Travel in Australia

Thursday, 4/5/18: On my first full day with Mum and Dad, we went to the Blue Mountains which were beautiful.  There were several different hikes to nice waterfalls.

I got a classic baseball cap with a kangaroo embroidered on it.
So, I'm happy I got to talk to a couple ladies a little older than me, one from America, one from France, about the gospel.  Dad was there when I did so , which made me feel awkward, but it felt good to open my mouth.

Making scones and visiting with Pamella in Dapto.

Cultural events associated with the Sydney Opera House were such a treat. Thursday, 4/5 we attended the opera, "La Boheme" on Sydney Harbor with the Opera House and Harbor Bridge lit up in the background.  The show literally finished with a bang as fireworks exploded over the harbor.  Friday, 4/6, we saw the Australian Ballet Company perform the works of Australian Choreographer, Murphy--in the Joan Sutherland Theater of the Sydney Opera House.  They were both incredible productions. It was AMAZING.  The dancers were all so equally yoked, the choreography was so unique and fluid.  It made me excited to get back into dance and into shape again.

At the SYDNEY SEA LIFE AQUARIUM, "we saw sharks, manatees, and big sting rays.  I also touched a star fish for the first time.  We walked across a really cool bridge at DARLING HARBOUR with an awesome view of the city.  It was so cool!

. . . On the walk to and from the ballet, we walked through the center of Sydney, down streets that reminded me of NYC.  It is such an amazing and beautiful place.  There is a good balance between traditional and modern looking buildings."

Bondi Beach is possibly the most beautiful beach we have ever been to.  The water is so blue, and the beach is so clean.  We were amazed by the beauty around us.

 "On the way to Bondi Beach, we stopped at the Mission Office so I could take a picture next to the ASSM sign (Awesome/AUSSM!) and drop off a note for Sis. Namalo.  I got to see the Adams and Mansell's again which was great.  Also, a few of the sisters serving in Mortdale.
 

 Below:  The Australia Sydney South Mission Home:

"On Sunday, we viewed General Conference at the Lyneham Chapel with a lot of the Canberra Stake.  It was so good to see so many friends there.  I got to introduce Mom & Dad to the Loney's, Fisher's, Marisella, Elizabeth Litchwark, Brett Baker, Lola & Earnest, Belinda, Sis. Tan, Sis. Conley, The Anderson's & heaps of missionaries.

Conference was amazing.  President Nelson is initiating the beginning of a lot of good changes, including the beginning of Ministering & the doing away with home & visiting teaching.  Young Women are paired up with RS sisters to minister to others.  I'm excited!  This truly is the Lord's church & the men and women we heard speak truly are His representatives.  You could just feel the Spirit really strong. . . ./ After the 2nd session, we were finally able to get in contact with our Stake Pres., Jim Cavalieri.  He asked me what I felt my strengths were going into the mission & if they helped me.  He invited me to continue strengthening my strengths & weaknesses.  Also to always pay a full tithe, stay active, & magnify a calling.  He, just like Pres. Leota invited me to make eternal marriage my goal, just as the temple is the ultimate goal for all our investigators.  Then, after thanking me immensely, he released me as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He asked me to remove my tag.... After, I passed the phone over to Dad, so he could get released from his calling of High Priest Group Leader, which no longer exists, haha.  Then I cried on Mom's shoulder for a few minutes & took off my tag.  I was not even sure why I was crying, but I could just feel that by taking off my badge, I was leaving one of the most joyous & stretching seasons of my whole life.  It was pretty surreal doing it in the Lyneham Chapel too, the very first chapel I served in, in the mission field.  I am beyond grateful for the experiences I have had, being a full-time missionary & I would not change a single moment for the world.  Dad told me to think of it as graduating from school & now I can apply everything I learned in real life.  This is true.

Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra

 Between Sydney and Melbourne is Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, where Emmalynn served the majority of her mission.  While there, we visited the Australian War Memorial, Parliament Building and the National Museum.

Seeing kangaroos in the wild at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve was definitely a highlight of our Canberra experience.  They seemed to pose for our pictures and weren't afraid of us at all.  Emmalynn even had a brief photo shoot with one!  Kangaroo crossing signs on the road in Australia are just as common as deer crossing signs in the U.S A.. . .

We thought of the Beatles'Abbey Road when this kangaroo crossed the highway in front of our car at the crosswalk!  The kangaroo above looked like he wouldn't mind jumping in our car with us.

We went to Sister Tan's for dinner, which was so great!  Sis. Conley came too for a bit & gave me the black skirt she has been making for me since Christmas.  She is so sweet.  Sis.Tan made us her famous Hungarian dish, a sort of chicken drumstick stew served over

gnocchi.  So good!  She also made us Pavlova, which Mom and Dad loved.  She told her whole conversion/life story, and Dad told his conversion story.  It was great.

Then I went with Mom to visit Melody.  I wasn't sure whether or not I should because I wasn't sure how she felt after the baptism being so rushed and her not returning to church since the baptism, but Sister Anderson, who has visited her a few times with Elder Anderson, encouraged me to go so I did.  It ended up being a positive experience.  She said she has a freer schedule with Paul's cricket games now, so she will be able to go to church again.  I hope she is sincere about that.  Either way, I feel sure that Heavenly Father will allow a trial to come into her life at some point that will help her to come back.  Until then, I need to be a trustworthy friend..../ Then we visited Sister Loney for a minute to say goodbye, then tried to make our bags meet the weight requirement for Tiger Air.  That was funny....

Melbourne Temple. . . Closed for cleaning, but still great to visit the temple grounds at sunset.

Our first night in Melbourne, we discovered Chinatown just around the corner from our hotel and found a delicious Thai Restaurant for dinner.  Australia has a lot of good Asian restaurants, which we love. A few blocks down the road, we went inside the beautiful State Library of Victoria, then headed back for a swim at the Marriott.  Dad left his passport in the safe after we left the next day, so we were so glad we had the same hotel booked two nights later after our trip to the Great Ocean Road!

Eureka Skydeck:  88 floors up for city views:

Hoosier Lane:  The Arty Alleyways of Melbourne

 Melbourne's Fitzroy Park:

Healesville Sanctuary. . . Wombats, Wallabies, Kookaburras, Australian Parrots, Cassowaries, Tasmanian Devils, Echidnas, Koalas, and so many different varieties of Kangaroos:

Cassowarie

Echidna

Koala

Wombat

From the Eucalyptus or Gum Tree where Koalas are found

Kookaburra

From Emmalynn's Journal: "Tuesday, April 10th, was Mom's 56th birthday, so on the way to our next destination, The Great Ocean Road, we surprised her by stopping at a Baskin Robbins and got a small chocolate ice cream cake for her.  Though it was small, it was a lot for three people.  Of course we polished it off fine though.  I never should have doubted us, lol.  I gave Mom the opera house opal necklace I got when I went with the Leavers.  She loved it, which I was happy about."   

"It was probably almost 2 hours to the Great Ocean Road.  With Koalas in Eucalyptus/Gum Trees all along the first section of the road, we tried to stop along the Kennett River to see them up close in the trees.  It was dusk and getting dark but we miraculously saw one crossing the road.  We only got a few seconds to observe before it disappeared into the shrubbery again..../ We had Mom's birthday dinner at a fancy Italian Restaurant.  Then Dad and I went for a run while doing and waiting for the laundry..../

"On Wednesday, the 11th of April, we traveled and saw the sights on the Great Ocean Road.  It had some of the most spectacular views I have ever seen!  Every stop was an amazing view of the ocean with incredible rock structures and beautiful white waves crashing in.  We saw The Twelve Apostles, a cool grotto, the London Bridge, a bay of islands, a cool shipwreck spot, awesome stalagtites and stalagmites on the side of the eroding sides of cliffs.  It was all so amazing and there was so much of it.  It is surprising we didn't get tired of our days' activities, but it seemed like every sight just got better and grander."

Shrine of Remembrance and Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens:

From Melbourne, we flew to the east coast of Far North Queensland, to the city of Cairns.  Our spacious, window-filled, white apartment at Trinity Beach had beautiful ocean views and a nice pool.

We enjoyed shopping at the Night Markets for Aboriginal Art T-shirts for the whole family, sunglasses/sunhat/sundress and listening to the live band play. Seeing the hundreds of flying foxes at dusk was also cool.

Our time in Cairns was the highlight of the trip so far.  The first day, Friday the 13th (we made it through!), was the BEST day.  We took a cruise boat, The Big Cat, out to Green Island which is part of the Great Barrier Reef. 

  We had a buffet lunch on the boat and sat across from and talked to a Chinese man and his mother, which was cool.  They were really nice.  It is interesting how different cultures can be, but we are all still the same, God's Children.

At Green Island, we all went snorkeling  and it was SO FUN!  We saw beautiful coral; swam with a big sea turtle; a plethora of fish, big and little, including a little clown fish, which they said were hard to find; some other mussels and clams that would shut as we swam passed them; and many other cool things.  It was one of the most unique experiences we've had and probably one of the coolest things we've ever done.

On Sat, the 14th, we took a Skyrail Gondola over the Daintree Rainforest.  Such a beautiful place.  Dad had the information pamphlet and was telling us the types of trees we were passing and interesting things to look out for.  There were stops where we walked to lookouts of a beautiful waterfall over a jagged canyon.  Once we got further in, there were lots of hand-made shops to look through and other exhibits. 

Mom and I walked through a Butterfly Sanctuary, where we were surrounded by thousands of brightly colored, big "beautiful butterflies," as dad would quote.  It was pretty amazing.

It was a beautiful place, but so humid and hot so we decided to head back on the train a little early.  It was about a 2 hour ride through the rainforest with a stop at the other side of Barron Waterfall.  We actually passed 15 different waterfalls on our way back to Cairns!  That night, we body surfed on the beach, swam in the pool, and relaxed with the movie, "Hidden Figures" on DVD.

Sunday, the 15th, we got up extra early to go check out the Mossman Gorge.  It truly was gorge-eous and we wished we had a day there to swim.  It looked so nice, with big boulders to jump off and beautiful rainforest as surrounding scenery.

Then we went to Port Douglas 5-Mile Beach Lookout, where we could see miles of beach in each direction.

 

Then we attended the Cairns 1st Branch at 1 pm.  Soon after we got there, Mom and I met a woman in the Toilet who had heard I served in Sydney South and asked if I knew Sister Meleese.  Apparently, when this sister first went through the temple, Sister M. was in every session the 4 days she was there.  She pulled her up on face time and I got to talk to her!  I told her we will be in NZ, at the temple Tuesday and she said she is working there that day!  I'm grateful Heavenly Father places us in the right place at the right time.  Apparently Sister Melese's uncle is the branch president at the branch that met at 9 am.  There were a ton of Indigenous members in their Branch, which I have never seen before.  So cool. 

Church was great.  I enjoyed all the talks and lessons.  I met another sister in RS, the District President's wife, who is Sister Roas' aunty and was raised in Campbelltown so she knows exactly where all my areas are.  The Church is such a small world in Australia.  I will really miss the loving, welcoming, and quirky members here.  They are the best!