We received a brief update on Flat Stanley who, along with his "cousin" Flat Stella, is visiting with Gretchen and her family in Kansas. She wrote:
Flat Stanley and Flat Stella helped occupy our time during the first leg of our vacation layovers...
Flat Stanley and Flat Stella in the KCMO airport
Flat Stanley and Flat Stella in the Detroit, MI airport
I received a brief update from someone who is hosting a Flat Stanley in North Carolina saying that he visited Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington and that he will be on his way home this week. Here are two pictures of Stanley at the beach:
I got an email from Stanley's friend Peter, in Australia, who wrote:
"Dear Alexa,
Stanley is feeling a bit flat right now, worn out by his Australian travels, but he says he expects to be up and about soon.
He has asked me to pass on these pictures from his travels. He started in Sydney, in the suburb of Manly, and caught a famous Manly ferry (you can see one behind him, out on the harbour), over to town to see the Opera House.
Stanley also had a bit of an accident that day, just before he got on the ferry. He was standing down by the shore, but a bigger wave than usual knocked him over. Luckily, he was saved and I dried him out with a paper towel, because the very next day, we were booked to fly to the most northern tip of Australia, at Cape York. On the map, it's the top right corner of the Australian continent, the pointy bit.
We had to fly to Horn Island, to an airstrip that was once a US and Australian air force base, during World War II. Then we took a boat to Thursday Island, where he wanted to see what high schools look like.
Do you know about Australian crocodiles? There are two sorts, and the "salties", more correctly called estuarine crocodiles, will attack people. When Stanley heard that there were crocodiles in a small creek at the end of the school's football field, he hopped up onto a warning sign.
The next day, he made it to the tip of Cape York, where he posed for two shots, before heading down to the beach, where he learned that crocodiles were sometimes seen, so he hopped up on another warning sign for safety.
You can see more pictures of his trip (including one shot of Stanley in large format) at http://travel.webshots.com/album/573489584KPJfkN -- in that shot, you can see that a crocodile had not got his arm, it was just turned around in the wind.
Stanley is wearing a bush hat and an multi-pocket vest, which is what we often wear on expeditions. Stanley spent most of his time in the shade, because his fair skin meant he was more at risk of sunburn or skin cancers. We were only 10 degrees or so south of the equator, though luckily it was midwinter here.
Notes: Thursday Island was named by William Bligh, after the famous mutiny on the Bounty. There are also islands called Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. I wonder if you can find them on a map of the Torres Strait and work out which way Bligh was going.
The other crocodile here is a "freshie", though it has more formal names than that. There is a difference between alligators and crocodiles, but I can't remember what it is.
cheers"
Here are the pictures Peter sent us:
That was a fun update! Thank you, Peter, for drying Flat Stanley with a paper towel and for protecting his fair skin from the sun! I must say, we love his expedition outfit!
OK, I am STILL not entirely caught up on the updates I've been sent, but I plan to post another update tomorrow so check back :)
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