Thanks Lee. Sunny's a real sweetheart and prayed at the pagoda this morning to ask her granddad to help uncle Martin get better after his fall down the mountainside(!) on Sunday's run with the Vung Tau Hash House Harriers. I'm hoping granddad will also use his heavenly influence to stop my nose dripping constantly now the VN rainy season has kicked into top gear - with temperatures down below 30C for the first time this year! I can only shudder when thinking about heading downunder next week in Oz midwinter! We'll hopefully catch up in Adelaide (Hilton, 30/6-4/7) but you might need x-ray vision to recognise us through all the gloves, beanies, scarves and overcoats - brrrrrrr! 

...and here we are a year later - which means Sunny has now lived with us officially for more than 5 years and so qualifies as a dependent child. It's great to know we'll be helping to improve her life because she's certainly improving ours! 

Sorry to interrupt the avatar comments but my two-bob re "problems with indigenous people" is that I had only been in Australia for a few weeks/months when I went to Tennant Creek in the mines and we spent a lot of down-time under the local trees drinking beer with the local aboriginals and they were always entirely hospitable (could have been because we usually paid for the grog, but still...). However, down in TC (32 km away) it was a different story - one pub for whites and one for blacks. It was the local cops who enforced that rule but whether they caused the problems with it or just exacerbated them I don't know - but there was not a lot of sympathy for them from blacks or whites after a gang of bikies had ridden through town and humiliated the cops on the main street in front of the entire population!

We, Meg and I never experienced any 'nastiness' from Australia's 'first nation peoples".
If there was ever any 'racist' comments then it more than likely, came from 'local born' ethnic euro Australians. It was always sufficient to 'give as good as you got' to resolve any 'tense' situation. It should be said that in those days (70's and early 80's) it was sufficient to have a beer and a laugh about it and get on with life.
Cheers
LeeB

Was there ever any nastiness from the indeginous population though?