It seems rather odd after all these days of crowded cabins and rooms to be sitting alone and comfortably typing this. Newsboys outside are calling special editions, there is a reasonably cool breeze blowing in through the window which may indicate that the storm has already broken somewhere in the vicinity and in a few minutes I am going out for cocktails, a thing I have neither done nor tasted for three weeks. A letter from Charles Wilmot waited me at the British Council and I was glad to have it though there was little news of any sort in it. I am sorry that we shall not see him before our departure. He is expecting a visit from some high ranking English friends in August; we shall probably be working inland from Cooktown then and I have suggested that he bring them up to see Australia in the rough. He thinks that they would not enjoy it. Have to close this and get dressed now. Saturday, 21 February 1948. Had an amusing experience yesterday when sending off a couple of Samoan post cards to Museum friends; native girls were depicted and the man at the Post Office looked at them and said "There's a slight technical difficulty here." He referred to the state of nature in which the girls were photographed but finally let the cards go. Another peculiarity of Sydney is that the pubs all close at 6 PM., though drinks can be obtained at hotels after that hour. Had a delightful evening with Thomas; his wife is a Canadian girl and they met and were married during the war in North Africa. Have arranged to dine with them tonight and go to the ballet, which is organized by the British Council. One of the things that I did not expect to do in Australia. Have just called Mrs. Speight and shall be seeing her and Robin for dinner tomorrow night. And now for business of the morning. After breakfast Van and I went first to the Rationing Bureau but were unable to get our coupons, this being Saturday. Then we presented our letter of introduction to Edward Lumley & Co., insurance people, the letter having been supplied to me by Lumley & Co. of New York who are associated with Page Hufty, Dick's brother-in-law, who handles the A.E. insurance affairs. Met Mr. Creighton-Brown Jr. (the letter was addressed to his father), Mr. Harrington, recently out from the English branch, and Mr. Rennick. They recognized me from my picture in yesterday's paper and were very helpful, calling their Brisbane representative and advising him, Mr. Spence, too look after us. After that, while on our way to present out letter to the Port Line, we bumped into Jack Thomas who informed us that all was set for the ballet, this evening, and then reached the Port Line office. Our letter was general, not to any person, but we saw Mr. Archer George A. Archer and discussed our return trip. He of course could not predict anything but has registered us with the American Pioneer Line as well as his own. The Port Line ships, after reaching Sydney, do not return to New York but continue via the United Kingdom. Questioned about fares, it turns out that we could travel that way, trans-shipping in England to a trans-Atlantic ship for New York, for just about the fare we paid from San Francisco plus our trans-American expenses. Questions to be asked in this connection are the matter of freight, though Archer says they have a good and frequent freight service, unfortunately