a week. They arranged an appointment
for Friday morning and I was looking forward to having my
arm examined.
The flight took just under five
hours and was without incident. After a short wait, our transportation
arrived and we were on our way to the Park Hyatt. The hotel
is located right on the Sydney harbor near the Bay Bridge.
The view from our room looked directly across the harbor at
the famous Sydney Opera House. Ashley and I have decided that
it is the most beautiful room view of the journey thus far.
The view up the River of Kings from our room at the Oriental
in Bangkok is a very close second.
That evening we decided to stroll
down the harbor boardwalk in search of a Burger King and a
Whopper. Alas, we were not successful but we did get an unexpected
bonus. BMW was hosting a celebrity dinner at the hotel and
there displayed on the boardwalk was a brand new BMW 745.
I have been anticipating the new 7-series design for several
years and here it was. For you car buffs, it looks pretty
cool.
We settled for an Italian Pizzeria
for dinner and started our walk back to the hotel. Along the
way, we met a couple from Portland, Oregon named Harold and
Pracey Marlow. He was originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma and
she was from the Philippines.
Friday morning we had an al fresco
breakfast next to the boardwalk at the hotel with a wonderful
view of the Opera House. Afterwards, we arranged for a taxi
to take us to my appointment with the dermatologist, Dr. Land.
As we were going up the elevator at the doctor's office, a
young Australian woman in her thirties and a postman got on
with us. I made a comment to the postman that it must be a
little scary to deliver mail in this age of anthrax and he
smiled and shrugged his shoulders. The young woman got off
the floor before ours and as she stepped off she looked over
her shoulder and said, "God Bless America". Ashley and I both
got tears in our eyes.
We were soon ushered in to see
the doctor and he said, "You sit here and your daughter can
sit over there". Ashley liked him right away. He took one
look at my arm and said, "Oh, that's just a Keratoacanthoma".
(I think he made up the word.) He went on to say that it is
a cancer but it's not the aggressive kind. He told me to lie
down on the table so that he could cut it out. The table was
positioned so that my right side was against the wall. Since
he was going to cut on my right arm, I told him that I wasn't
sure where to put it. He said, "Don't worry about it, I can
reach it just fine". He then shot me with some painkiller
and then scooped the cancer out. This was all just fine but
he didn't bother to put a towel on my shirt so I immediately
began to bleed on it. He said, "Don't worry about the blood,
cold water will take it right out". I don't think Dr. Land
worried about much of anything. He was a neat guy though.
When we left the doctor's office
we decided to walk around downtown Sydney and do some shopping.
I had noticed that the girls of Sydney were reminiscent of
the girls of Athens. Remember them? Well, I decided that some
of you guys might like to see a snapshot of one of them so
I began to search for a likely candidate. Since the fashion
here trends toward hip huggers, I decided on a shot from the
rear. I regret to advise that I was unsuccessful. The problem
is that my digital camera does not open the shutter for about
two seconds after you press the button. Every time I lined
up a good shot, someone would step between the target and
me just before the shutter opened. In retrospect, I don't
know why I wasn't arrested. Here I was chasing girls down
the busy sidewalks of Sydney leaning forward with my camera
focused on their rear ends. At my age, I probably looked more
comical than threatening. At one point, I was almost run over
by a motorcycle turning into an alley.
On Saturday morning, we took
a taxi to the Opera House for a guided tour. It was built
in the 1960's and has become to symbol of Sydney. I took lots
of pictures.
We had decided that Tom and Pam
would fly us to Melbourne on Saturday afternoon, drop us off,
and return to Sydney for the scheduled repairs on Monday morning.
The weather was beautiful for the flight that took just under
two hours.
Till next time,
Pat
Dr. Land
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Dr. Land's Staff
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Christmas Down Under
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Olympic Drag Queen
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Shopping in Sydney
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Sydney Space Needle
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Mutiny on the Bounty
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Sydney Opera House
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Fading Light
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Sunset
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Night
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Breakfast
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Sydney Bay Bridge
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Sydney
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Sydney Opera House
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