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Old 18-07-2008, 03:08 AM posted to rec.gardens.orchids
Dave Gillingham Dave Gillingham is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 398
Default So *where* are the Aussies? Voici moi!

Away for 6 weeks driving holiday to N Qld, & computer dead on arrival back home.

The excuse for the holiday was the TQOC (Tropical Queensland Orchid Conference).
It's an annual event, on the same long weekend every year, and rotates around
the various towns of NQ. This year it was Cairns & we're already booked into
Atherton for 2009. But a much briefer trip next year.

Using TQOC as the excuse, we visited numerous friends & rellies on the way up
the coast, did a lot of sightseeing, visited & walked in National Parks & State
Forests too numerous to mention, and - just as a trivial aside - dropped in at
several orchid nurseries. Oh! And we also attended, and really enjoyed, TQOC -
and the sale benches that accompanied the show.

The talks were all extremely good:
Kevin Butler on Phalaenopsis in Japan
Phil Spence on hybridizing native New Guinea Dendrobe species (how the
characteristics come through in the progeny)
Murray Shergold on the orchids of Madagascar
Bruce Gray on the orchids of Malaysian Borneo
Geoff Stocker on the orchids of New Guinea
All talks were of the "been there - here they are in their native habitat" type,
and really interesting.

I had planned to post lots of photos to abpo, but some threads during our
absence suggest it now has a very limited viewing audience?

I exerted extreme self restraint and circumspection at the nurseries & sale
tables - came home with only 63 new orchids. Where the *hell* am I going to put
them all????
Dave Gillingham
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