December 19, 1999

Townsville & Cairns, Australia

Our parents, minus Daddy, flew out of Townsville this morning and
headed
back to Sydney. Daddy had called last night and was catching a ride
with
some people in Nyngan where he had been staying this past week. So he’d
meet Mama at the hotel in Sydney later on that day. He said he had a
wonderful time and going out into the country made his trip to
Australia
4 times better. They even had a barbeque for him before he left. They
had lamb, pork chops, bacon and sausage. One night they even cooked
kangaroo. He said he saw lots of wild goats and hundreds of kangaroo.
He
loved it! The folks back in Oklahoma will be hearing about this trip
for
a long, long time! Good on ya, Daddy!

The rest of us took two smaller planes on up to Cairns. It’s very
tropical and looks a lot like Hawaii, very pretty. Once Narvel, Shelby
and I got into our rooms and unpacked, a car took us over to the
helicopter pad. The band, crew and office staff of Starstruck had
gotten
Narvel and I a helicopter tour of the Rainforest and the Great Barrier
Reef for our Christmas present! We thoroughly enjoyed it! We saw giant
stingrays and a shark and lots of jellyfish that were floating on the
top of the ocean. We landed on a small area of sand right out in the
Great Barrier Reef and looked around a bit and then off we went again!
It was a great ride and one we’ll never forget! So thanks to our
wonderful Starstruck Organization, we ended this tour in the most
spectacular way!!

After the ride, Narvel and I had dinner with Michael Coppel to discuss
our thoughts and feelings about this tour and plan a return visit
hopefully in the year 2001. We’ll let you know.

Then it was on to the show. I walked into the back area and Doug
Sisemore, my bandleader, told me that Melissa Coleman and Regina Leigh
King were coming to our show tonight! Melissa and Regina were two of my
back up singers in 1995. I was so glad to see them. They are both on
tour with Englebert Humperdink. They were performing in New Zealand and
Hawaii and play here in Cairns tomorrow night and then go back home for
Christmas. We got to visit a little after the show. Regina said, "That
was the best seat I ever had for a Reba McEntire Show!" Back when she
was with me she never got to see the show, she was always on stage!

I’d like to take this opportunity to say a great big thank you to
everyone involved in making this tour to Australia such a successful,
eventful and memorable occasion. I couldn’t have done it without your
faith, support and hard work in putting it all together. My crew and
the
Australian crew worked very hard with grueling hours and a tough
schedule and my band never sounded better! What more could a girl ask
for?

I hope all of you taking the journey with us via e-mail have enjoyed it
too! If you ever get the chance to go "Down Under", I highly recommend
it! You’ll never forget it, I know I won’t.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We’ll see you in the
next century.

Thanks so much and Good Day Mates!

Love,
Reba