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Portrait of my grandmother in 1970

Leaving home

It took four trips to the photographer, and still my passport picture had a spot on the chin. (It was either that or use the one with the blotch on the forehead) We used the picture anyway because I was going to Australia with the AIS (American Iris Society) tour group at the last minute and we didn't have any more time for pictures.

Three weeks later, my grandmother and I were to board a plane leaving Friendship Airport at 4:30 pm for Chicago. At 2 o'clock, my grandmother was still working in the garden and Friendship was over an hour away. At 2:30, my mother dragged my grandmother protesting, out of the garden and into the house to get dressed and shut her suitcases. By 3 my father was champing at the bit and saying that if we missed our plane he wasn't going to wait with us, but was going to leave us at the airport and go home. We rushed my grandmother out to the car with her shoes and stockings in her hand. We had gone four blocks when my grandmother said, "Do you have my Leica?" I didn't. We turned around and went back to get it. You can't go on an iris tour without a camera. At least not if you are my grandmother.

We met the tour group at San Francisco port that evening. In addition to Grandmother, I knew Mrs. Zurbrigg (our fearless leader). Counting me, there were four of us from Region 4 (MD, VA and NC) - more than any other regiong. I also knew Bee Warburton from when we lived in Region I (New England). I was the only junior in the group.

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Grandmother taking my picture with youth members

Arriving in Sydney - Wednesday October 16, 1974

We arrived in Sydney at 7 am Sydney time after a 19 hour flight, and had to wait in the hotel lobby sitting around on our suitcases until people checked out of our rooms at noon. That night I ate with several of their youth members. It was nice to meet some people my age there. They have to wear uniforms to school.

The next day we spent visiting gardens in the pouring rain. We didn't see many iris, but there were bird of paradise flowers, staghorn ferns, lemon trees, azaleas, papyrus, golden evergreen raspberries and bananas. When we returned to the hotel, jet lag caught up with us and we took a nap. At 11:45, and woke my grandmother. Since it was too late for dinner, we both went back to sleep. At 4 in the morning, we both woke up and were hungry. Grandmother cut an apple in half with a haircurler, and we ate that. I ate my half with a spoon, because I can't eat apples with braces on my teeth. We couldn't get back to sleep, so we wrote letters, and I studied.

Friday we took a morning tour of Sydney and saw the big new opera house, and then took a ferry to the zoo. We saw a wombat nest, a brolga (an Australia crane), and a Jabira, the only native Australian stork. We were planning to go to the opera one evening, but Prince Charles was visiting Sydney too, and all the tickets were sold out.

Next day at the iris show in the afternoon, single blooms were displayed in glass bottles instead of the whole stalk like here. What we call arrangements, they call 'decoratives'. The awards were huge rosettes about two feet long. Afterwards we had an informal tour of the outskirts of the city.

Sunday, we took a long, hot exhausting, but picturesque trip to the city of Orange, and the Blue Mountains. We traveled on the Great Western Highway, which opened up the interior of Australia for settlement. We didn't get back to the hotel until late.

Monday, on the way to Canberra, we visited the Madorama sheep ranch. We saw dogs herd sheep, (even sometimes running on their backs), sheep shearing, and had a barbeque lunch. I fed a kangaroo that was hopping around loose. A lady at the ranch told us to feed him Kleenex, so I did.

Canberra is the capitol of Australia and pronounced Canbra. Tuesday we toured the city and saw Parliment, the War Memorial, the library, the Royal Botanical Garden, the embassies, the museums, saw them making coins at the Mint, and took a cruise on Lake Burley Griffin in the rain. (On the cruise with us was a convention of Japanese dry-cleaners.) The lake is manmade, and named after the American architect who designed the city. We flew to Melbourne, just in time for the welcome dinner there.

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Me in my grandmother's hat

Wednesday to Friday- Melbourne Oct. 23-25

The next day we were too tired to get up for the iris tours. We went downtown for a little while, but Grandmother felt sick and we came home. That night I went to the judges seminar on garden judging.

Thursday morning we visited 3 gardens, and I took a picture of Portea Cyncroides (an unusual shrub) in addition to some iris. We had a barbeque lunch at Dandenong Rangers and saw some wild kookaburras (which are kingfishers). Then we visited the MacKenzie Wildlife Sanctuary. I petted the back of an emu. It kept moving away, and made a croaking noise deep in its throat. I tried feeding it Kleenex, but it didn't like it. We saw a lyre bird, with its tail down running around in circles scratching in the dirt. There were more kangaroos with joeys, an echidna (spiny anteater), a dingo, a tree kangaroo, cockatoos and a platypus. The platypus was shy and hit underneath a tree limb underwater in the platypussary. Bee Warburton hid outside so he couldn't see her, and after everyone left, he came out and swam around. Grandmother showed me some wooden boxes with dirt in them where she told me they raise worms to feed the platypus. She called it a worm farm.

Friday I went on a tour, which included the garden of the National (Australian) Iris Society President. They gave us hamburgers for lunch

Saturday was the city tour of Melbourne. We sat the new Arts Center which had water-cooled glass windows to keep the glass at an even temperature so it wouldn't crack. Also they don't have to wash the outside of the window. We also saw a neat gem cutting exhibit and everyone but Grandmother bought a lot of opals. Grandmother said she was superstitious, and thought opals were bad luck unless they were your birthstone. That afternoon I went to the flower show. They had a fuchsia section, again displayed as single flowers , and various Australian plants in addition to iris. The stage was arranged with artificial grass and potted trees and shrubs as though it was a yard. We had tea (dinner) at the show.

Sunday we flew to Adelaide. We visited the Cole's garden. They had the center of their driveway planted with yellow poppies, but they don't have a car.

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My grandmother's picture of me in a garden

Mon., Phillips Island; Tues. Oct 29th Como House

Monday October 28th I stayed home and caught up on the homework I had to bring along. In the afternoon we took a bus to Phillips Island. We saw wild koalas in the trees in the Sancutary on the way. Then we saw the Fairy Penguins. They go out to see to eat every morning, and come back every evening stuffed full of fish. They are so little (only a foot tall) and fat that they can't walk very well, and have to sort of swim, paddling themselves up with their flippers after they fall over. Phillips Island is about 100 miles from Melbourne. When we got back to the hotel it was after midnight.

The next day we visited Como house, and old restored house from 1850 (which is old for Australia) with winding paths and a sundail in the garden. I enjoyed seeing the children's playroom and their old dolls and toys. We had lunch at the Botanical gardens, where we saw black swans, a rare wood pigeon, Datura (angel's trumpet - poisonous), and Chameros (dwarf fan palm). We had a chartered tram (trolley car) back to the hotel which had a poster advertising the iris show on the front.

That evening we flew to New Zealand