Hello Australia

We have Arrived in Australia…..finally

38 hours 47 minutes….that’s how long our journey was from Utah to Perth Australia. 

Salt lake to Chicago (3 hours 20 minutes—our first time ever having to have the plane de-iced)….

Chicago to Hong Kong (15 hours 55 minutes—how do they even carry that much fuel??)….

Hong Kong to Perth (7 hours 40 minutes). 

13,048 miles. 

We departed Salt Lake City on Saturday January 11th and arrived in Perth on Monday January 13th. We crossed the international date line so we never did see January 12th. 

We were exhausted.

Elder and Sister Hadfield picked us up at the airport and we headed straight to a Senior couple’s brunch then headed to the mission office (which is on the beautiful temple grounds) to do some paperwork.

We then took our driving test (they drive on the wrong side of the road) which we passed without crashing. It’s pretty weird. The steering wheel is on the opposite side of the dashboard and the blinker and windshield wiper levers are also on the opposite side from ours. Needless to say, whenever we go to turn on the blinker we wash the windows instead. 10 times in 1 day is Dave’s record so far but he is getting better everyday. Yesterday we only washed the windows 2 times. We had a great time at dinner with President and Sister Wi Repa. They are very nice, fun, and humble people. We are looking forward to serving under their leadership and getting to know them even better over the next year. After 50 hours of no sleep (except for a few short naps on the plane) we finally got to the hotel for some sleep. Dave passed right out…par for the course, I couldn’t sleep. 

 We were originally called as Office Specialist but about a week before we headed to the MTC for training President Wi Repa contacted us and need us as Member Leader Support missionaries in Albany, Western Australia. We picked up our car on Tuesday and headed the 5 hours south to Albany. Albany is on the very southern tip of Australia (next stop is Antarctica) and has a population of 35,000. They have a small branch there with about 30-50 people attending. A few weeks ago, they had their primary program in sacrament meeting with only 2 children. Albany is known for its beautiful beaches and used to be a whaling port. The beaches are beautiful, and the sand is white and fine like powdered sugar.

It is the oldest permanently settled city in Western Australia. It is beautiful! It reminds me of small-town coastal Oregon with quaint streets and houses.

There are no stop lights in town, instead it has 54 roundabouts each with a Norfolk Island Pine in the middle. These are our favorite pine trees now.

They are very cool looking. There are exotic birds everywhere. Green parrots, cockatoos, kookaburras, magpies just to name a few. The air is filled with their beautiful songs. Every morning the Australian ravens wake us up taking to each other. They sound more like a goat than a bird. The weather here is similar to San Diego with also a feel of Hawaii. We leave the doors and windows open a lot of the time so we can enjoy the weather and hear the songs of the birds. The sun rises here really early…about 4:40 a.m. 
Albany has many granite rock formations and cliffs. One of the most famous is dog rock (named because it looks like a silhouette of a dogs head) which sits right in the middle of town.

Albany still has a working port with tankers coming in and loading up with grain for export. Occasionally a cruise ship even stops in Albany.

Our house is very nice and we feel very blessed to be here and are excited to do some exploring and see all of its beauty.

We have the best young missionaries serving with us in Albany (pictures to come next week). Elder Jones is from Colorado and Elder Taylor is from Utah. They are so fun to be around and doing great things. We love them and are excited to serve with them. 

Some of the different things we have discovered about Australia are…. 

Yield signs here say “give way” 

Escalators are Travelators and they are ramps not stairs 

Burger King is called Hungry Jack 

Candy is called lollies 

Mailmen ride 3 wheeled scooters with saddle bags 

You must bring your own bags to the grocery store (we always forget) 

Houses are called Flats 

You have to turn the plugs on with a switch to use them 

Kilometers instead of miles 

Speed limit changes many, many, many times in a short distance 

Traffic cameras are EVERYWHERE to enforce the speed! We have been told that tickets are given for even 2 kilometer over the speed limit so no one speeds 

Pharmacies are called Chemist 

There are No garbage disposals

We love Albany and have met a lot of wonderful people. Everyone is so friendly. We attended our branch today for the first time and everyone was so welcoming. We already love this little slice of heaven and are excited to serve the people of Albany.