Australia 8 September 2013
Dear Family and Friends:
G’Day Mates!
Today has been a cloudy day but still warm. We have been up in the 80’s all week and it
looks like a very warm summer seeing as though we just had the warmest winter
on record. No wonder we have enjoyed
it. This week we averaged 4,000 pictures
a day as we sent over 20,000 images on Friday.
Wednesday we did 4600 and Thurs. 4500.
That is the max and we were really tired. We figure 4000 is about right, and we still
get our walks in.
In front of Buckland House on the lawn a small bird is
nesting. Someone has put a cone by it so
the lawn and garden guys don’t go near it.
The daddy bird will start dive bombing you if you go to close. Dad went a little close to get a picture and
he came running back when the daddy started dive bombing. They make a lot of noise also and someone
told us they have poison on their wings.
We will see what happens when the eggs hatch. We also look for the daddy when we go
walking, and he is always on the lawn or in the tree.
The flowers are coming out everyday, we have a beautiful
bird of paradise just outside the mail room.
They are all very vivid colors. A
round bush that we thought would stay green has just started with blossoms,
white, pink and red on the same bush, and they looks like they will cover the
whole bush.
The Williams came back Tues afternoon and they had a great
trip. They said Tasmania is beautiful
and if any of their family comes they will definitely take them there. They brought back lots of travel guides for
us to look through for when we go this week.
They said the McDonalds want us to have an idea of what we want to see
because we only have 3 days of sightseeing.
We leave Thursday morning so we will have to get things ready and
packed. Mark left Tues morning for
Tasmania and will be back in the office tomorrow. When we get back on Monday the Williams and
Mark leave for a family history conference somewhere for a week. The Williams will drive because they are
taking a lot of supplies for the booth, and Mark and some others will fly.
The only activity this week at night was the Temple. One night after work we walked down the block
from our flat and got a chicken mushroom pie from Harrys De Wheels. It is just a little building on wheels that
is world famous. You order a little
individual pie, beef, chicken, veggie and a couple combinations, and then they
put mashed potatoes and smashed peas and gravy on top. Really very good and very filling. They also have hot dogs with barbecue on top
and a barbecue beef sandwich on a hoagie bun that looks really good. They also have breakfast all day so we have
decided to walk down there again and try something different.
Yesterday after cleaning we went with the Williams down to
the river to get on the ferry. The
Jorgensen’s and the Feils met us there and we went down to Sydney to go to the
rocks. We walked about a quarter mile
over to where the first house still standing is located right on the
harbor. It was a building for sailors
when they came ashore and they have preserved it. It isn’t open so we just walked around and
read the signs. We also saw a big cruise
ship in dock and it was unloading, so we walked over to see if we could see the
Kohlerts. They took a cruise around the
islands for 8 days before going home.
That sounded fun. We knew the
Tanners were going to pick them up and take them to the airport to fly home, so
Sister Jorgensen called the Tanners and they were already back home. We walked on to the end of the Sydney Harbor Bridge
and went inside and up, and up, and up stairs, and it was a long way. I don’t do stairs well, but we made it into
the middle of the observation tower. It is called the Pylon lookout. From there we had to pay to go to the top and
see how the bridge was built. I was done
for climbing and Sister Williams is afraid of heights so we just sat on a bench
and visited and everyone else went up.
It was $8.50. When they came back
down they said it was very interesting.
It is from there you can pay $200. To climb to the top of the
bridge. You put on a jumpsuit so you don’t
get dirty and they they harness you in so you can’t fall. No one did it in our group. Deven’s friend that is over here for a
conference said he did it yesterday. We
then walked back to the harbor and got something to eat from some street vendors
that were there, there was food and clothes and crafts. Dad and I got a sausage in a bun and split
it, it was bigger than a foot long. We
then caught a ferry over to Darlington Point and walked over to a park where
there was a Taiwan festival. We walked around
and decided it wasn’t anything we wanted to stay for so we walked back to the
ferry and came back home. The Feils
wanted to eat at Harrys De Wheels as someone in Prove said to eat there. They live up by the Temple so they never come
down to Parametta. We tried another kind
of pie and they are really good. We
didn’t get home until about 7 so it was a long day but so fun. Dad took about 300 pictures.
Today Dad spoke in Sacrament Meeting on the role of Fathers
in the Home and did a really good job.
He was nervous but didn’t show it.
It was a very good meeting. The
Bishop’s wife talked about teaching children in the home. Deven’s friend came to Church, he had a
package for us from Tina and gummy peaches from Deven and Michelle, THANKS,
they are so good and fresh. Nothing better! We took Dan up to the Temple to walk around
and get some pictures. He took a taxi to
Church and it cost him $60.00. He is
staying down in Sydney by the harbor. We
took him back to the ferry and he caught it to go back, for $7.20. He has been
to the Ivory Coast and is leaving for New Zealand tomorrow. It was fun to meet him and take him around a
little. He said the bridge experience
was really neat but if he had to pay for it he wouldn’t have done it, but his
company paid. He was very grateful for
the ferry.
This week we have FHE and the Temple and getting packed to
go to Tasmania. I have no idea when I
will get a letter written, probably Monday after we get home. We probably won’t be able to Skype next week
either because we don’t get home Mon until about 1:00. We will see what time it is when we get to
the office.
Elder Feil came into our office on Thursday and said the
mission would like to get us couples closer to our mission boundaries, we are
living in the South mission but we are actually in the North mission. There are new apartment buildings being built
a couple hundred yards from work, we could walk, and wanted us to go look at
them and let him know. They are starting
to rent them out now as they should be finished in about a month. The four of us walked down after lunch and
found someone to let us look at one.
They are only one bedroom, but really nice and they have heating and air
conditioning. We went back and told him
to go for it. I doubt we will be moving
until about the first of November but we shall see. Now we are wondering where we will put
everything because we have things in both bedrooms here, mostly empty
suitcases, etc. The South mission needs
more flats for their young missionaries.
This week Mike has a birthday, Happy Birthday. We are loving seeing the pictures of the
babies on Facebook, Eli is really getting big, seeing as though he was only a
day old when we left. Brielle we see at
Deven’s when we Skype, Violet is one now, Tifanie is on Skype now so we can see
the kids, and Onalie hopes to be hooked up for Skype this week. It was fun a couple of weeks ago to see them
because she went to Tyson’s so she could see us. Amberlie gets on most weeks also. Hopefully we will see Vaun this week because
they leave for Mexico sometime soon, and we want to see their new home. Tina and Bob get on also and Loren and
family. It is good to have Vonage to
text and talk during the week when we need to.
We really feel connected even though we are half way around the world.
We love you all!
Mum and Pop
No comments:
Post a Comment