December 12, 1999
Sydney & Canberra, Australia
Royal Theatre

All of our family left on a sightseeing tour this morning at 9am, so I
got up and got Shelby ready to head out on another adventure. I have a
show tonight in Canberra, just south of Sydney, so Narvel and I didn't
get to go with them.

We leave first thing in the morning for Brisbane, so today was spent
packing up all of our things in the hotel room that we've lived in for
six days. Things sure can get scattered in that amount of time!

We left the hotel at 2:45 PM and headed to the airport. We met up with
the band and dancers. The crew had to depart the hotel at 6:00 AM and
didn't get through loading all the trucks from our show in Sydney last
night until 3:30 AM. They are the hardest working people in show
business. There is no way this show could go on the road at the rate
it
does without them.

We flew for 45 minutes down south to Canberra where it looks a lot like
Colorado Springs, Colorado! It's beautiful down here! We never know
what to expect each time we arrive in a new city. Since we didn't play
Canberra when we were down here in 1998, we were pleasantly surprised
to
find another beautiful city.

The show didn't start for another 3 hours when we got to the venue, so
Jake set up reservations for Narvel, Sandi, himself and me at what they
said is the 3rd highest rated Asian Restaurant in Australia. We headed
over there at 6 and they were right! It was great!

So we got back to the venue in time to get ready for the show. The
audience was very responsive and very attentive. After the show, we
got
to meet the American Ambassador to Australia, and her husband.

Since there weren't any flights going into Sydney that late at night,
we
all rode back on a bus together to Sydney. It was a three and a
half-hour drive, so a lot of jokes were told and a lot of Submarine
sandwiches were eaten for those that weren't snoring!

Good thing tomorrow is a day off! Everyone will need it!
Talk to you tomorrow,

Reba