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DAY 1 - MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, L.A., ATLANTA & RALEIGH/DURHAM-NORTH CAROLINA

After some 31 hours or so the group finally made it through to our initial destination to begin the tour. The group were pretty tired with a few little hiccups with flights and ticketing just to keep us on our toes. The kids are pretty excited, although it's hard to be happy after spending more than a day flying non-stop!! We did have one casualty - a bag!! Unfortunately one of the Tour Group lost a bag in transit and it still hasn't arrived and we're almost into day 2!!! The joys of traveling international!! We've made the necessary phone calls to the 2 airlines but so far no luck - although we may have a bag of luggage circling australia or the u.s. with nowhere to go!! Tomorrow with a good night's sleep under our belts we head off to see Duke University and the University of North Carolina! These 2 powerhouses of College basketball are world renowned basketball programs, with many players heading off to the NBA after their respective stints at these schools. Players like Michael Jordan, Christian Lattner, Vince Carter, Danny Ferry etc. were all terrific players to play for either the Blue devils or the Tarheels. The rivalry between the schools is legendary and given they exist only 16 miles apart the annual games between these 2 teams are as passionate as any ANZAC Day featuring the Pies and the Bombers!! Tomorrow hopefully we'll have some pictures and more info to talk about.

At this moment all are well, finding the US culture very interesting and strange. Also the size of the airports and how everything works here have the kids slightly bemused!!