Deb at home in May

Now you may be wondering what Deb has been up to back in Houston..... Enjoying being home! Adjusting to a too-hot-too-soon summer temps. Yuck!! Playing catch-up. Missing Roy.

Sewing. Which makes Deb a happy girl!

The kittens are getting big! They are recovering from neutering and declaw surgery. Sometimes they are worse than toddlers! into everything. Came downstairs last week and found Gus on top of my kitchen cabinets! Didn't know cats could sit up, did you?

I recently hosted a party for my Beehive class and I did promised them I wouldn't post these on Facebook but I didn't mention my blog....... Ok, no names. This was a fun game we played with some flour. As you can see, they are a wonderful, fun group of young women.

Australia update

Roy continues to work in Gladstone for now; loves being on a construction site, dreads the meetings and is constantly updating reports on the computer. The plus side is being able to get outside several times a day and see what might be new on the site. Roy with his new assistant Rob Ferguson in the project 'uniform"

There was big excitement last week when the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard came to visit the project site.

You never know what might show up on his desk. This is baby lokikeet he babysat one day until it could be taken to the mainland to wildlife hospital. He said it was incredibly noisy when it was hungry! Quite a change from baby to beautiful adult!

This is a sugar glider before release to safe area away from the construction and machinery.

Elder Woodward update

Alex was transferred north to Redding California near the end of March, just before his birthday. A member in Gridley was super nice to bake him a birthday cake and catch a ride for it to Redding for him. He was pretty jazzed with that as well as the brisket we shipped him from our favorite BBQ place here in TX.

He is now in a bike area and learning about hills, biking in rain or hot sun and crashes. He loves his new area, is a happy Junior Companion to Elder McGinnis. He lost his first companion in the area, Elder Clarke to an ankle injury. He broke his thumb on a P-day but assures me it is Ok.

This is one of their baptisms and I'm sorry to say, I don't know who this is.

The missionaries bid a sad farewell to President and Sister Pendleton this month as a new Mission President is coming next

month - President Westin, I believe.

We cannot believe he passed his one year mark (or Hump Day) the first of May. wow! time is flying!

Now I ask you, why would you really put a big guy on the top bunk?

Some thoughts on Australia

First, let me say that I love Australia; it will always have a special place in my heart and I do not mean to offend.

That said, I thought it might be interesting to mention a few things that are done a bit differently Down Under.

Take Road signs:

I can see the above sign, near an airport for new arrivals, but miles into our drive on the Great Ocean Road? Kind of late for a reminder, don't ya think?

The yellow sign made me smile - just incase you might forget that you are in the country with 9 out of the 11 most poisonous snakes in the world!

This is called a 'hook turn' and is done in Melbourne. Since there are no right turn lanes (remember you are driving on left side of the road) due to the tram tracks, this is what you must do to make a right turn. Drivers pull over to temporarily park perpendicular to stopped traffic - as in right in front of them - then when the light turns green, you very quickly make your right turns before the oncoming traffic runs you over! no joke. It was amazing to see and since everyone does it (or very courageous drivers in my humble opinion! or maybe very desperate ones!) I didn't hear any angry horn honking to say "get the heck out of my way" ya Grub!

Have I mentioned my new word? Saw a fight started during a rugby game on TV over one player calling another "a grub". I love it!

City and town names: I challenge you to pronounce these: and I'm not kidding, these are real towns that we drove through or near.

Jindabyne, Wangaratta, Porepunkah, Koo-Wee-Rup, Murrumbidgee, and Errinundra.

and we think our gasoline is expensive? Gas is sold by the liter and was running between AU$1.33 - 1.49 while we were there. That is almost US$6.00 a gallon my friends!!!

Miscellaneous:

Yards are called 'gardens'.

On the whole, they are very family oriented.

On a two lane highway, which most rural roads are, pulling a caravan (travel trailer) they can be VERY stubborn about pulling over to let stacked up traffic pass. There is also very little roadside 'rubbish' (garbage or trash); the US could take a big lesson in that.

They still love their morning or afternoon tea break with a tasty snack or sweet (or sometimes called 'smoke-O').

We discovered that almost every town has a wonderful Information Center which has numerous maps and brochures and friendly employees ready to tell you what is interesting to see in the vicinity. All free :) As travelers, we appreciated the abundance of clean public toilets.

We were a little unlucky with this trip in that the Aussie dollar was very strong which made everything a little more expensive for those of us with US dollars. One US$1.00 = AU$1.08

In case you're wondering if Australia should be on your 'Bucket List', let me say, very strongly, YES! Remember it is as big as the USA but if you can only make it to Sydney - preferably on New Years Eve to see the spectacular fireworks in their beautiful harbor - it would be well worth the long air flight. We have yet to see Cairns or snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef so I can't recommend that. Yet.

more April in Australia

Week two:

I should mention, we finally saw some kangaroos our last night in Bright at dusk. Several grey kangaroos including one big fellow; the biggest we've ever seen!

After crossing the Snowy Mountains, we enjoyed a few days in the resort town of Jindabyne, which is near the ski resort of Thredbo. Can you believe they ski in Australia? I don't know about you, but when I use to think of the land Down Under, I thought of beaches, The Great Barrier Reef and the dry Outback, not snow skiing. Well, there might only be a hand full of ski-able mountains but the Aussies love it.

We took the ski lift at Thredbo to the top of a mountain to hike near the the highest mountain in Australia: Mt. Kosciuszdo 2,228 km (7,310 ft). We had out run the "curse" and it was a beautiful warm, sunny day.

Since neither one of us are skiers, we had never ridden a ski lift before so that was a first and very fun :) I find it a little amusing, with the Aboriginal names all over the country, that the highest mountain in Australia was named by a Polish explorer, Count Strzelecki after a grave of Polish officer back home in Krakow. Now here is something you don't see coming down a hiking trail everyday..... LOL! Yes, that is a bagpiper!

Roy had another good day fishing near Jindabyne while I finally found an Internet cafe with free WiFi. Letme tell ya, they were few and very far between over there; we are very spoiled here in the US.

Unbeknown to me, Roy thought it would be fun for long time horse-loving me to also ride in the Snowy Mts. so he booked

me a morning ride. It's been 30+years since I have been on a horse but Bella and I got along ok. Actually I did very little steering; she knew her job and I let her do it. It was wonderful to just sit

back and look at the beautiful eucalyptus forest.

Needless to say, I paid the price and was very sore for several days afterwards, but it was worth it:) We sadly bid the mountains good-bye and headed north to see some of the Australian capitol city of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.

This is the 'new' Parliament House opened in 1988 costing a cool $A1.1 billion. We wandered around inside for an hour and it is beautiful with lots of native woodwork and a stunning wall length tapestry. Like our Capital, it has a House of Representatives wing and a Senate wing, each with it's own color.

We continued north to Orange,

Cowra, and Armidale. We stopped to see the beautiful Dangar Falls and met a few friends along the way. I think the dark one is a Bearded Dragon, and the other is a Water dragon.

We also saw our first poisonous snake - a red bellied black snake. I feel bad, but thankfully it was dead on the road. Isn't this a beautiful little chapel we found out in the country?

It was great to arrive back in Brisbane and see the Storey bridge. We were lucky to see a replica of The Endeavor (Cook's ship) that is currently touring Australia as it entered the Brisbane River. On Sunday we enjoyed seeing many dear friends at our beloved Chermside Ward as well as our wonderful former neighbors, Juelle and Ken. Thank you for an absolutely delightful lunch.

It was a beautiful Easter Sunday and reminded me what a great gift Jesus Christ gave us with his death and resurrection. Because of him, we will be able to have many happy reunions just like this one.

Monday was Anzac Day (like our Veterans Day); a day to

commemorate when the armies from Australian and New Zealand fought together in the Great War. We got really lucky and were able to grab some standing space with a great view to see the Brisbane parade. Since every veteran or active military can march, it is a very long parade. There were also several school bands and many other groups (i.e. Scouts) marching but our favorite was the Brisbane Taxi Drivers Brass Band

with their black shirts and orange tires.

It was hard to part with Roy at the airport as he flew back to Gladstone and I to cross the Pacific. It was such a great trip from start to finish; Roy had planned our itinerary so well. Thank you My Love, it was a fantastic anniversary present; our 35th.

Many, many thanks to my sister and favorite brother-in-law, Marilyn and John, who kept Rio while I was gone. Also a thank you to my young neighbors and friends, Brittani and Ciara who daily looked after the kittens here at home.

I flew into Nashville just behind those killer tornadoes; it was a bit bumpy the last several minutes and we applauded the pilot when we landed, albeit with a hard bump.

I give a heart felt thanks to my Heavenly Father for another safe flight (s) (I hate flying over water!), 1600 miles driven in safety here in the US and 3939 km (2400 miles) in Auz.

April in Australia

Roy got a 2 week holiday from work so I flew over and we happily continued our Australian exploration.

Week One:

We began our adventure in the Southeast State of Victoria, beginning in Melbourne where I flew into after a 15 hour flight from Los Angeles.
Many, many Thanks to Adele Begovich and son Paul, who was a wonderful hostess and tour guide. (unfortunately Dave had to stay in Gladstone and work). They have a beautiful home in the small town of Healesville; an hour and a half northeast of Melbourne.

Our first stop was to head South to Phillip Island to see the nightly emergence of the 'Little Penguins' from the ocean to waddle ashore to find their nests up in the low brush. They are the smallest species of penguins - only about 13' tall. Unfortunately the Woodward curse is alive and well Down Under so we got a little wet

waiting for twilight when the little guys come ashore. It was well worth the wait; they are so darn cute! Roy was excited to add his first penguin to his Aussie bird list :) No flash photos were allowed, so thank Wikipedia for the above picture.

Another day Adele drove us an hour to visit the town of Marysville; which was very humbling. 45 people died there when the Murrindindi brushfire in Feb 2009 came too fast and there was no way to get out. 90% of the town's building were destroyed. The town is slowly rebuilding; we especially enjoyed Bruno's restored Art & Sculpture garden there.

We toured the beautiful city of Melbourne which, by the way, the Aussies pronounce "Mel-bun".

Birdwatcher Roy was thrilled to see the second species of Lyrebird found in Australia. We had been hiking around a National Forest, actually quite close to Adele's house, hoping to see it; had almost given up and were walking back to the car and what comes walking down the

road towards us? Not one, but two, very noisy beautiful Lyrebirds! We were so amazed and awed with their little show that I forgot to take a picture! darn it!! (thank you again Wikipedia)

We bid farewell to Adele and headed West to drive The Great Ocean Road along the South

eastern coast. Built by soldiers returning from the Great War (World War I), it is 243 km (151 miles) long and probably most noted for the limestone "stacks"formations called The Twelve Apostles.

We were thrilled to see some wild koalas near the scenic Cape Otway LightStation.

We turned northeast and enjoyed a day in Ballarat learning about the

Australian Gold Rush beginning in 1851.

They found some amazingly large gold nuggets in the state of Victoria!

We spent 3 delightful days in the small village of Bright on the edge of beautiful Snowy Mountains. Now remember, I had left Houston in Springtime and crossed the equator to find Fall in Australia.

We were very surprised to find so many

deciduous trees in Victoria; sometimes we had to remind ourselves we weren't in New England. Roy enjoyed a day of fishing.

Driving through the Snowy Mountains was absolutely fantastic! (as in the movie - The Man from Snowy River) and look what we found? There is some controversy if the poem written by "Banjo"

Patterson, was based on Jack Riley or a compilation of several local bush riders. Fun to see nevertheless.

Look was we saw crossing the road? It's a wombat! isn't he fantastic? Wombats are marsupials herbivores that dig extensive burrows. Have I mentioned we haven't seen a kangaroo yet? Contrary to popular belief, they are not as easily seen as we non-Australians might think.