Just don't forget to pull the quills of those suckers, unless you plan on wrapping them up really good....My friend bagged some cactus up in her carry on, and got stuck so many times, that her hands were inflamed by the time she got home..She had to pull out 16 quills and vowed she would never bag any cactus again... In her luggage, to this day she has to pull a quill here and there from her clothes after washing over and over...Ouch!

I lived in Sydney for most of my life, and it's a good starting point for seeing a lot of the East Coast of Australia. Sydney itself has a lot of historical and interesting sites - to mention a few: The Rocks (near Circular Quay, on the harbour) Parramatta (Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta Park) Fort Denison (near the Harbour Bridge) Darling Harbour The Botanical Gardens (and nearby the old library) Taronga Park Zoo the Opera House There are buses in the inner city which take you all around the place, showing you this at this. You can get off the bus anywhere at one of its stops, and explore further, then hop on the next bus that comes and go onto the next spot. Great for tourists, and quite a reasonable cost. You MUST hop on a ferry from Circular Quay (easily accessible on the train system) and take a trip across the harbour to Manly Beach (or the Zoo). There are harbour 'taxis' and tourist mini-cruises and hovercraft, too. From Sydney you can do day-trips to the Central Coast (Gosford), to the Blue Mountains (Katoomba, Jenolan Caves, Hill End), or to the South Coast (Wollongong, Kiama) and lots of other places in between. Take a couple of days and go to central New South Wales for the Open Plains Zoo near Dubbo, or the Observatory at Parkes. From Sydney, fly down to Melbourne and do day-trips from there. Or fly north to Brisbane, take a trip along the river; and from there go down to the Gold Coast or up to the Sunshine Coast. Do day-trips to Toowoomba or the Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin's place), or the Big Pineapple, Buderim Ginger. Travel further north for a few days to Hervey Bay and do a bit of whale-watching and some of the islands; go right up to the pointy bit on the map to see Townsville and Cairns and some tropical rainforests and the Great Barrier Reef and some beautiful island - some have holiday resorts. Travel west to Mt Isa, Emerald and other mining towns. Really experience the Outback and visit Birdsville! (one of the hottest places in Australia!) Fly up to Darwin, then travel down to the Centre to see Uluru (Ayre's Rock) and other sites of the outback. Fly down to Adelaide,capital of South Australia, the City of Churches, visit Kangaroo Island. Go north again to the desert to see an underground city, Coober Pedy (opal mining). Time permitting, you shouldn't miss going from Melbourne across Tasman Strait to Tasmania, a truly magnificent place for tourists, with stunning scenery. Melbourne is a city of restaurants! Back up to northern Victoria or southern New South Wales and take in our highest mountains and ski resorts. There'll be no snow in summer of course, but the scenery is fabulous. Fly (or take a 4-day train trip) across from Melbourne or Adelaide to Perth, then across to Kalgoorlie (largest gold mining area in the world.) Do some sightseeing tours for the wildflowers. Fly up to Broome and see some pearl-diving. Call in to Exmouth (where there was recently an airbus incident.) My son is in charge of the investigation into that incident, and he said it's a truly beautiful spot for a holiday. Don't forget places like Kakadu, a huge national park, owned and run by native Australians. January is our hottest month of the year, and she can expect flies wherever she goes. It's the Wet Season in the north, so some places might not be accessible, and they'll be stinking hot and humid as well. Perhaps keep those places for a winter (Dry Season) visit! Don't be too concerned about safety. Just take the usual precautions (like not flashing your money around!), and remember than very few people in Australia have guns! Private ownership is forbidden unless you can convince the Powers That Be that you have an excellent excuse for having one. Never, never go into the Outback or bush without having a knowledgeable escort. Take a visit to Cabramatta (known locally as Vietnamatta!) in company. It's just a suburb with a large population of Vietnamese immigrants. It has a bad reputation, and there are some nasty types there, but also some decent people - but it's interesting because it's hard to imagine you're in Australia - most of the shops and street signs etc are in Vietnamese! Interesting. Best seen in daylight hours - perhaps take a taxi ride around the place. Redfern is similar, except that it's an enclave of a large population of Aboriginal residents. Again, take a taxi-ride - it's only a short distance from the inner city. Actually, it is undergoing a sort of transformation, and has a place on the list of Desirable Suburbs to Live. King's Cross - well, it's the red-light district sure enough, but it has some interesting sites (including the local residents and businesses!) - including the Alamein Fountain, some great restaurants, a waxworks museum etc. Find a tour-guide to take you there, and you'll be safe enough. You don't HAVE to enter the naughty shops and theatres!! And yes, avoid dark alleys. Remember that Australia is an entire and very diverse continent - HUGE, the distances are vast - and you could spend a life-time seeing all of it. But I hope I've given Meredith some ideas.

My funniest experience in an aircraft happened while I was stationed in Germany. The Air Force used to use a Kaman HH43 helicopter for an emergency responce crash vehicle. They had a huge 6ft diameter round metal pressure sphere that was loaded with firefighting foam which they carried on a hook under the helicopter. Two firemen were inside the helicopter with the Asbestos firesuites on. When an aircraft crashed they would fly in quickly and set the firebottle down and the firemen would jump out and grab the foam line, then the helicopter would hover over the burning aircraft using the downdraft to blow the flames back while the firemen laid down a path of foam till they could get to the aircraft and pull the crew out. One day my buddy, who was a crewchief on the helicopter called me and said they were going up on a training flight and asked if I would like to ride along, so off I went. As I boarded the helicopter I saw the pilot & co-pilot up front, my buddy, the crew chief, two firemen and another guy who worked at the base chapel that was coming along for the ride. We were all seated in the back while the helicopter just flew around in circles close to the base when suddenly we heard a radio call on our headphones. They had a crippled F4 Phantom coming in with an engine fire, so the pilot told us he had to go back and hook up the firebottle and while they were hooking it up I and the guy from the chapel would have to jump off. The chopper landed and while we were jumping off one of the ground crew hooked the cable on the lifting hook and the chopper took off again, but when it was about 50ft off the ground one of the firemen jumped out, bouncing off the ground from 50ft and broke his leg. I didn't have a clue as to why he just mysteriously jumped out, but later that afternoon while sitting in the NCO club my buddy the crew chief came in and he told me. It seems that while we were flying around the guy from the chapel had got airsick, but not wanting to appear like a whimp to the other guys onboard he didn't ask for a burp bag, instead, he had barfed in the firemens boot and while we were jumping off the firemen was pulling his boots on. By the time he realized that the guy had barfed in his boot he tore off after the guy without even thinking and jumped out....LOL

just because you get your hands on it ... does not mean its proper planting time ... frankly.. see first section at link below ... mail order houses usually dont even ship in august.. and i would defer shipping until sept ... if that is how you are getting it ... if not mail order .. i would put the pot in a spot where the pot stays out of sun .. but the tree is in sun ... no tree favors hot roots ... water the pot for a tree ... which means a drink.. and then most flows out the bottom ... and then dont water it again.. until its dry ... do not water it like a houseplant/annual/perennial.. many of which like a lot of constant water ... water needs for a transplant is different than in the decades to come .... see link for proper watering ... after planting ... keeping a transplant healthy ... is all about getting it to grow a root mass.. so that it overcomes the transplant ... and then start taking on mature characteristics .... do not confuse mature needs or characteristics.. with a recent transplant .. e.g. drought tolerance has nothing to do with a transplant.. until the tree is fully established.. which .. in tree time.. is 2 or 3 years after planting .... ken https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub