Our dear Sister Bell from Geraldton has wanted to ensure we had the proper Thanksgiving celebration here in down under. They do not celebrate Thanksgiving here, but she was aware of how we love this holiday and did not want to have us miss such an important day. Her son lives here in Perth and so she made all the arrangement, including the cooking of the turkey and all the trimmings and we celebrated Thanksgiving. We love you Sister Bell!!!

Here we are in the big city. Perth is indeed a beautiful place situated on the Swan River next to the Indian Ocean. The city is full of large parks and lakes and miles and miles of bicycle and walking paths. Here is a few pictures of downtown Perth and Kings Park area.

I wanted to include these two pictures which remind us of our time in Geraldton. We often took our morning walk along the Foreshore which runs through the downtown area and past the visitors center and harbor. It has some fond memories which we will remember for many years.

 

Three days after our arrival in Perth it was a day to celebrate Grandpa Dave's number 66. Has it been that long? Our good friends the Lanes who are serving here from Queensland were also in town and it just happens that Elder Lane and I share the same birthday. What a celebration we had!

On our way to Perth we took the inland route to see some country side we hadn't seen before. The ride included a one lane paved road with wide gravel shoulders. You drove on the pavements until you saw someone coming in the other direction and then two wheels on the pavement and two off. The country side is beautiful in its own way, but you must remember that most of Australia's west is a desert.

All good things come to an end, but the memories will always live on. Our stay in Geraldton ended on October 2nd and our little branch that we came to know and love had a surprise family home evening for us in the Williams home. We left excited about our new responsibility in the mission office, but with an empty feeling for the Geraldton branch in this far away part of the earth. We will love each one and miss them always.

A favorite thing for Sister Neeley was the weekly volunteer activity she took part in at a local state sponsored day care center. She made friends with all she worked with and they came to know her and the good name of our church. I'm not sure she loves me the most anymore. That young Auzzie man in the photo has stolen her heart I'm thinking.

A highlight of Elder Neeley's tenure as Young Mens President was the hopefully annual priesthood outing campout, sometimes called the Father and Son's campout. This event had not been happening in our small branch of Geraldton and so I planned and held this first event. We choose a beautiful beach setting just north of Geraldton and set up camp. It wasn't the usual High Priest prepare dinner, Elders prepare breakfast, or Brekky as they call it here; but we had great meals, a spiritual fireside with President Paewai speaking and all had a great time.

Occasionaly you see something unexpected. If you look carefully in the center of the picture you will see a waterspout coming down out of the clouds to the left and going all the way to the ocean surface. It is very thin and moved around for several minutes before going away. This was during one of our winter storms in Geraldton.

Australia has some of the most beautiful birds, much different than what we see in America. We occasionally take pictures. Many of the birds here are from the parrot family and the first picture is a bird they call a Galare which has a pink breast and gray back. Another is the Kookaburra which is difficult to catch and photograph. Attached is our attempt.

Not long after arriving in Geraldton we met by chance on our early morning walk a sweet lady named Vicki Laurizten who as is turned was our life saver in Geraldton. We soon walked together nearly every morning and had such grand chats together. She will always be close to the center of our hearts and she often did fun things for our grandchildren whom we talked about often. She has two and we have twenty grandchildren. Her and her husband Clyde will ever be parts of our lives.

Bonnie and her little band of sisters in the Geraldton Relief Society worked very hard to prepare blankets as a service to the Womens Shelter in Geraldton. Sister Bell was very instrumental in the start and completion of this worthwhile event.

Bonnie and I enjoyed a causual hike along the Greenough river near Geraldton. This is very near where the river empties into the Indian Ocean, but only on very wet years does it get high enough to spill over the sandy beach dam and into the ocean.

 

 

The winter months bring the brillant flowers and this one is no exception. It is growing on a bush on our back patio. And yes, one more spectacular Australian west coast sunset.

 

 

 

I had to include one more picture from the Shire Fair. It is entitled "An Australian Pony Ride"

The end of winter in Australia is like the end of summer at home. It is the time of Shire (County) fairs. Bro. Fry invited us out to his Shire Fair and volunteered us to help in the hamburger and sauage booth of one of the local schools. We did help for a while but found the sheep shearing contest and the old antique car show more interesting. I think Elder Neeley may have been coveting that nice MG roadster.

The end of winter brings out the wild flowers here in down under land. Sister Neeley and I went east, out into the BUSH, to find the elusive Wreath Flower. We drove about 15 miles on a dirt road into the bush and the only thing we discovered is that we were out there all alone. No Wreath Flowers this year, too dry, not enough rain last summer or this winter. Maybe next year? We did find an Australian lizard and a beautiful old Catholic church building in a town called Mullewa.

Our branch had the opportunity to host the United States Consulate to Western Australia. Her name is Aleisha Woodword and she brought along her younger sister who was here visiting from the United States. They are Mormons, both returned missionaries, and from the state of Washington and graduated from BYU Provo and BYU Rexburg. They come from a family of 12 children. Sister Aleisha speaks 4 languages and has a graduate degree from the United States War College. She brought along Ian Blaney who is a member of the Western Australia parliment and his wife. A great evening. Got a picture of Sister Neeley with Bro. Fry, our branch chief chef.

The Relief Society sponsored a talent show in our Geraldton Branch this past month. It really was a lot of fun and many talents were displayed. We had a wonderful meal to go along with all the talent and the branch had a great evening together. Our branch has a number of Islander families in it now, and when I say Islanders I mean people from Samoa, Tonga, Cooke Islands, and New Zealand or Moari people. They are all very talented. Even Elder Neeley showed off his Huka skills he learned from the Moari's.Thanks Sister Paewai for a lovely evening.

Kalbarri is about 70 miles north of Geraldton, sitting adjacent the India Ocean, it is a beautiful little spot. We took the Young Missionaries up there to see the dolphins, and the Grand Canyon of Western Australia, which is a national park in these parts. I like the Grand Canyon in Utah and Arizona better.

We drove out to Nanson to visit Brother Fry and plan a meal for the branch.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the visit and the drive.  It is winter and the fields and beautiful and green.  The canola fields are in bloom and it made for a beautiful day.  We love the pink and gray cockatoos.

The last Saturday in July we decided to go to Kalbarri to visit some members we hadn't seen yet.  We had a good visit with the two Peirce families. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed seeing the beaches and Mushroom Rock.

One of our Young Men, Jacob Spencer, turned 17 and we were invited to his home to celebrate his birthday.  His mom and dad love to cook and we are always in for a treat when we are invited to dinner there. 

Sunday July 8th we picked President and Sister Lindsay and their youngest son Robert at the airport. After seeing him behind his news casters desk for 30 years it was good to meet and shake his hand. He is taller than I thought he would be. What a great couple and we enjoyed them for the day and then put them back on the plane at 5 PM and off to Perth they went. They will see and interview all 160 missionaries in this mission in the first two weeks of their stay here. We most likely won't see alot of them because of our location but are glad to have them here. We will deeply miss President and Sister Smibert, who we come to love and appreciate in the short 6 months they were with us. One picture of the Geraldton missionaires with the President and his wife and son, and one picture of our Branch President and Sister Paewai with President and Sister Lindsay.

Our great Sister Bell did not forget her yankee friends on July 4th. When we arrived for our Old Testament class the class room had taken on the spirit of celebration. We had the lesson and then enjoyed the treats. Thank you Sister Bell-----Again and Again!

A land mark in Geraldton is the Yellow Submarine near the water front. Originally designed to be used in the shell fishing industry here, it never passed the safe test, mostly because of high levels of battery acid fumes inside the metal tub. And so it sets on it perch near the sea for old men to stand next to and get their picture taken.

Another old homestead called Oakabella is just about 25 mile north of Geraldton and is on the cruise ship itinerary. We decided to visit it on our last P-Day and took the young elders with us. It is sappose to be haunted and sits in a little valley just off the north coast highway. Bro. Fry had told us about Loretta who is the tour guide and she has done a fantastic job over the last 17 years of restoration. We didn't noticed any spooks! Loretta said they are here and she shared some heart stopping tales.