Queenstown, New Zealand

Sunday, February 5: Well, we found out that the church is true. Sunday morning we woke up early (for us, 8 AM is early,) showered, checked out of the campground, and caught a bus to Frankton where the Queenstown branch meets in a tiny but functional building. We were a couple of minutes late, so the meeting had already started, but we left our packs outside and snuck in to the back of the small room that sacrament meeting was being held in. There were probably about 20-25 of us there, and at least 6 of us were visitors. They said that was a pretty standard turn out for the Queenstown branch. It was really great to be there. It was fast and testimony meeting so we were able to get to know some of the members from their testimonies. One girl who was probably around 20 was the Y/W President, her 18 year old sister was her counselor and their 16 year old sister was their only young woman. That would make for an interesting Mutual activity. It was a really feel-good meeting with very faithful and humble members. We stuck around for sunday school and relief society/priesthood so I thought we were going to attend our first 3 hour block of church since our vacation began, but it turns out small branches only meet for 2 1/2 hours. Ha. So we didn't get the three hours in, but we did attend all of our meetings.

So after church Clark talked to the counselor in the branch presidency, Mark Scott, about some advice on where to camp and what to see. So Brother Scott told us that he would give us a ride out to a beautiful place and we could stay there if we wanted or we could just look around. We didn't want to intrude or be a burden, but he insisted that he had nothing to do until 8 when he needed to pick his wife up from work. (The story about his wife is to come, and it's a good one so I would keep reading if I were you.) We mentioned that we needed to buy a camera the next day and wondered if he could recommend a good place to do that. He said we wouldn't want to see Glenorchy (the place he was taking us) without a camera, so he took us to a shopping center where we got our new camera that we are going to glue to ourselves so we don't lose it. We stopped at Brother Scott's house for about a half hour to charge the camera and he showed us a website he has created. He is a cement truck driver by trade, but is hoping that in a few years he will be able to retire and his website will fund his retirement. His site is about Queenstown and everything it has to offer. We ended up booking our bungy jump though his website a few days later, so he made a few bucks off our jump.

After our camera battery had enough juice we hopped into his campervan and started driving along Lake Wakatipu towards Glenorchy which is a tiny town at the head of the lake about 45 minutes North-West of Queenstown. The drive itself was so beautiful. We stopped at several lookouts to take photos. Lake Wakatipu is so clear that its color is determined by the color of the sky. So on a really clear day, especially in the morning the lake is unbelievably blue. Here are a few photos from our drive to Glenorchy.

All these photos look the same but they are all so beautiful, I couldn't narrow it down.

The amazing thing was that there were no ski boats on the lake. Ever. Even on the weekends. It was so weird and such a shame to see a lake with perfectly smooth water and no ski boats. And it doesn't even cost to launch your boat!

You can see how clear the water is. We were probably about 150 feet away from the water and you can count the rocks until it drops off. Some parts of the lake are up to 420 meters deep. Thats 1380 feet deep! Its almost eerie how clear the water is with a lake that deep.

As soon as we arrived in Glenorchy we were leaving it again. Thats how small the town is. We stopped at the head of the lake where the river feeds it and enjoyed the view from the jetty.

After we looked around for a minute we carried on past Glenorchy and then it really started to look like The Lord of the Rings. They actually did shoot some of the first movie just a few miles down the road. I'll let the photos speak for themselves even though they don't capture the grandeur of the mountains and the true turquoise of the river.

There were heaps of sheep (picking up on the lingo)

Beautiful forest where we could have and would have camped if we had more food on us, but we didn't want to make Brother Scott drive us back to Glenorchy to load up. We didn't realize how beautiful it was going to be. 

This is the back of Brother Scott's head. At church I thought he just had bead head, but after our drive I realized is was from driving his camper van with the window down.

The campervan.
 There are hundreds of these vans all over Queenstown, mostly driven by tourists who have hired them for their vacation. But they are far more accessible than they are in the states. Loads of people own their own like Brother Scott, and use them to see New Zealand. Americans need to learn a lesson from the rest of the world and learn how to enjoy and make time for travel.

Look at that river! It was unreal. Brother Scott said there are usually dozens of huge trout hanging around in this pool area but we couldn't see any. He then became determined to find the trout and stopped at about three other spots to look for them. We didn't complain because it meant we were able to see more scenery.

The forest floor was covered in bright and pale green moss.

The swing bridge that crossed the river into the forest. It was surprisingly unstable. 

The water was so clear that Clark couldn't help himself. Then a couple that were sitting near the river scared him with stories of birds pooping up stream and microscopic bugs. But Brother Scott reassured him that it was ok and he's still alive, so the water is as pure as it looks. 

This is to prove how clear the water was and/or how good our camera is. We were probably 30 feet above the river and you can see the spots on the side of this trout. Brother Scott finally found them, but he said they are usually three times the size of this one. 

Unreal, right? 

Can't you just see Gandalf wading across this river? Well he probably did?

 The pictures really don't do justice to the places we saw. Clark declared it the most beautiful place he'd ever been, and I'd second that. It was breathtaking and walking around out there really makes you forget about the rest of the world. It's just you, nature, and God (and the few backpackers wondering around.) It really was painful heading back to Queenstown because we knew it will probably be years before we will have a chance to see it again. No one should live life without seeing this with their own eyes. Have I talked you into it yet?

Nevis Bungy Jump

 We just did the Nevis Bungy jump. It was AMAZING!! I meant to record Clark's jump but because I'm not used to our new camera yet, and because he went first, it happened a lot faster than we were both expecting and it missed it. So we bought the photos instead. 134 meters! For those of us who are American and don't know how far of a drop that is, it's 439.632545937585 Feet! It is New Zealand's highest jump and it was so fun. Such a rush

This is my favorite. He's so cute

Sheer Terror, and then they basically count to three and push you over the edge

the third post

Tuesday, January 31: (this is by Clark) Because the forecast for Sydney was rain everyday for the next few weeks, we decided to go where it is sunny. So we booked a ticket to Christchurch, New Zealand which is on the south island, then we would just work our way up to Auckland and fly out from there in a couple weeks.  We spent the morning packing up and then got a ride to the station and hopped on a train to the airport. Its pretty easy, its faster and cheaper than driving there. We got to the line to check into JetStar airlines for our flight to find out why it is so cheap. Waited in line forever : to be greeted by people who hate their jobs, charged us $160 for oversized baggage, had our multi tool taken away, waited at an empty gate for a delayed flight, and didn't even get an offer for a ginger-ale on the plane. Awesome stuff, and we get to fly with them at least two more times - can't wait. Arrived in Christchurch a little after midnight feeling pretty tired and anxious. We asked a lady at the info desk the best way to get to our room for the night and she said to either ride a taxi or a shuttle, whichever would be cheaper. Really nice lady. Went outside and taxi's greeted us and we asked about how much and they actually gave us an honest answer and said the shuttle would be cheaper. Really nice guys. Shuttle guy quickly called back a shuttle that had already headed in the direction we needed to go, and they turned around to come pick us up. Really nice guy. Shuttle driver lady told all kinds of jokes and was very considerate. Really nice lady. Stayed in a sweet little cabin type room with just a bed and TV, and down a little bit was big communal showers and toilets. It was actually really clean and nice, and we were glad to be there.

Wednesday, February 1: (Clark) In the morning I went to go check out and the lady asked what our plans were and I just said we wanted to go downtown for the day. She gave me great directions and a detailed map to the bus station and gave me some pointers for what to see in town (even showed me a box with all kinds of free stuff that other backpackers had left in order to get through security and I scored a free can of propane and some soup). Really nice lady. Got on a bus and headed to town, started to talking to an older couple about the earthquakes and what to do in town and they were happy to tell us all about it. Chatted with them all the way into town, and then they invited us to come watch the protest that was forming right outside our bus stop in front of the city council building. Really nice couple. Within a few minutes it all started with speakers and special guests making rousing comments to rally the citizens of Christchurch (it wasn't hard). Within a few minutes it was clear we were not sure what was going on, either because of the packs were were carrying or that we weren't shouting back or carrying picket signs, and a few people stopped to explain what they were doing. Here is a link to the paper to explain what it was all about (we were just barely out of the picture!). A young couple who were not taking it too seriously stayed right by us to explain who everyone was, and what the crowd kept yelling back. It was really funny and cool to be there. He even told us that this would probably be the best thing we would see in Christchurch, since everything else had been destroyed. He found out we were from Utah and instantly asked if we were Mormons and seemed entertained by that for some reason and we kind of became buddies, I think. We really liked him at least. The crowd numbered a couple thousand and was very peaceful and productive I would say - but I don't know anything. We headed out to find some food and wi-fi at a cafe right next to the YMCA. We ran into some american college students from seattle who gave us some advice on things to see and stay. They were pretty cool, and we actually booked a room there (I didn't know YMCA had rooms). We spent the rest of the day just wandering around and hanging out at the bus station, for internet, that was really nicely made out of a big shipping crate. It was pretty nuts to see the incredible damage the quake caused. It literally destroyed downtown, and they recently built a temporary new one - out of shipping crates! Shockingly, you can make a really really awesome little shopping mall out of them and a bunch of good paint. It looked very modern and permanent. We were way impressed - check out some of the pictures and video of the mall. We felt like we were in a ghost town around some of the streets because there were just entire strip malls abandoned and fenced off. Glass was all over the place, a year later, and any building above two stories was wrapped in scaffolding. Walking past one bed and breakfast we read a sign on the door that said "closed due to earthquake - we have no idea when we will reopen".  Helped me to realized how devastating something like that can be, and how ignorant I am about news around the world. I vaguely remember hearing about the big one last year, but they have been having smaller quakes nearly every day since, and I had no idea. Its crazy.
This is off topic completely, but I have realized lately how I hardly read the paper, and if I do it is just the USA Today on my phone every once in a while. There are loads of stories about bombings, natural disasters, and world politics (Australians honestly know more about our elections than I do - I discovered that in an embarrassing way) in it everyday and I just skip over them 90% of the time. On a boring day I might read the headline and think - hmm, thats a bummer. I know I am a bad guy but its true. I just keep scrolling down until I see something related to me, like breaking news in the NBA or something 'important' right? Hopefully, and I want to start trying, I can begin taking more of an interest in what's going on in the world and give it a seconds thought. I think it might help me to be a better guy. Might. . . .    
We bought some cheap sushi rolls at 5 when they were closing up shop, and headed back to the hotel room where we watched some TV about US politics and some great re-runs of Whose Line Is It Anyway and went to bed pretty happy. (Also we watched an episode of this British show called QI ? It was awesome. I just wanted to remind myself of it so I can watch more later)

Thursday, February 2: (Michelle) We are getting so close to being caught up! So Thursday morning we woke up early and caught our shuttle bus that we booked to Queenstown. It was one of those really nice  Mercedes shuttle vans so it ended up being quite comfortable. We had nice drivers (they switched out at a couple stops) and Clark and I had 3 seats to ourselves so we could lay down and sleep some. It took 7 hours including all of the potty and lunch breaks, but it went by really fast and the Dramamine kept us both motion sick free. With the way our drivers were taking the sharp turns and breaking only when absolutely necessary, I'm so glad we remembered to take some. The drive actually looked exactly like we were driving through Utah or Idaho but with a lot more sheep. We kept waiting for it to turn into New Zealand but it wasn't happening. Finally, as we started getting closer to Queenstown, we saw this bright turquoise river flowing along side the road. It was gorgeous. Then things started turning more and more green and the mountains were getting steeper and steeper. We weren't quite sure what we were expecting, Lord of the Rings, I guess. But Queenstown actually reminds me a lot of Utah. Its actually a lot like Park City, in the town with the shops and really nice landscaping and stuff. The temperature is perfect, no humidity, no bugs at all, beautiful clear giant blue glacier lake, all surrounded by mountains. (Tag- Clark) Its inhabitants are probably 90% tourists from all over the world, not just asia! (no offense to our asian readers) As we were trying to get situated and organized michelle went into an information centre and left me outside with all of our packs and belongings. It was really hot and so i put everything down to take my jacket off. I took our camera out of my breast pocket, put it on a railng and took the jacket off. Michelle came out a second later with a map so we packed up and headed to our campground. I realized a few minutes later I left the camera sitting all alone, so I dropped everything and sprinted down there and the camera was gone. Bummer. Big one. This is why we might not have pictures of everything the past few days, but we have managed by taking mental pictures and doing a few sketches. 
The campground is really really nice. There is a range of ways to stay: in an apartment, in a hotel'ish type room, camper spots, or plots of grass to pitch a tent or park a car. It is pretty full of all the above, but it feels more like a community than anything else. All of the buildings and bathrooms, which are equipped with showers, are very new. They are modern and well maintained. There is a huge dining hall full of tables and chairs and about 15 sinks and close to ten stove tops, ovens, microwaves, and a fridge. It is cool to go there at meal times and see it slammed with all kinds of different people cooking surprisingly gourmet meals. It smells delicious! A lot more delicious than the PBJ's that are becoming our staple. Seriously we have learned a thing or two about how to travel in cheap style. It is shamefully clear that we are novice campers compared to most of the people here, and once again they seem to come from all around the world. We get wi-fi for ten dollars a day and have been using that (right now) to do the blog and organize our trip and take care of things back home. 
We decided to catch a bus out of town, on the advice of the several people in town, to look for a camera. We reached a nice shopping centre and of course they were all closing up. We will never learn! The only thing we were able to do was go and buy a some more sandwich stuff from a grocery store and then pay the 12 bucks to go right back. ($24 to drive maybe 4 or 5 miles. . . ) Once we got back to the camp we started talking and realized we were both stressing a bit and not having as much fun as we would like. We weren't loving being in NZ and that was bothering us. After a while we did some investigating and thinking and discovered the idea of hitch-hiking all the way up the south island and up most of the north island, with what remains of our budget for the month, would not be easy or relaxing at all. It would have been a challenge and very memorable, but we admitted to the fact that it would not be the dream 'vacay' we had in mind. So we booked an inexpensive flight to auckland next week (which will be cheaper than the ferry at $100 each, let alone hitch-hiking for two weeks) and decided to just book a couple more nights at this sweet camp paradise and hang around here. Instantly we felt 100% better about the trip and the stress was gone! . .  minus the camera bit. 


Friday, February 3: We have officially been in the southern hemisphere 2 weeks. Time is actually going by very slowly, which is great. Can't believe it has only been that long, because it seems like we have done a lot. We woke up and worked on organizing a few things, getting in touch with some people and working on this damn thing! (sorry, but its not a swear down here) We took a break at lunch and walked down to the water and just sat on the beach for a while. Right about here. . . the girl in the bikini is michelle and one of the guys baking is me. (Pretend we took this picture, remember we dont have a camera)

Went for a swim and then walked around and looked at all of the little booths visiting artists and vendors had set up. We sat on the grass and listened to a band that was playing and then watched a magician do a show. Later that night we went back home and made some sandwiches on paper thin bread with extremely crunchy peanut butter and gourmet jam. We like it here. 


Saturday, February 4: Had a nice sleep in today, and did some stuff on the internet this morning. It is starting to get depressing sitting around all the smells and awesome looking breakfasts people are magically preparing while we eat sandwiches. In an attempt to save money we are vicariously enjoying their meals with them. Its like in the movie Hook, where they sit around and imagine a colorful feast and then eat it. If it worked for them, maybe it will work for us. I did go and get another loaf of bread while michelle blogged for a while and it turned out to be 10 times better than the last and the sandwiches actually tasted really good, and it might be because I didn't use this loaf as a pillow yet. . . (enough about our sandwiches eh?) We walked around downtown again, and roamed around the coast to a sweet spot full of perfect skipping rocks. I mean Perfect! We skipped rocks for a while, until our arms got sore, then had skipping contests with our left hands. Michelle won - easy. We read some books and played some cards until it started to get dark, then headed back. I watched some rugby in the TV lounge and Michelle made some food as we took turns writing. Now here we are. . . completely caught up and feeling good. We are heading to a little branch tomorrow for church and HOPEFULLY meet someone who will be as friendly as the rest of the people here have been and offer us a place to stay, because we have no more nights left at Lakeview Holiday Park. Hopefully. If not we will leave the church for good and look for a more 'christian' one. 

The Second Post

So I've been piecing this thing together for the past week or so, it takes a lot of time and it's usually not the first thing I want to do. So sorry its been so long for the few who care. And just a few things about this post, I (Michelle) wrote most of it, but Clark helped out and did a few days, but wrote it as if he were me, so that may be confusing, hopefully not. Also the internet that I've been using wont allow me to upload any photos, so the second half of the post doesn't have any, so you can quit reading once the pictures stop if you'd like. I'm not sure why the font keeps changing throughout the post so if anyone who is blog savvy has an easy solution let me know. Also I'm still about 5 days behind and I'm still working, but a quick update for the parents... We are in Queenstown NZ where we have been camping since Thursday, (it is now Saturday Feb. 4, I think we are about 19 or 20 hours ahead here.) We will be in Queenstown until the 9th when we fly to Auckland until the 17th. We then fly to the Gold Coast, Australia and make our way back down to Sydney and will probably fly home the first week of March. We are running out of money quickly so we are on a very tight budget and hopefully we don't run out before we make it home. haha. Also our camera was lost/stolen. Huge bummer, but luckily we only lost a few days worth of pictures because I'd loaded most onto the computer. More details about the camera to come. Love you all!


And once again, there is a lot of info in this thing, and I wouldn't want to read it all if I were not the one experiencing it. It is mostly for Clark and me to remember our trip, but feel free to read it all if you have that kind of time on your hands.


So Monday, January 23: We were going to go to the beach but because we haven't had a day without rain since we got here we just did a few things in the city. We went to the Queen Victoria Building which was beautiful. It is just a historic shopping center that has beautiful tile mosaics everywhere and immaculate chandeliers. The shops were all our of our price range so we just walked around and then continued on walking through the city.

Queen Victoria Building

We went to Hyde Park after that which is just like a mini central park. There was a guy there playing a keyboard and we sat in the park long enough to hear him loop through all of his songs. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon watching the funny long legged, long beaked birds peck around and beg for food. Clark wanted me to include that we did not drink Lime Fanta because it does not exist in Australia anymore. It used to be his favorite drink here and now he cant find it anywhere. We did have some Lemon-Lime Solo which he discovered is equally as good. 

That evening we had dinner with the Barrs. Genny made Bulgogi, a delicious Korean dish with "Peaches Down Under" for dessert (canned peaches, sour cream, and lots of brown sugar and cinnamon, baked.) 

For those who do not know the Barrs, first off, you are missing out on knowing the best two people in the world. We could have spent the whole time our entire time in sydney just spending time with them. Unfortunately they work in the temple everyday so we couldn't, but we did spend a lot more time with them than I thought we would. More than a few times Clark and I were faced with the decision of staying in the city or going home for dinner with the Barrs, and more often than not we went home for dinner. Dinner would last two or three hours each time because none of us could stop talking. Anyway, Clark and I have a new set of grandparents and I'll try to include throughout this post what makes them so wonderful. 

Tuesday, January 24: We hadn't had a day without rain since we arrived in Sydney and Tuesday was no different. However, we decided we'd been in Australia for too long without going to the beach. So, we headed to Circular Quay (where all the ferry's and boats leave the harbor) and jumped on a ferry to Manly Beach. We walked around the shops on the wharf (mostly window shopping because everything is about twice as expensive here,) had fish and chips, and Copenhagen ice cream. 

There's something about the beach that just makes me feel happy. The moist air, the sound of the waives crashing, the sand, the people watching, I love being at the beach. After Manly we took a spectacular ferry ride back to Circular Quay. The view of the city from that side is beautiful here are a few photos.

A ferry like the one we took the photo from

Fish and chips at Manly Beach

We took another ferry over to Darling Harbor and walked around the harbor admiring all of the water front restaurants that we couldn't afford, then settled for burgers in the nearby mall. Once we decided to head back to Carlingford we realized that the bus that takes us home from the Epping train station wouldn't be running and Genny and Peter would be asleep. So we took the train to the Carlingford station which is closer to the Barr's house, but we have to walk home from it. There's also something about walking in a summer rain late at night that makes me happy.

Everyone we've talked to here in Sydney says what an unusually wet summer they're having and that it's too bad we're here for it, but I haven't even minded the rain. It's been hot enough that when it rains it just feels refreshing.

Lego Poseidon 

The city at night

The Opera House

Wednesday, January 25: Wednesday we spent some time catching up with a couple of families Clark knew while he lived here. First we met up with the Chalkes at Carlingford Court. Clark was really good friends with a few of the Chalke kids, Brad, Emma, and Daniel. They lived in the same ward and only a few blocks away from the Walkers. Brad who was Clarks same age lives in Perth now with his wife so we weren't able to see him, but we had lunch with Emma (the oldest Chalke) and her three kids Zeke, Kira, and Neve. Monica Chalke (the mother) Aimee, Harry, Benjamin, Nathan, and Ammon (the youngest daughter and four youngest boys of nine children.) I'd heard so much about the Chalke family so it was so fun to finally meet them all and be able to put faces to their names. After lunch Clark and I tagged along with them to Costco where we had dozens of free samples, bought two beach towels, a giant jar of Jelly Bellys, and a box of 72 Cadbury Koala Caramels.

Unfortunately we forgot to take any pictures all day, but If we meet up with the Chalks again, I'll include some pictures of them. 

After Costco we had plans for dinner with the Vinson family. Brother Vinson was another one of Clark's Dad's counselors while he was Mission President. Now he is the Area Seventy in Sydney. So he came and picked us up from the Chalkes and took us out to his beautiful home for some real, home-cooked Aussie burgers. Aussie burgers are different in that they have beet root, pineapple and a fried egg on them, and it turns out to make a delicious combination of flavors. It was one of the best burgers I'd ever had actually. The Vinson's house is on 4 acres of land in the country, completely secluded, and surrounded by beautiful trees and greenery. We loved their home and Clark really loved Brother Vinson's Renault Monaco GT. It was really fun to get to know the Vinson's and the Chalks. Everyone I've met here in Australia has instantly made me feel at home and been so great to get to know. No pictures at the Vinsons either.

After Brother Vinson dropped us off at home, Genny, Peter, Clark and I busted out the Jelly Bellys and sat around the kitchen table for about an hour playing "name that Jelly Belly." It all started when Genny told us that Peter eats Jelly Bellys by taking a handful and tossing them all into his mouth, and we all agreed that was unacceptable. So we introduced Peter to the joy of eating Jelly Bellys the correct way. We were all laughing and really getting into it. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful day. 

Bus Stop

Entertaining ourselves while waiting for the bus

Really long escalator 

Thursday, January 26: January 26th is Australia Day. The day the Australians celebrate the first settlements of the country. We went into town to join the wet celebration. There were stages set up all around with music and entertainment, people wheeling around decorated garbage bins that were playing music (I didn't quite grasp the concept there,) risqué girls and meat heads lining up for a booze cruize, and all the other things that you would expect to see on Australia Day. I imagine a lot of events were rained out and not as many people showed up because of that, but it was still fun to walk around and people watch. 

People were pushing these "rubbish bins" all over the city and they played music. Weird but cool.

Everyone trying to stay dry while listening to a musician

Clark sporting the ponytail. He said it was purely for convenience (it was windy) not looks. I like it.

Clark looking longingly at the booze cruise

We then chose once again to join Peter and Genny for dinner. Their son Adam has actually been staying with them for a few days for some work training in Sydney and he made his famous prawn pasta. So good. Adam has been fun to get to know as well. Once again we sat around the table for a couple of hours chatting then ending the night with some Australian Open viewing. Clark and I would have loved to go down to Melbourne where the Open was being played, but once again, we are on a tight budget so that quickly became out of the question when we looked up ticket prices. But at least Clark got to watch the matches at a decent hour and not in the middle of the night or replayed the next day.

Friday, January 27: Had a bit of a sleep in today, after staying up late to watch Federrer lose (clark was bummed). The bus/train/ferry pass that we bought when we arrived at the airport expired today, so when we were planning on going to the city, we realized that it would be expensive and not worth buying another because we would not be here for a week. So plan B was to catch a bus to Castle Towers, a HUGE shopping mall which is not too far away. Our strategy to get there was to just hop on a bus that was headed in the right direction and ask the bus driver for advice. It has worked well for us so far and did not fail us today either. After getting off one bus and trying forever to cross a busy street (no cross walk or intersection in sight), we dashed across in front of a turning car, that we thought saw us but must not have, and Clark had to put his hand on the hood and jump over half of it so he didn't get run over. In the end we made it to the next bus stop and onto the correct bus which took us right where we wanted to go. The bus system is really pretty good here, they come and go all the time and lots of people take advantage of them. Even the kids ride them to and from school so you get to see all the colorful uniforms they have to wear. Some of them are nice, but others look really miserable to wear all day.  We spent the whole afternoon walking around "not-shopping" (don't have money or the room to blow on souvenirs and stuff). We actually did buy a few things, but we just walk around the stores and browse. Everything is really expensive here - clothes especially. Shirts and pants are at least double what you would pay at home and it seems like they don't have cheap stores like forever 21 and H and M, where you can get good deals. It's just all expensive here, or "dear" as they call it (so sorry if we don't bring back lots of cool shirts and souvey's for the family and stuff). The other thing about the stores and shops here is that they all close at 5 o'clock. Unless you are a grocery store, which close promptly at 9, or a restaurant you close at 5 no matter what. Which stinks for tourist's like us. 
We were supposed to meet up with some more friends, Caylee and Dan and their two kids at 7 for dinner, but the shops were all closed so we decided to just go and see Sherlock Holmes 2 in the theatre (great movie), kind of lame to see movies on vacation, but pretty nice too other than the price, 18 bucks a pop. Luckily the lady accepted our student IDs and we got in for $15 each.
 After, we had dinner with the Archibald's at a mexican place and then all went to a chocolate restaurant (Max Brenner's?) where they sell strictly chocolate dishes. It was awesome. Clark got a chocolate brownie and ice cream covered with melted milk and dark chocolate and I got a cupcake with ice cream drizzled with chocolate, then we shared a "chocolate lick" which is simply a little cup of melted milk chocolate. It was really fun for me to meet Caylee and Dan and their adorable girls, Georgia and Dillan, and for Clark to reminisce and catch up. We ended the night hitching a ride with Caylee and then headed home in a bit of a chocolate coma to fall asleep on the couch watching some more tennis. Not bad at all. 

AMAZING!!

Clark, Dillin, Caylee, Dan Georgia

Saturday, January 28: We went to do a session in the Sydney Temple today. It was great to see the Barr's in their "real home". It is a beautiful temple, a bit smaller than most, but really nice. We enjoyed it and it was good to say we went into the blue roofed temple. We had planned to head up to the central coast with the Barr's this weekend, and they had been invited go to a baptism and a few chinese new year celebrations so we just tagged along. The baptism was in Greenwich (close to the city) and was  really nice, it was a tiny chinese girl whose husband joined the church a couple of years ago but she had two years worth of questions before she would commit to it. After two years of investigating you meet a lot of people, and it seems like each of them came. Her husband got up and played "I like to look for rainbows" and sang along on his guitar, and I am sure mostly everyone cried. Then she and her friend sang a song, her husband and herself bore their testimonies, and ended with some short talks from the bishop and mission president. Once again, mostly everyone was crying. Clark also ran into a missionary that was in Sydney while his family was, who actually is from Centerville. He moved back for a job, and so it was an interesting place to meet up with him (Josiah Smith). 


Next we headed to Ryde, where several chinese families had gotten together to celebrate, they were not very close to eating and we had to go, so they taught us how to make dumplings and then we were on our way to Mortdale for the big celebration. When we got there, we saw chinese decorations all over the place. Hanging from the ceiling and lining all of the walls. Special Guests, like Pres. Barr, were all given chinese tops to wear and then the food was served. They easily fed two hundred people and there was plenty to go around. All very authentic. . . a little too authentic for us unfortunately. Some was very good, but most of it all had a oily fishy taste - Clark and I both looked at each other and said, "Man, I love Panda Express."After dinner there were lots of shows and dances, including the big "Dragon" costume! (It was actually a tiger, but it was the year of the Dragon so it must have been on sale - we all just went along with it) There was a magic show done by the man who works in the temple with the Barr's who had invited us to come. It was actually really good! The best part was that he kept on glancing over at the Barrs, like a proud son. It was adorable. Turned out to be an awesome night, and instead of heading straight up to the coast, we just slept at home and headed out early the next morning. Fine by us. 

Peter and Genney with Brother Fung and the two missionaries who were in the dragon costume

We spent probably ten minutes taking photos with these two girls. They couldn't get enough of it.

Sunday, January 29: We woke up early and drove up to the Central Coast. Didn't stay awake the whole time unfortunately, but we we did see was good looking. Got to Toukley for church where the Barr's spoke. A little history on the Barrs and Toukley - he was called to Bishop at 26, only a handful of years after he was baptized. Then right after that he was called as the Stake President, then the stake split and he was called to be the president again of the new northern stake. Then served in pretty much every mission presidency until he went to be one himself in the Baltic Mission (where he was born) and when he got back within a few weeks was called to be Bishop again, then released, and called to be Temple recorder for a couple years (driving back and forth at least 3 times a week), and then Temple President a three year calling that required them to move down to sydney.  The man has served. I think only Pres. Monson can trump Peter Barr when it comes to hours logged for the man upstairs. Now back to the church story, needless to say Everyone LOVES these guys there and everyone was extremely friendly, which was really nice, but because the Barr's were up on the stand they probably all assumed we were there by ourselves. Investigating or something. . who knows. Or maybe they are just that friendly. After the meeting a few people would comment, "thats the Temple Pres. and his wife, aren't they great?" or, "They are the Barrs and they take care of the Temple, they are the best people." Things like that. Little did they know, we already know how good they are. So after their talks, the Barrs said we needed to take off up to Newcastle to see Genney's mom. Once again we didnt ask questions when they said we would only be going to one hour of church. I guess you have earned the right to do that when you have served as much as they have. Right? 
We drove to Newcastle to see Genney's mom and her husband Nick. She was born in Poland and then taken to Germany during the war where she worked nearly to death and then finally moved to Australia as a refugee. She is this little old lady, stricken with arthritis, that has not stopped working for a second. We were warned but she made a huge lunch of homemade pasta sauce and spaghetti. After filling our bowls for us, heaping over the top, she insisted we keep eating for the next hour or two. It was delicious, but you can only eat so much spaghetti - it takes up a lot of room. After lunch we sat around the table and listened to Nick tell stories from his childhood. He was born and raised in Bomba Italy. He has a terribly thick and beautiful accent. It took a lot of energy to translate what he was saying into English, then from Australian to American. Hilarious man though, and wonderful stories about playing tricks on US soldiers, growing figs, his family's lack of money and how it was not a problem back then, and his move to Australia with 15 other Italian boys for a better future at the age of 18. With Genney's, Peter's, Nick's, and "Nan's" histories and childhood it made us both feel lucky, spoiled, jealous, inexperienced, sheltered, grateful, and full of admiration. Felt kind of lame just being from Utah. . .  in America. . . 
Anyway, it is hard to say enough nice things about those people. It was a great lunch. Nick formally invited us to come and live in their untouched upstairs, which is fully furnished and beautiful. He built the house and have only lived in the bottom floor because of age and health. We both would do it in a heartbeat. 
We spent the rest of the day on a tour of the beaches of Newcastle and the Central Coast. We went to Nobby's Lighthouse, where we walked about a half mile out to a beautiful light house and watched huge container ships line up for miles, all waiting for sometimes months for their turn to come into port and get loaded up. There were about 15 wind surfers and kite boarders going all around and there was the coolest little beach strictly used for dogs. It was full of about 30 owners and their dogs. We sat and watched for probably 30 minutes as all these different kinds of dogs interacted and played. It was so cool, but made us both miss Ronnie really really bad. We want to come and move to Newcastle! Clark said the whole time he was here in Australia it seemed like kind of a lame town with not much to offer. He was wrong. It is hip and cool. Beautiful beaches, tons of great places to eat and shop, and lots of good jobs, (sweet PWC in Newcastle Jordan!) but the doggy beach kind of sold us. 
Next we went  out to Jenny Dixon Reserve beach. It was amazing! I would say just look it up on Google Earth or something. It might be the perfect beach, and thats all I'll say. Then we went out to this huge field in the middle of nowhere, a little ways away from the beaches, (I guess it is a mental hospital all around it...?) and saw hundreds of Kangaroo. I guess they come out at dusk and you can just see tons of them! The Barrs brought along a little bread and we got to feed them out of our hands - even though signs say you shouldn't. They are so incredible. Some are tiny little guys, and others stand about 5 or 6 feet tall. Luckily they didn't all flock to us, but plenty did and there were friendly but still you could tell they are wild. It is hard to understand how cool kangaroo's are until you see them in person, jumping and moving, scooting around using their tails. That was awesome to see, and it feels like I saw an imaginary creature with my own eyes. The myth of the Kangaroo can be put to rest.
We went home and because we were still pretty full on spaghetti, we just sat around the kitchen table and at crackers and cheese that Genney pulled together. It was perfect, and delicious. Tasty nice cheese, with some Jatz crackers, with homemade fig jelly, sliced pickles and tomatoes. We sat and talked for ages, until bed time. But of course it was the Australian Open Final night and Clark and I sat and watched until we couldn't keep our eyes open, and it seemed like it was pretty much over. (of course it went on to be the longest grand slam final in history and considered probably the best in history. . . bummer)


Monday, January 30: Monday was another awesome day with the Barrs. We woke up and Clark went across the street with Peter to help a neighbor cut up a tree. After that we went to Soldier Beach, which is a 3 minute drive from the Barr's house, and had fruit salad and yogurt for breakfast. We had that for breakfast almost every morning while we were with the Barrs. We sat on a picnic table and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and nice breeze then walked down on the rocks and watched the waves crash. I think I could have sat on those rocks for hours watching the ocean. It was mesmerizing watching the waves crash then build up and crash again. I would imagine falling into the ocean and I realized I would have no chance of making it out again alive. The ocean is so powerful it's scary. We stayed there for a few hours just walking along the beach, soaking up our first really sunny day in Australia. All these beaches are really making me want to live near the ocean. 
We headed back to the house for lunch and had baked bean and cheese grilled sandwiches. So good. We ate out on the back patio under the grape vines and then Clark and I dipped our feet in their pool to cool down. It was nice needing a pool to cool down instead of the rain doing it for us. 
We then took off down the coast towards Sydney and made a few more stops along the way. First we stopped at a place called The Entrance just in time to see the daily pelican feed. The Entrance is just a touristy area where a lake meets the ocean and they feed the pelicans every day at 3:30. It was way sweet to see those things up close. They're huge and their beaks/pouches are crazy. The lady was throwing out fish that they would catch in their beaks, try to swallow them down sideways, and the fish would get stuck in the pouch, so the pelican would cough it back up, flip it around and try again. We could see the shape of the fish the whole time, it was weird and cool. So that was fun to see. Then the Barrs bought us ice cream cones and we headed down towards Terrigal Beach where we finally swam in the ocean. The waves were really big and strong so I didn't last long because I get freaked out after being tossed pretty good a few times in a row. But it was great to finally have a hot day to swim, get a sun tan, and eat some hot chip and tomato sauce sandwiches. Yes, Mcdonalds fries on a slice of bread with ketchup. Somehow it was delicious. 
We then finished the drive to Carlingford where the Barrs dropped us off at Caylee and Dan's house for a very good pasta dinner that Caylee made. Georgia tried on her new school uniform for us, (she's started kindergarten a couple days later) and we relaxed after our long day at the beaches. Caylee drove us home again and we ended up talking in the car for an hour or two. It was really fun to hear Clark and Caylee talk about all the funny things they did when Clark lived here. 
All in all it was such a good weekend with the Barrs on the Central Coast. Probably the best part of our trip yet. 

to be continued....