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.