Another bit of family lore about Tom is his talent for booking truly awful hotels. I swear I’ve never stayed in a decent hotel in London – a city that boasts some of the finest hotels in the world. But all past sins are forgiven now, because in Brisbane he booked an honest-to-god suite in a hotel overlooking the Botanic Gardens. I almost hated to check out.

Who knew there was a Dalek in the middle of downtown Brisbane?

Brisbane was also our first real city driving on the wrong side of the road. It took me a while but I finally realized that gasping in horror when Tom tried to turn into the wrong lane was not actually helpful. Who knew?

This was the beginning of the family part of the trip. We spent an evening with my cousin Carol and her husband Harry. The plied us with liquor and barbequed salmon and showed off the nightclub in their basement. It apparently grew out of a tradition of epic parties. Now three or four times a year they book some jazz musicians and throw a party. We just missed one, but I think we’re too old for that sort of thing so it’s perhaps just as well.

Hallam Reunion

Diana Hacker, the relative who wrote the Hallam genealogy, lives in Brisbane so before I left I contacted her and suggested we get together. She outdid herself, arranging a gathering of Hallams from all over the area, including a couple who drove 500 kilometers from Eidsvold, where my great-great-grandfather (son of the convict) once managed a cattle station. He was known to the local aboriginal population as “Bunda” and the current generation still recognizes and respects the Hallam name.

People brought photos and documents and a fair number of small children to meet their American cousin. (The small children were mostly not impressed.) It was a great afternoon and I came away with a few new treasures.

When I walked in they all introduced themselves by tracing their lineage, thus establishing their relationship to me. I promptly forgot it all, of course. So now I have to go back to Ancestry.com and the genealogy Diana wrote and get everyone entered there so I can retrace all the people I met.

It was also agreed by all that I look just like a Hallam. Go figure.