Darwin, Australia - April 2001

Captain Edward Caricato, USMC

[Editor's Note:  Capt. Caricato wrote the following letter during a six month deployment aboard the  USS Boxer (similar to a miniature aircraft carrier).  He was the Executive Officer for a Marine field artillery battery.  Prior to Australia, they had been to Hawaii.]

Our trip to this end of the world did serve a military purpose. Soon after passing through the Straits of Torres we pulled into Darwin, Australia. To all our disappointment this visit lasted only a few hours. The ships needed to resupply in preparation for the coming missions. Darwin is a relatively small port town but it was Australia, aka "the land of milk and honey". The Marines were going absolutely nuts because we were in Australia and they could not get off the boat. True to form, many of the locals were waiting on the pier and seemed very happy to see us there. For some very strange reason Australians love Americans. Of course I had some business to tend to on the pier so I was one of the few that had the chance to at least set foot on Australian soil, even if it was for only an hour or so.

[Continued:  Click on Countries - East Timor]

 Australia - April 2000

Alisa Blitz/Seibert 

 
                                           Post Card #1:

Australia has been fun. Day three is over and we have swum in the Brisbane South Bank Beach Park/Pool, rock climbed at Kangaroo Point, petted kangaroos, wallabies and koalas. Today we drove into this beautiful subtropical rain forest. Tomorrow we set out to the hinterland to visit a family that owns a cattle ranch, so big it's on the map! Queensland Coast and Great Barrier Reef next week


Post Card #2:

After the rain forest, the cattle station and Carnation where we saw the elusive platypus, we were headed for another rainforest (tropical, this time) when I said "hey, forget that, let's save a day of driving and go to Heron island." Well here we are ON the Tropic of Capricorn, snorkeling, reef walking, [and] we even saw a clutch of sea turtles hatch tonight! I will dive in the great barrier reef tomorrow. Australia is great! Oh, we are even selling Nicky on his future as a marine biologist. He spent two hours of his vacation in the education room today, already.

Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge), Australia - July 1999

Alisa Blitz/Seibert - Post Card

I went on a 20km bike ride to Katherine today. It was fun and I got a good workout. Next week I hope to go on a 30km hike in Nitmiluk Park. It should be fun and rugged (I canoed here last year). I had fun visiting.

                                          Australia - November 1993

                                              Richard Seibert - Post Card

I saw this postcard [of Ayers Rock] in the Sidney airport and immediately thought of Vicky [who has wanted to visit Ayers Rock for several years]. The trip over was great. I sat next to really interesting people! It's been fun, re-thinking basic things, like:

 The big buzz around here is Olympics 2000!

                                             

     Awesome Australia!

    Frozen in time and space, Wave Rock in Western
    Australia seems to defy gravity.  

                                         Suzanne and Nick Geary 

THINK GLOBALLY - ACT LOCALLY - PRAY FOR WORLD PEACE