Dear bear friends:

If the bad part about traveling is having to have a bath in the washing machine, the good part is making friends! I have a new friend! His name is Bradley, and he lives in Brisbane, Australia!

There we were, on the big, big plane. Doctor Steve, Miss Cynthia, and me. Next to me sat a boy with bright brown eyes. He was playing with a Game Boy as we waited for the plane to take off. I peeped, curiously, around Miss Cynthia. It has been a long time since I've seen a Game Boy!

"Hello!" said Miss Cynthia, "Would you like to meet my bear?" That is how I made a new friend, Mister Bradley from Australia! Lucky Bradley! He is going all the way to Disney World, in Florida!

We talked and talked and talked, and I learned so much! Mister Bradley lives in Brisbane, in the northern part of Australia. The weather is very warm, so it is a good place for plants to grow. Mister Bradley grows lovely vegetables in his garden: tomatoes and cucumbers and lettuces. His neighbors buy them, and he makes lots of money! In Brisbane, everyone lives an outdoor life, enjoying picnics and days at the beach.

Mister Bradley is six, just one year older than me! In a few days, he will be seven. Mister Bradley goes to school, and is in Grade One, nearly in Grade Two. In Bradley's school, they do lots of things like American children do, but some things are different. Bradley doesn't have recess he has playtime. Bradley reads little books at school, and his favorite is a story about Grandpa's Old Slippers.

Mister Bradley has so many things to tell about Australia. If I went to Australia, I could make music on a digiridu. That's a long tube, a hollow piece of wood. You blow in it, and it makes the most exciting noise, something like "Wooo-woo--woo!" Digiridu can be played like music. I wonder if some of the musicians in the Symphony know how to play a digiridu?

Mister Bradley is going to buy a boomerang, to play with. Sometimes it will come back, and sometimes his dog will catch it! A boomerang is shaped like a letter J, and it's made of wood. Originally, a boomerang was used to hunt animals by the people who lived in Australia long ago, but now it can be used to play with!

In Australia, there are wild dogs, called dingos. People catch them, but they would rather be wild. Scientists have to help them so there will always be dingos.

Look! The plane is coming in for a landing. It is time for us to put away the computer. I've enjoyed my talk with Mister Bradley, and hope he will enjoy my letters on the Internet!

Your bear friend,

Perry Bear Ewer