Australian Visit Oct/Nov 2012

Australia has never been better.  The Business Class over from 

Los Angeles was a perfect way to travel to Sydney, Australia.  

After a couple of glasses of wine and a good nights rest, I 

arrived in Sydney at 6 am.  I was, first off, and through 

customs and immigration.  I had a list a mile long of things I 

wanted to do and didn't waste any time.

Researching in the 

National Archives and state libraries looking for the arrival and 

immigration records was my main purpose.  The only 

problem was getting to the archives, but I managed to find my 

way there and back by the train and bus system.  I spent a 

couple of days a week doing my research.  The other days 

were spent visiting relatives, old friends and making new 

friends.

I took time to search for the author Augustine Borg of 

the book "Children of Maleth."  I contacted the publisher and 

then the Liverpool Fellowship writer's group where Augustine 

was a member and surprisingly found him living in the same 

neighborhood as my cousin.  Within the next couple days, I 

was in his home paying him a visit. He was happy to receive 

from me some important baptism documents that belonged to 

his family tree.   I was also invited to speak about my research 

at his writer's group in November.

One of the most amazing 

people that I was fortunate enough to meet was Godfrey 

Sultana, which happens to be a professional genealogist that 

does work all around the world and also works for the 

current T.V. series "Who Do You Think You Are?"  We met to 

discuss the possibility of future endeavors at the La Valette 

Maltese Club on Melbourne Cup Day.  The club was filled to 

the brim with people all dressed up for the occasion.  Godfrey 

and I did enjoy the festivities but had more fun talking about 

Malta and our different dilemmas.  He can translate Italian and 

Latin and offered to look at some of my difficult documents in 

hopes of solving some of my brick walls.  I really enjoyed my 

time with Godfrey as I think highly of him.  He accepted my 

invite to be a contributor on my blog.

The highlight of my 

trip was my helicopter ride around Sydney Harbor.  Sydney is 

so beautiful!  I really enjoyed all the work I did.  I love the 

Australians!  They are kind and gentle.  Thank you Australia for 

such a lovely visit.  See you again soon.