UTP 10 - Days 10 and 11 - Wed, 24 Feb 2016

#UTPCruise - New Zealand was an amazingly beautiful scenery and contrasts. We head now for Sydney, Australia a city whose 4.6 million people are more than the number of people in all of New Zealand.

Our 2nd day at sea on the way to Sydney gave another opportunity for a full slate of talks.

Some of the talks I attended included Helen Smith on “Using timelines in genealogical research”.

"Using Timelines in Genealogical Research" presented by Helen Smith at the 10th #UTPCruise on route to Sydney pic.twitter.com/jPpJg8I7NX

— Louis Kessler (@louiskessler) February 22, 2016

Then Rosemary Kopittke who introduced our cruise prize sponsors.

Rosemary Kopittke presents the #UTPCruise sponsors: Inside History magazine, Ancestry, MyHeritage and FindMyPast pic.twitter.com/iRI6cTvLZo

— Louis Kessler (@louiskessler) February 23, 2016

In the afternoon, I presented my 3rd talk: “Organizing your genealogy computer files”. This was partly a continuation of my first talk on source-based genealogy. Storing by source is not something that seems natural at first, and there were some comments disagreeing with it. But it is a real alternative that I use and I think many people should consider for themselves.

"your goal is to know what you have" - @louiskessler #genealogy #utpcruise

— Alona Tester (@Lonetester) February 23, 2016

"No. 1 rule … record your sources" - @louiskessler #genealogy #utpccruise

— Alona Tester (@Lonetester) February 23, 2016

Following me, Diane Foster spoke on preservation.

"Preservation or Perish" presented by Diane Foster on the 10th Unlock The Past genealogy cruise #UTPCruise pic.twitter.com/axwQ0cHhuk

— Louis Kessler (@louiskessler) February 23, 2016

Later on in the afternoon, Judy Russell gave a superb talk about DNA.

Judy Russell getting ready to present the ABCs of DEF … er, make that DNA. #UTPCruise pic.twitter.com/4gWKEnHWtH

— Louis Kessler (@louiskessler) February 23, 2016

Day 11 we were in Sydney. My wife and I spent a week in Sydney three years ago when we were there for the 3rd Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. We had done most of the touristy things then, so we chose the day to walk up George Street and visit our old haunts, including our favorite Lindt Chocolate shop at Darling Harbour. It was hot, 32 C., and over five hours, we took 16,000 steps and must have gone into a hundred stores and passed thousands of others.

We were tired so I missed Shauna Hicks evening talk about finding ancestors using prison records.