Transfer completed

We are now settled in Melbourne.  So this is how we spent the last two weeks.  Since we couldn't "strike the set" in Hobart until we received our audit report from Salt Lake, we decided to set off to the west coast of Tasmania.

This was our last file to digitize.  It almost felt like the last day of school, when there is no more to do.

So off we went to Ross where there is a historical town with a wool store and crafts (all homemade).  This is one of the beautiful churches made from stone, probably by the convicts.  They were "hired" to do many of the beautiful stone work in Tasmania.

The stone bridge over the river constructed by --you know who.

 In Campbell Town there is a park where a sculpturer carved these intrique sculptures from the existing tree trunks.  These are wonderful.  Sorry that the pictures don't do them justice.

An interesting sign above the public toilet.  I guess this is for visitors who aren't used to western toileting skills.

Our ward farewell party at the Blackwell's home.

Ward members singing to us.  They are a wonderful group of people who we have come to love very much.

Can't leave Hobart without visiting the Cadbury factory, especially since it is located in our hometown of Claremont.  They had a very interesting video of how chocolate is made.  And ofcourse we left with a bag full of samples.

Just a very small part of the Cadbury store.  Everything in here was chocolate.

On our way to Strahan, we stopped at Derwent Bridge to visit this museum call The Wall.  Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside of this amazing building, where the artist has these huge wooden sculptures.  We did buy the book which has pictures of his work, but even pictures won't depict the grandear of what he has accomplished.

A stop at Lake St. Clair and the visitors center and we parked across from this van.  These people must really be "greens".  The whole van was covered with fake grass.  Notice the "eye lashes" on the headlights.

One of the waterfalls and rivers on the way to Strahan.

Hogarth Falls after a short walk in the rain forest in Strahan.

A lovely dinner in Strahan (a very small community).  It is so small we waited about an hour to receive our food.  There weren't very many in the restaurant, but there was only two cooks.  Dinner was very good.

On our way up the Gordon River.  It was raining off and on, so we caught a quick pictures as the clouds parted.

Up on the River, we stopped for a nature walk.  If you notice on the tree truck, there is a horizontal fungus plate.  These grow on the tree trunks and we had seen them in other rainforest areas in Tasmania.

Part of the River tour, we stopped at Sarah Island.  This island is where the worst of the second offenders were send before Port Arthur was build to hold prisoners.  It was said to be the worst place anyone would want to be.

The entrance to the Macquarie Bay and Gordon River from the Southern Ocean.

Because the entrance had lots of silt, and was very shallow, "they" (whoever that was) dug a channel  at a depth that ships could get through.  They had to pass through the narrow area which is on the left of the little island in the picture.  Our tour boar took us through that area and out into the ocean for a look.

Cradle Mountain, a rainy day and quite cold, but a beautiful area.  We never really got a good look at the mountain since the clouds kept moving over it.  

The "strike down" begins.  Just the black fabric is removed in this picture.  It has been our home away from home away from home.  We will miss it.

Our sweet neighbors took us out to dinner to Mt. Nelson Signal Station, where there is now a restaurant.  A beautiful view of the bay and islands around Hobart.

Our dear neighbor, Jan, supervises our loading of the car which we switched with the Huon sisters.  The mission wanted that car back in Victoria.  We were loaded and very grateful for the racks on top of the car, as we would not have been able to bring most of the "stuff' from the flat to help supply the new house.

A quick stop at Catarack Gorge in Launceston.  That would have been a delightful place to picnic and spend a warm afternoon.

The lake at Catarack Gorge.

Sailing on the Spirit of Tasmania.  Our ship which we loaded at Devonport, Tasmania

Boarding the ship.

Through the rainy windscreen (not shield in AU), you may be able to see the cars that were loaded first and are lifted up on a rack so that more cars can be parked underneath.  We were lucky.  We ended up going to the right and being parked at the exit ramp, so we were the first car off the ship when we arrived in Melbourne at 6:30 am.

Our tiny state room.  The trip over was rough.  Weather was bad and we were awakened several times during the night by waved hitting the ship.  But atleast we were able to stretch out and get some sleep.

Our arrival at the mission office in Melbourne.

Almost one year ago to the day, we arrived in Melbourne from USA.  Elder and Sister Wolfinden took us to the Rododendrin Gardens, so here we are for our one year anniversary to Australia.  They were in their splender as was a year ago.

And as we did last year, we had lunch at Miss Marples Tea Room in Sassafras.  This is the cutest restaurant right out of the stories from Agatha Christy.

We had a light lunch so we could have dessert, but were overwhelmed when we saw what they brought us.  Marvin had bread pudding and I had chocolate cake with fudge and custard.  Ohhhhhh, they were good.

Miss Marples Tea Room.  We just loved it.

We stopped in a puppet shop across the street from the tea room.  It was filled with puppets hanging from the ceiling and toys.

Home sweet home.  Well, not yet.  Home yes, but there are plumbing issues which have not been addressed yet.  The plumber is coming next week to fix leaks in the kitchen sink and bathroom faucet and to replace the hot water faucet in the laundry room.  So we are doing cold water laundry.  But it is a nice house, 3 bedroom, 2 lounge areas (living room and family room), a really weird toilet area off the laundry room, lots of roses in the front and back yards.  It will be home for 5 more months.

We have a neighbor on the south of us who is taking the missionary lessons.  She met the Wardles, who are over the flats for the mission and she is a new Christian and is looking for the truth.  She is a single adult of about 30 years old.  Hopefully we will be good missionaries to her too.