I'm back in the office, and getting caught up after several weeks' travel. And since I've been gone I've noticed that trees are now in bloom and Spring has sprung already in Seattle, which is always a good sign.

Anyway, I just returned from my annual visit Down Under. As you know the trip began with Singapore and the usual air show excitement at Asian Aerospace 2006.

From Singapore I had the opportunity to fly on Air New Zealand to Auckland, on their new 777-200ER service. It's more than a 9-hour flight, but the new business class service on that airplane has lay flat seats, and very nice amenities. A tremendous way to travel.

Beautiful Auckland graces the opening page of my presentation to media in New Zealand.

In Auckland I had some great conversations with a number of New Zealand media as well as executives from ANZ. But I started my first day quite early, enjoying a business "Breakfast" on TV New Zealand.

Moving on to Sydney, it was breakfast time again, on the Channel 7 "Sunrise" program. I also took part in two major media events, talked with bankers about the benefits of financing airplanes, and visited with Qantas Airways.

The focus of one of my days in Sydney was the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. This is an independent research and management consultancy firm that's very influential and often is quoted by the media regarding aviation in the Asia-Pacific region. I've been meeting with these folks now for a number of years. It's always a fun, spirited discussion.

Then it was on to the University of New South Wales. This was my annual lecture at the Department of Aviation there. I spent a couple of hours with about 100 students who are going for a degree in Aviation Management. Based on their challenging questions for me, I'd say they're heading in the right direction.

No Baseler briefing would be complete without a discussion on Boeing's twin-aisle forecast and strategy. Here I'm chatting it up at a media event in Sydney. (Photo courtesy: Peter Ricketts, Asia Pacific Aviation Report)

And no trip to Sydney can be complete without a stop for fish and chips and a couple of pints! Let's just say my visit to the Lord Nelson Pub qualified.

After Sydney I flew to Brisbane in time to do an hour and a half lecture and Q&A with 130 students and teachers from Aerospace Project high schools. This is a great program across a number of high schools to help create opportunities for young people in aviation. They even videotaped the discussion to be used in schools in other surrounding communities.

Next, I headed to the Boeing Australia offices, to present our market and strategy overview for 120 local Boeing employees. And believe it or not I still had time to wrap things up later that same day at an executive briefing for members of Virgin Blue Airlines management. At Virgin Blue I spent a little time talking about our market projections in the very dynamic Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island region. And they told us how successfully they're using the 737 in their low-cost operations.

From there, it was on to Coolum, a town about an hour and a half drive from Brisbane, where I attended the 7th Heads of Australian Country Operations (HACO) Retreat. This is a unique meeting of executives of Australian operations of international companies. I had the opportunity to speak to the group about the future of air travel.

And I'm sure those executives are particularly motivated to see how new airplanes such as the 777-200LR and the 787 are going to reshape the future. Australian country managers, as well as many other travelers from Australia and New Zealand will tend to spend long hours on airplanes and in airports around the world. Needless to say they place a high value on comfort and on the overall quality of their travel experience.

And I guess that goes for just about everyone I ran into on this trip. From the air show in Singapore to the complete diversity of people I met Down Under, one thing stood out in common: a keen interest in and fascination with the latest developments that promise to make air travel quicker and more enjoyable.

Well, as I close this posting, I just looked up and noticed some snow flurries coming down outside my office window. I guess Spring hasn't quite sprung after all.