5 Aug 2000

I hope everyone had as great a time at the Woomera Reunion as I did. I'd like to give special thanks to the people that made it real fun.

(First the Sheilahs) DEBBIE BAZZO researched accommodations for the out-of-towners that requested assistance and provided outstanding ideas and sanity checks during our planning meetings. Debbie's champagne breakfasts gave fruit to many ideas, (she always had strawberries in her champagne).

MARSHA LEE spent many hours drawing and cutting out those large, 5 foot tall, cardboard kangaroos planted all around grounds. She also provided the resources for all the Aussie English cartoon drawings in the pavilion. On the spare of the moment (very short notice), Marsha hosted our final planning meeting, complete with dinner, when Anne's house experienced a disaster.

ANNE WHONIC meticulously kept notes on the logistics of the reunion and did most the shopping for the BBQ. She coordinated the outstandingly, delicious, side dishes everyone brought and walked around taking most of the digital photos we're posting on the web.

ROSE GILCHRIST hosted one of our first planning meetings where we actually started putting something down on paper. Oh yeah, she also organized a "Ladies Night Out" on Friday before the reunion, for a few old friends that flew in, (the Beach Club and Cowboys will never be the same). Rose was a bit under the weather Saturday. Her symptoms were bloodshot eyes, head pounding, and nauseous ness. HHhhmmmm. We told her to go see Debbie for some champagne but that made her gag.

JUTTA CHESTER was in charge of getting those two beautiful cakes that quickly disappeared as soon as they were cut. I asked Jutta to pick up some Rock Salt when she went to pick up the cakes. I figured 1 box each in each of the two barrels of beer would be enough. Jutta brought back 14 boxes of Rock Salt. Anyone need any Rock Salt?? I have 12 boxes.

MAGGIE LACOMBE helped Jutta with the cakes. As our resident Med Tech, she was happy to say she didn't have any owies to treat. All the ladies hung the pictures and provided the finishing touches on the pavilion Saturday morning.

(Now for the Ocker Wannabees) Round the Wicket FRANK BAZZO woke up on the morning of the reunion and discovered we were short a set of stumps for the cricket game. So, at 7am he was found sitting in his garage carving up one of his broom handles. (Don't tell Debbie). Frank also kept track of our spending and kept us in check. Fuzzy SCOTT LEE was out there, bright and early, planting Marsha's kangaroos all around the park. He also shoveled out the horseshoe pits which were flooded from the over night rain. (Although, I forgot to put the horseshoes out) (doh!). The Sand Putt was one Scott's fantastic ideas and was great fun.

Commodore MITCH WHONIC made those outstanding yachts that will be around for many more reunions. The yacht race was a hoot and sure brought back some great memories. Both Mitch and Frank really kept the reunion events on track and improvised where tracks seemed derailed.

MOOSE GILCHRIST and I did some extensive, in-depth research and tasting before settling on the two flavors of beer we had at the reunion. We wanted an Australian beer plus we wanted to show off a great locally brewed micro beer. We tried to get Southwark, West End, XXXX, and Victoria Bitter (in that order). However, it seems Foster's has the monopoly outside Oz. Moose also helped the ladies with the pavilion.

MATT LACOMBE organized designated drivers we didn't need and when he couldn't stand any longer, he let Maggie take over. (only teasing).

(Special Thanks) AL WEBSTER (RAAF Retired), living in Port Pirie, SA couldn't make it across the pond, but he did provide all the beautiful Australian travel posters and beer stickers hanging in the pavilion. Al, you and Marlene must make the next reunion. Thanks Mate.

Just when we thought the ambiance couldn't get any better, DICK PRINSTER drives up with these super large Australian and US flags we hung in the pavilion.

Special thanks to SQN LDR GRAEME SAUNDERS and MAJ MICK THOMSON who gave the young yanks lessons in the fine art of cricket play. Mick flew in from Canberra and received an award for traveling the furthest for the reunion.

I don't know who he is because in the heat of battle I didn't get his name, but…… I would like to give a super special thanks to a guy that walked up and gave us a box of various Australian/Woomera souvenir glasses to give away as prizes. It was a totally unexpected surprise and we did an impromptu auction to prime the kitty for the next reunion. If you know him, please give me a shout.

(A Very Special Thanks) A very special thanks goes out to Carla Steinmetz for putting together that fantastic web site ( http://www.oocities.org/woomera_alumni/index.html ) for all of us. Please visit it and drop us a note.

Using the Woomera Alumni register and extrapolating attendees, we estimated approximately 300 people showed for the event.

As I said above, Mick Thomson traveled the farthest.

Others that came from outside Colorado include:
Ray & Meg from Wyoming
Jeff from Utah
Ed & Paula from Virginia
Sandie from Virginia
Tami from Wyoming
Jeff & Sandra from North Dakota
David & Diane from Montana
Gail & Sue from Texas
Stan & Ometta from Texas
Renee & James from Utah
Larry from Iowa
Sammy from Arizona
Charlie from California
Andrea form Wyoming
Jim from New Mexico
Dan from Arizona
Gail & Darrell from Texas
Phil from Wyoming

We were really excited about having six past commanders at the reunion:
Karl Hagen 71-73
Ed Warrell 76-77
Dick Prinster 82-83
Terry Miller 83-85
Jack Harris 93-95
Hank Poburka 95-97

We took six rolls of digital pictures and I'm going to forward them to Carla Steinmetz who will add them to the Woomera Reunion Web page ( http://www.oocities.org/woomera_alumni/index.html ). If you have some digital pictures of the reunion you would like to share, please forward them to Carla (Brown) Steinmetz (carla@steinmetz.com) or if you have hard copies, give me a shout and I'll scan them for you.

As many of you may know, Woomera Reunions are not scheduled events that happen every year or every other year. What normally happens, a couple of alumni are sitting around, drinking beer, and reminiscing about their tour(s) in Woomera (also known as telling war stories). Then someone says, "You know Cobber, we haven't had a reunion in a couple of years and it's bluddy time we had another one." That's kinda what took place with the Ocker Wannabees, the Sheilahs, and myself. We had great fun planning and putting it on and we hope we set the bar a little higher for the next one. We're not saying we won't put on the next reunion, but if anyone wants to have a go, we have something for you (i.e. the address book, the yachts, the kitty, help & advice, etc.), just give us a shout.

Cheers Mate
Paul