Perth

Wednesday

Wednesday afternoon we arrived in Perth. We rented a car and tried out driving on the wrong side of the road. It was quite an adventure! However, we did arrive at our destination safely. Terri was waiting for us and gave us a great welcome. She said she was excited to have some "eye candy" (Conner) around the house for a few days. I was laughing so hard. We chatted with her and each of her children as they arrived home from work and school… It was so fun to see them remember Conner from years ago-They all said he was their favorite missionary! Terri and her husband, Gaf, took us to a golf course near their house to see kangaroos. It was incredible! They were everywhere. Unfortunately, because it was getting dark I didn't get very good pictures but it was still pretty neat to see. That night we had a Aussie barbie with the family. It was delicious. Because it was so hot, and they do not have air conditioning, we decided to take a dip in their freezing cold pool before bed. It was a great night, but we were exhausted!

 Rebecca, Terri, Aaron (Az), Matthew, and Gaf.

Thursday

Thursday morning we drove to Margaret River. It's a small town down in the southwest tip of Australia. They are famous for their wine and vineyards. It was about a 3 hour drive which gave us plenty of time to practice our driving. I only drove for a short time because I was too nervous, but Connor picked it up quickly. I guess it's like riding a bike to him. Margaret River was beautiful! The trees went on for miles! Since it was Valentine's Day, we booked a night in a bed-and-breakfast. We checked in, then decided to explore the town.

We first stopped at Voyager Estate. We took some beautiful pictures of the Vineyard and planned on having lunch there, but they were totally booked! We were bummed and I was getting anxious because I was starving. This baby of mine seems to like to eat every three hours. Unfortunately for Conner, if I'm not able to do that, he has to suffer with my terrible attitude.

We headed back into town and ate lunch at a small tavern in the town. It was delicious! We decided to shop around but unfortunately, found nothing. The shops were a bit overrated. We decided to take a drive down south.

We drove through the Boranup Karri Forest. It was a rough dirt road, but the trees were incredible! We stopped at the lookout on the way out of the forrest, snapped a few pics and were happy to get back on the main road.

At the end of the road, there was a beautiful lookout that provided a beautiful view of the ocean.

We then drove down to Hamelin Bay which is about as far south and west in Australia that you can get. We were worried that we may fall off the edge of the world! But really… It was pretty cool to think about. The bay was great. Stingrays were everywhere! We took some pictures, visited with some tourists, and decided to head back before it got dark.

That's a sting ray swimming next to Conner!

We decided to stop at Prevelly beach which is close to the place we were staying to watch the sunset.  Unfortunately, clouds obstructed the view, but it was still beautiful! We then headed back to our bed and breakfast. We weren't too hungry since we had such a late lunch, so we ate our packed sandwiches that we didn't eat on the drive for a Valentines dinner, may have hit up the Jacuzzi, then headed to bed early. It was a lovely Valentines day!

Friday

Friday morning we had a few more things to do and see before we left Margaret River. We spent some time in the morning checking emails from Marissa, who left on her mission right before we left for Australia. It was so good to get her first email! She sounded fabulous. Conner and I face chatted with Craig and Jerrie, I put Conner through a little workout with the workout band I brought, we ate a DELICIOUS breakfast on the patio with the few other guests that were there, and we packed up.

That morning we started out at the Lake Caves. We took a great tour down into the only Western Australian cave that still has a lake in the bottom. It was filled with stalactites and stalagmites. It was beautiful.

 There was over 300 stairs to the bottom.

There was an incredible reflection of the stalactites in the lake. Conner said it reminded him of the cave in Harry Potter where he and Dumbledore find a horcrux-Voldemort's ring.

This "table" that looks like its touching the ground, is actually suspended by the "column" which is created when a stalactite and a stalagmite connect. The entire piece weighs over 5 tons and doesn't even touch the ground!

 "Scarves" are created when the water runs down an angled surface.

We then went to a place called the Berry Farm. We were able to taste all sorts of different jams and chutneys. Conner insisted on buying one of each. We ate a delicious lunch there too...followed by scones with cream and strawberry jam. Yum!

We couldn't help but stop and take pictures all along the way. Both the forests and vineyards in Margaret River were incredible.

On a recommendation, we thought we should wash our lunch down with some homemade ice cream so we visited Miller's Ice Cream Farm. It was a small, family-run dairy farm with a little ice cream shop. It was cute, but we were starting to feel a little sick at this point.

On the way out of town, we were told that we HAD to stop at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. Although I couldn't eat another thing, the store was still pretty impressive. They even sold chocolate scented soap!

 I couldn't help but think of Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory.

We made the long drive back to Armadale, visited King's Park with Teri and Gaf...got some great pictures of  the city, picked up some Pizza Hut and headed home. We were knackerd! (pronounced nakad). This is an Aussie word for "exhausted." The first night we were there, Terri asked if I was knackerd and I thought she asked if I was naked!

Saturday

We met Janice and Kevin Carter at the Perth temple for the nine o' clock endowment session. Janice and Kevin were the last couple that Conner baptized before he came home. They were darling! I think they were as excited to see Conner as he was to see them! The temple was great. We were able to be the witness couple due to a little encouragement from Kevin...Being in the temple with this cute couple in their seventies, who weren't even members of the church a few years ago, was an overwhelming experience. I found myself to be rather emotional over the whole thing. We also met the temple president and his wife who knew Conner's great uncle Keith who served in Perth as a young missionary and then a a mission president in Melbourne years later. Small world!

Following the session, we went back to their house for a yummy Subway lunch. Then they took us to King's Park so that we would have a chance to see it when the sun was out. It is an amazing park overlooking Perth. It was crazy hot outside so we didn't last long but we took some more pictures, of course!

These are Boab trees. They are native to Australia and Africa. They store water in their trunks...that is why they are so bottom-heavy. Someone told us that they used to carve out the trunks and keep prisoners inside!

We then drove to Hillary's boat harbor. This was a lovely little beach front harbor with shops, restaurants, swimming, and loads of boats. We would have loved to get in and swim but we neglected to bring our suits, aka bathers. I doubt Janice and Kevin came prepared to swim either. So, instead, we walked around the shops a while...we found a beautiful aboriginal painting in an art gallery that we both loved. Conner called it an "aboriginal original." Too bad it was out of our budget!

On the way home, we stopped at Pinneroo cemetery to see some more kangaroos. They were everywhere! We took heaps of pictures and were amazed at how many made this cemetery their home. The boomers (pronounced "boomas"-male kangaroos) were HUGE! We tried not too get too close to them!

 A mama kangaroo checking on her little joey.

 We kept waiting for this little joey to come out and say g'day, but all we got was his foot.

 Kevin told us if this boomer stood up, it would be much larger than Conner.

 It was funny to see them use their tails to crawl around.

These old folks were wearing us out so we headed back to their place for dinner. They insisted I lie down while they prepared everything. They were helping Conner understand the needs of a pregnant woman...they were really looking after me. It was fabulous.

They invited Noreen Finch to join us for dinner. She is their friend that helped fellowship them into the gospel. She was a great addition to our dinner party. They could have sat around for hours telling us of their conversion stories. Conner and I could not believe how dedicated they were. Janice and Kevin work in the temple two days a week. For an entire year, Kevin went every day! They were baptized in their friend, Noreen's ward. When the bishop told them they really needed to go to the ward they were supposed to go to, they were nervous about adjusting to the new ward. So, they continued to go to Noreen's ward for three hours, then they went to their ward for three hours. They did this for six months! They have done temple work for as many family members and as far back as they could go. They were truly a testimony to me of missionary work. They have only been members for 5 years...I hope one day I can have the testimony and dedication to the gospel that they have.

When it was time to go, we were surprisingly emotional. Not knowing if we would ever get to see them again was a hard thing to swallow. In just one day, these sweet people had found a place in my heart. Conner hated to leave as well and we both fought back tears as we pulled away. Before we left, Kevin told Conner that if he can convince Janice, he wants to serve a mission. This made Conner so happy! It was incredible to see missionary work come full circle.

Sunday

Sunday morning Conner and I decided to go to Fremantle. Fremantle is a town just south of Perth. They supposedly had a fabulous market that we just had to go to! We took the train to Freemantle and hit the market up first. The market ended up being a bit smaller than we imagined, but we got some great food! We started with a bratwurst, then had a thin pancake that held bananas, strawberries and cinnamon sugar all wrapped up into a burrito. It was delicious! 

Next, we toured the Fremantle prison. This was an active prison until 1992. Our tour guide was a Scottish man who actually worked in the prison in the 70s. It was fascinating! They walked us through the cells, the prison yard, and showed us where the convicts were hung. It was kind of creepy! But our tour guide was fabulous and made the tour totally worth it.

 Before the Americans were kind enough to provide the prison with barbed wire, they used broken bottles cemented to the top of the walls.

 The fence was added when a prisoner jumped from the top floor and committed suicide.

 One prisoner painted the Lord's prayer and the ten commandments on the walls of the church.

 Others found paint and decorated their cells.

 The lashing post.

For lunch we went to Cicerello's for fish and chips. They were right on the beach and they were fabulous! It ended up being a large order so we couldn't finish it and after all that we had eaten, we were feeling rather sick when we were done.

We were hoping to go to the beach after lunch, but since it started to rain we took the train to a town called Subiaco. We heard there was some great shopping so we browsed around for a bit, then it got back on the train since it was rather dead in Subiaco. We wanted to make sure that we got to Perth before five since all of the shops in Australia close early. We wanted to hit up Haystreet mall on the way home. It is a large outdoor mall in downtown Perth. It was rather impressive, but we didn't buy anything. 

We headed home for dinner with Terri's family. We were super tired and looked forward to a good home cooked meal. She made roast, potatoes, veggies, and crackle....toasted fat from the roast. It was fun to eat with her family. We had so much fun with them! They were so welcoming and kind and we would often sit around the table and talk for quite a while after dinner. We tried to convince the kids to take off work and school and join us at the beach the next day, but it looked like we were on our own. We went to bed that night excited for a relaxing day on the beach and prayed for good weather!

Monday

Monday morning was beautiful. It was going to be a great beach day! Terri had convinced Rebecca and Aaron to join us at the beach. Terri was kind enough to drive us all. We packed some snacks and headed off to Cottesloe. On the way to the beach, I saw a boab tree painted on the side of a building. It reminded me of the aboriginal original we saw in Hillary's boat Harbor a few days prior.  I asked Conner what he thought of making a pit stop in Hillary's Boat Harbor to pick up that painting before we left. He was, surprisingly, all for it! Terri offered to take us there on the way to the beach. We were afraid it was way out of the way but the kids decided that they wanted to go Cold Rock at the boat harbor anyway. Cold Rock is the Aussie version of Cold Stone...

I was anxious to see if we liked the painting as much as we did a couple days earlier, and we did. We committed and bought our first piece of real artwork! We can't wait to see what it looks like in our house.

We bought a small Cold Rock and continued on to the beach. The beach was lovely. We were so glad that the Murray's came with us. The girls stayed on the beach while the boys caught waves in the ocean. We got lunch, chatted, and enjoyed the beautiful day!

 Showing off our new Aussie boardies.

After too much sun, we headed home for yet another delicious meal from Terri...chicken pie! That night we visited with the family for a while since it was our last night. They were probably glad to get us out of there, but we didn't want to leave! Everything had been wonderful. The Murrays were fabulous hosts and had become even better friends. We hated to say goodbye! We told them all that they better come to the states soon so that we could repay the favor.

Before bed, we ran to an old friend's house… Aaronn Skewes. Conner served in his ward when he was on his mission in Perth. Aaron has since been on a mission and gotten married in the temple. It was fun to meet him and his wife but we couldn't stay long since we had to fly out in the morning.

Tuesday

The next morning we said a few last goodbyes, packed up, and headed to the airport. We were glad when we finally got to the airport safely… Not sure if Conner had become too comfortable driving on the opposite side, but he pulled out into the wrong side of the road two different times on the way there! We were glad to turn in the rental car and be in one piece. We boarded the plane for Sydney!

We got our first glimpse of the city when we rode in on the train. It was beautiful. Sydney Harbour is breathtaking!

We would be staying with Az, his wife and their two kids in Manly… Just a short ferry ride from Sydney. Az was kind enough to meet us at the wharf. Boy it was a good to see him! He walked us just around the corner to a house that his dad owns in Manly, we met the kids, said hello to his wife Hannah, and ran to grab some dinner since we hadn't eaten all day. We ate a lovely Mexican meal right across the street from Manly Beach. We grabbed some groceries on the way home, then headed back to chat with Az and Hannah before we went to bed. We had a big day tomorrow…the Sydney Opera house!