ISGE – Australia, April 2000

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Dr. James Carter:  “Now we’re going to visit with Peter Maher, and he’s going to explain to us how our trip in Australia is going to go.”

Dr. Peter Maher:  “Hi, the ISGE Conference is in Australia next year, and it will be in mid-April in Queensland which is a wonderful time.  The temperature is very moderate, 20-25, and the Conference is to be held at the Royal Pines Hotel.  This is a big golfing resort center on the Gold Coast, which is about 60 miles south of Brisbane.  International visitors will fly either into Brisbane and coach it down to the Royal Pines Resort or fly into Sidney and then they can get a direct flight straight up to the Gold Coast.  The resort is about ten minutes from the Gold Coast Airport.  The Conference like past ISGE Conferences is full of up-to-date information on endoscopy, and they have a large international faculty from Europe, the United States, Great Britain, and of course a large local faculty.  The ISGE Congress this year is being held in conjunction with the Australian Gynecologic Endoscopy Society Annual Scientific Meeting.  We are in our 10^th year in Australia and the ISGE is in its 9^th year.  We normally have an attendance rate of about 200-250 of local gynecologists, and we’re hoping for 200-300 international visitors.  Those of you who are coming for a holiday might like to contact the congress organizers before coming to Australia, and they will give you plenty of information about free post-congress tours.  The tourist attractions of northern Australia include the Great Barrier Reef, which is off Cairns and the Daintree Rainforest, which is also easily assessable out of Cairns.  If you fly west from Brisbane and slightly south, you’ll be in the center of Australia and we have Ayers Rock, which is now called Uluru, which is an Aboriginal name.  If you fly south, you can visit probably the most well-known tourist attraction in Australia - the Sidney Harbor and even further south, you can visit my home city of Melbourne which is Brisbane’s cultural center of Australia.  So we’re certainly looking forward to you coming down under in April of the year 2000, and as you can see, I’m in a perfect weather environment here.  I must admit that I’m visiting the Regional Meeting of the ISGE in Cairo at the moment but we can guarantee the same sort of weather so as they say - come on down!”

Dr. James Carter:  “Wait, Peter, can you give the dates of the meeting again?”

Dr. Peter Maher:  “Yes, the dates are from the 16^th to the 20^th, it’s Sunday to Wednesday in April of 2000.  The email address of the conference organizers is events@destination.com.au, and the program is accessible on www.isge.org or through www.ages.com.au. “

Dr. James Carter:  “Thank you very much, Peter Mayer, from the Red Sea in Egypt.”