We're still down here...

although we are approaching the end of this two-year tour.  A lot has been happening since the last post in July.  First, I didn't win - once again - the Washington Post Travel Photo Contest.  They picked a picture of a tree with a barn with some sky behind it.  But it had a good story - somebody's boyhood memory.

We had Debbie's brother Scott and his sons Hunter and Aiden and daughter Arden come for 10 days via Thailand.  We spent some time in Canberra for the 4th of July but also worked in a trip on a houseboat on the Murray River, then down to Melbourne to celebrate Arden's 12th birthday, then back up through Canberra to Sydney.  Here are a few shots from the visit.

Here we all are with Ambassador Bleich at the Embassy's 4th of July bash (1800 people, and Debbie had a large hand in organizing in her new job as Protocol Assistant to the Ambassador)

And Debbie was recognized...

Untitled from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

Scott and new friend in the park across the lake from our house...

 

The view of Canberra's Parliamentary Triangle from Mount Ainslie, Aunt Debbie apparently loving Arden to death.  The coathanger thing in the background is Parliament.  The low white building in front is the Old Parliament, now the Museum of Australian Democracy.

Presto - and here they are at the coathanger thing on top of the Parliament.

Now on to the Murray River...

Here's the boat we spent 2.5 days on - complete with spa on top, BBQ, 2 plasma TVs, 4 bedrooms and bathrooms, a great kitchen and a living room.  We were not roughing it.

Under way to Echuca for dinner, first night.

Under Way from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

Aunt Debbie on the phone with Mom...

Captain Aidan at the helm...

The Mighty Murray River at dusk.

The Woolums Build A Fire from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

 The Woolums Build A Fire.

We avoided both self-immolation and incidents at sea and were able to return the boat in one piece.

Now, on to Melbourne.

Birthday on the Melbourne Dinner Tram from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

Here we are on the Dinner Tram - which is actually a nice restaurant which tools around the city for a couple of hours.  We used the opportunity to celebrate Arden's 12th Birthday.  Tom and Jan went on this when they were here last November.


Woolums Over Melbourne from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

We took a trip to the top of the Eureka Building to see Melbourne from up top.

And ate fresh oysters at the Victoria Market

Then it was back to Canberra for an overnight and on to Sydney.

 Where we went up into one of the Sydney bridge pylons and then lunch with a view of the harbor and a significant landmark in the background...

And no trip to Sydney is complete without a visit to the Sydney Fish Market:

Woolums and Fish from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

And then they got on the plane home, while we stayed an extra night in Sydney with friends and went to the Opera House for a concert:


Untitled from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.


These are our friends Matt and Lorraine.  Matt's an Australian Army Reserve Officer who visits us frequently in Canberra.  Lorraine has a family of kookaburras (see my previous post on kookaburras - it's the bird that makes the call that you hear in all the old Tarzan movies) she's presently housing in her back yard and which come to the kitchen window every morning to be fed...meat.  That's right - the little guys are carnivorous.

Sydney Opera House At Night from Charles Ikins on Vimeo.

There's an entire complex of restaurants and nightclubs under the Opera House.


It was fun having them all here.  But another visitor was on the horizon...to be continued in the next installment of "Ikins Down Under."

We're back! Update and entries for the Washington Post Travel Photo Contest

Hello -

It's been some time since we last posted.  Life Down Under has been exceedingly busy on both the personal and professional levels.  Charlie/Chuck is working on a graduate degree in military history at the University of New South Wales, finishing in December this year (lots of research and writing of essays).  It's funded by the Australian Department of Defence (yes, with a "c") which is very nice of the Aussie Government (otherwise as an international student the cost is prohibitive - given that the Aussie Dollar costs U.S. $1.07!).  Debbie now has a Federal job working here. She just finished working overtime for several months in preparation for a successful 4th of July celebration for nearly 2,000 invited guests (that's a lot of RSVPs to deal with, not to mention the hard-copy invitation which had about 23 different attachments to it...it is THE event of the diplomatic community's year - everyone wants to come and neither of us were lonely in the month or so preceding July 4 - everyone asks for an invite).  It may sound glamorous, but it isn't.  However, Debbie was called to the stage and presented a bouquet of flowers in appreciation of her effort.

We also just had Debbie's brother and three children visit for 10 days, which required a lot of planning, logistics, coordination (and cooking and driving).  We all had a great time and enjoyed seeing Scott and the kids.

While we were on the family trip we learned of the marriage of our good friends Bill Kleinert and his partner (as they say here in Oz), Leslie Johnson.  Bill's son John Christian (soon to be dubbed an Eagle Scout) and Leslie's son Erik co-served as Best Men. Congratulations and good luck to Bill on his work on his documentary film.

Also attached is a selection of photos that have been taken on various trips around Australia and New Zealand over the past year.  I like to enter the Post's annual travel photo contest in the hope of winning a valuable coffee mug or a tote bag (my last prize in 2003).  Anyway, since I have been so remiss in posting (not that anyone is waiting with bated breath) I though some of you might be interested in the photos I picked out as possible entries.  Let me know which one you like the best. Hopefully it coincides with the one I entered.

Things in Oz are going well; we are inside our last 6 months Down Under and looking into options regarding our future.  Our best to all of our friends and family.

Closure on Usama Bin Laden

I have not posted recently because of other commitments - professional, personal, and academic.  But I learned today at a farewell luncheon for a friend here in Canberra that UBL was dead.  I wanted to write something to mark this moment.  Some may think this over the top but frankly, I have earned some forbearance.

Since 2001 my life - and especially that of my wife Debbie - has been affected by UBL's actions.  I volunteered for active duty in 2001 precisely because of 9/11.   I was told I might be "too old" but I did not accept that.  I thereafter deployed in November 2002 to Kuwait and then Iraq in the liberation of March 2003 in association with the Global War on Terror.  I saw  things there which haunt me still.  I - and Debbie - are still paying both emotionally - and physically - for the events of the last 10 years.  I have not spoken much of this except to my closest  family members and friends - but our lives were changed forever. I spoke of this at my retirement from the Marine Corps Reserve in late September 2009 at the ceremony at my home in Alexandria VA.  Tonight, we have some closure.

Having seen death at close range, I do not rejoice in the the death of any man, however deserving it may well be.  But if there was ever a justifiable act of execution, this was it.  There is little glory in war.  It is ugly, filthy, and shocking. But sometimes it is necessary.  This was.

All of us should sleep well tonight, yet remain vigilant.  I am no flag-waver.  I leave that to the Sunshine Patriots in front of the White House and in Times Square at this moment.  I have been doing this since I was 17, despite its unpopularity from 1976 onwards until it became fashionable during the Gulf War of 1990-91 and then post-9/11. I am now nearly 52.  I think of my best friend Christopher Roosa in Iraq at this very moment risking his life and ask you to spare a prayer for him.  But I also ask all of you to think of the long years of anonymous effort on the part of intelligence professionals and Special Operations Forces who work in silence and the dark and give thanks for them.  All of us can sleep peacefully at night because they man the wall and do the things that most of us would cringe from - but they do it for us.  And gladly, for little reward.  Think of that the next time your Congressman rails against the "bloated" Federal employment establishment - many of those people work for intelligence agencies.

So remember today and give thanks for those that willingly do what must be done, despite the costs, both visible and invisible, for all of us.  Spare a thought for them as you fall asleep in your bed tonight, without fear for the events of the morning.

Semper Fidelis,

Charlie/Chuck
COL USMCR (Ret)






 

In Memory of Joseph Cook Jr.

Late last week we got word that my cousin Joe Cook had passed away after a long disability resulting from a tragic car accident several years ago.  Given that we were unable to attend the funeral this past Monday (but Tom, Cindy, and Jim were) Debbie and I at least wanted to acknowledge Joe's passing and to express our condolences to his wife Karen, daughters Carolyn and Kristen, his mother Joyce, and sisters Anne and Sue.

I will always remember Joe as the "cool" cousin because he always had the coolest stuff - the first time I ever saw an electronic game - "Pong" - it was at Joe's house.  We thought "Pong" was the height of technological achievement.  He always had the latest music (first time I ever heard a George Harrison solo album - I think it was "My Sweet Lord" from "All Things Must Pass," which would make it 1971).  He seemed to know everybody - there were always a lot of his friends around.  He had a pool table, an electric shuffleboard and as I recall, an electric bowling game down in the basement.  And it was educational - he even had this interesting poster of a young lady with a cowboy hat - and nothing else - on, and I think that was also the first time I ever saw an issue of "Playboy."   He even had a great dog - that big Saint Bernard that (I believe) somebody actually stole.  I was always jealous Jim got to stay the weekend after Christmas or Thanksgiving when family events took place at the Cook house.  It was always an experience.

Just like his Dad, he helped my Mom with legal work, which I knew she really appreciated.

Joe was a lot of fun and he was never boring to be around.  I know his brother Masons gave him a good send-off.

So rest in peace, Joe. 

Another Bonus Photo

While I have heard from Herr Kleinert, Cousin Trudie Thompson, and Cousin Jim Klein (Jim - please clue Second Cousin Michel into the blog), the rest of you are a mystery.

The view from our friends James and Su's house in Kangaroo Valley.  Su went to school with Danielle from Sydney (Mrs. Roosa). 

Bonus Photo

My campsite this past weekend on my friend Danielle's (that would be Mrs. Roosa) land outside Joadja, about an hour south of Sydney and in the back of beyond.  Had to kill one poisonous spider, no brown snakes sighted (mercifully - I'm sure they were there).   Wombats are really noisy at night, I have discovered.

Tasmanian Tiger descendant located...

I came home today and this is what I found.  Karnak was apparently perusing my September 1986 of Australian Geographic which has a key article on the search for the Tasmanian Tiger.  Note the resemblance.