Bonnie has made some really close friends here in Australia. A few of here pet Kangaroo's are grazing near our flat in Perth, and yes, her very best friend, a large spider that has set up house keeping on the fence next to our garage. She will not get out of the car when I park to close to the fence.

While we were in Busselton fixing a problem with a dirty flat, in order to eliminate a breach of contract on one of our flats, we decided to go on to Albany and inspect a flat there and then locate a second flat needed for the big intake of missionaries in March 2013. While in Albany we visited a place called The Gap, on the southwest coast of Australia. The ocean comes ashore and knocks heads with the granite rock in this area. This part of Australia was joined to Antarctica many thousands of years ago. They can tell by the similar granite rock here and on Antarctica's north shore. 

Boys will be boys, Elder Lane and I enjoy a good car show. We were walking along the Swan River near the Lane's flat and run into a MGB and Rolls Royce car club having an evening outing. We took a few pictures and dreamed a little. We did not covet!

Australia celebrates its birthday in late January. It's like the 4th of July in the United States. We went to Kings Park and spent most of the day with a picnic, an airshow which lasted most of the afternoon, and fireworks after dark. It was a fun day spent with Elder and Sister Marsden and Elder and Sister Lane.

Black Swans live in many areas of Australia as they do on Lake Monger right in the middle of Perth. We often go for an evening walk around Lake Monger and got some closeup photos of the Black Swans.

I went down to Bunbury to fix a sprinkler system, or reticulation system as they are called in Down Under, and was working in the shade on the side of the house and saw this little creature. I thought it was a snake at first and went in to tell the young elders about it. They laughed when they saw it and immediately picked it up. It is a long thin lizard with very small legs. Must be my age, getting hard of seeing!

It was hard to believe that it was Christmas.  As they said here, it was our first hot Christmas.  It was different to celebrate it in summer.

On December 15th we had our Senior Missionaries Conference.  President and Sister Lindsay hosted it for us.  Those that attended were Elder and Sister Marsden, Elder and Sister Warrack, Elder and Sister Lane, Sister Marks and of course ourselves.  We left early Saturday morning and drove to the marina to catch the boat over to Rottnest Island just 25 miles off the coast in the beautiful Indian Ocean.  We had a wonderful day enjoying the sights and each others company.  In the early 1900s they kept prisoners on the island.  There were lots of these small animals that look like miniature kangaroos, they are called quokkas. The bathing beauties from left to right are Sister Lindsay, Marks, Neeley, Marsden, and to add real beauty Elder Marsden!

Our first Christmas came after one year in the missionfield. We celebrated in many ways, and one of the most special events was with our dear friend Sister Anne Bell from Geraldton. She invited us to dine with her family at a favorite restaurant here in Perth Australia. Some family pictures.

Each continent has its own version of a Christmas tree. Here is Australia's Christmas tree. We were told that the reason it is called the Christmas tree is because it blooms around Christmas time.