Society members given talk on '˜Down Under'

Speaker was George Fiddler from Haxey who had spent 13 years working in Australia as sales manager for a mining company. He then returned with his wife, Elaine, for a six-week tour of the country.

“It’s a big country - with about 50 percent of it being desert - and it takes three-and-a-half days to travel from Perth to Sydney by train,” he said.

Mr Fiddler, a keen amateur photographer, illustrated his talk with a ‘slide show’ given on his computer and projected onto a screen.

He said that Sydney has one of the deepest, natural harbours in the world but it was still possible to go on a cruise in its bay on wooden boats that were under sail.

“Australia is also home to some of the most deadly wildlife in the world and that includes poisonous spiders, snakes, toads and jelly fish as well as water lizards that grow up to three-feet long and four metre long salt-water crocodiles,” said Mr Fiddler.

A qualified diver, he said he dived on the Great Barrier Reef but found it much changed from when he first dived there some 30 years earlier and this was down to Black Starfish, who are killing off the coral.

The Men’s Society meets throughout the winter and spring months and anyone wanting further information is asked to telephone its president, Ken Bickerstaff, on (01427) 872288