I have been very very fortunate to have so many wonderful moments when my Inner Australian was revealed! 

Here are a few:
 
1) On my first trip down under when I dove on the Great Barrier Reef.   After the dive I was in total euphoria...I believe my exact words were that “I felt like I had just had the best sex of my life.”  (Later I found out that concentrated oxygen can have that effect on you!)
 
2) Feeding the orphaned calf at Wrotham Park Lodge and knowing that it hadn't been given a name yet because it was not certain that it would live.
 
3) Cuddling little Dini, a calf that had past its eighth day and was therefore given a name!
 
4) Sitting outside a Pub at the Rocks Market in Sydney in August wearing shorts and a Jumper (sweater) and seeing a 2 year old toddle by in a snowsuit and scarf.  Gave a new meaning to the saying "it's all relative"!
 
All these wonderful memories have truly released my Inner Australian but the one that is dearest to me occurred in my favorite state, South Australia.  My friend, Marlene, and I were making our yearly homage to Australia in October 2006, this time taking in Tasmania and Outback South Australia.  It was planned that we would be visiting Angorichina Station. Sadly, our host, Di Fargher, became very ill and had to be hospitalized and our plans changed.  Never fear, Jillian and Down Under Answers came up with Plan B.  We would be visiting Akuna Station.  There on the banks of the Murray River, My Inner Australian was Released!
 
I remember how we felt as we drove up the Sturt Highway toward our unknown destination.  We had asked several folks in and around Adelaide what they knew about a place called Akuna and we had come up empty handed. 
 
Wow, were we surprised!  On arrival we were greeted by Donnie Workman and Nola Campbell.  We were offered a refreshing drink and then were shown around the station via ATV.  We were given the option of sleeping in a newly renovated cottage near the main house or we had a second option. As we topped the hill on the way down to the Murray, we saw our home away from home. The beautiful Akuna Amphibious, a paddleboat that was built in 1875 which had been salvaged from the Port River.  She had been refloated and repaired and was restored to her former glory. 
 
Over the next couple of days, Marlene and I were treated as family by Donnie and Nola.  We learned of the history of the station as well as the personal history of this lovely couple.  We were treated to a speedboat ride down the Murray and made a stop at the Overland Corner Hotel for lunch.  We went to a Camel Farm where we were joined on safari by a Jack Russell terrier.  Although not a real fan of single engine aircraft, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the kangaroos run through the vineyard so Donnie and I piled ourselves into his 1944 Auster antique aircraft for a scenic flight over Akuna.
 
Our time on the station was far too short and we were in tears as we left our new friends.  As we drove back down the palm lined drive out to the Sturt Highway we felt that we were leaving family.  Little did we know that we had said our final farewell to Donnie as he would die on Christmas Eve in a crash of that little antique plane.
 
I did not find out about his death until months later at ATE in Brisbane.  I was speaking with a representative of the Murray River Region and was telling her how much I had enjoyed my time at Akuna Station and of my new friends. She told me of Donnie's death and how Nola was lost without her life's partner.  It was sitting in a booth in the Brisbane Convention Center where I realized that I am "Australian".  I am not the person I was before I made my first trip "down under".  My Inner Australian has been Released and I will never be the same. 

I am Australian!

Barbara Foster has been in the travel industry since attending Ambassador Institute of Travel in 1996. After working in a full service agency for over a year she decided that she could serve her clients more effectively by opening her own agency. Thus, Southern Cross Travel and Tours was born. Barbara enjoys planning trips to all the “remarkable destinations” throughout the world but you don’t have to be around her long to know that Australia, New Zealand and the Islands of the South Pacific are her favorite places to visit. She is one of only 2 “Premier Aussie Specialists” in the state of Tennessee, a certification awarded by Tourism Australia to the Top Aussie Specialists in the United States and Canada.