Watch Out for What?

We've enjoyed the different types of road signs in Australia and now New Zealand.  In New Zealand when there is something that requires the drivers attention, it's presented as a large exclamation point with some text underneath.  WASHOUT!!!!! is our favorite though we've also seen others.

I guess we should watch out for this wash out of the road.

This has led to a silly road game where the family tries to be the first to see sign and then yell -- yes yell -- the accompanying text.  More than once I've been startled while driving when this happens but end up laughing anyway.  Sometimes, there is only an exclamation point with no text.  In this case, someone will yell "Auuggghhh!"

I've tagged this as funny but I guess you'd have to be there.

Turn Left Off Mountain

Oh the joys of modern technology!  Computers and electronics are often so good and productive.  On the other hand, a computer is only as good as the algorithms it runs and the data it has available.  Take for example the wonder of GPS-aided navigation or SatNav.  We rented this lovely unit from Avis to aid us in our journey.  It's been a big help but it's still not perfect.  We directed our SatNav to guide us to our destination for the day at Skyline Rotorua.  Skyline Rotorua is a place on the side of a hill with heaps of fun things to do.  The SatNav wants us to turn left.

Should we turn left?

Given what we saw when we look left, I'm guessing that it wasn't the right call to blindly obey the SatNav's voice instructions.  It turns out that Skyline Rotorua was actually about 50 meters to the left of where we are when we stopped the car.  Of course it's 50 meters to the left and 250 meters off the cliff.  This is what happens when the algorithm doesn't take elevation into account and assumes that a distance of 50 meters must just be a driveway.

Te Puia Geyser & Maori Culture

Our evening activities in Rotorua, New Zealand on Wednesday 27 April 2011.

A very chilly Jennifer standing near the Te Puia geyser as it erupts.

For our Wednesday evening we'd arranged a booking at the Te Puia Cultural Experience.  I must admit that I'd expected that this would be a "Put a checkmark in the 'Saw Maori Culture' box" type of activity.  However, my expectations were exceeded by a far margin.

The Playground or a Helicopter?

A continuation of New Zealand events on Wednesday 27 April

I'm continually surprised about the insights that my children teach me.  When we arrived in Rotorua our hotel room wasn't quite ready.  We decided to get lost and drive around a bit.  We found a nice shopping district down by the Lake Rotorua.  On the lake's shore, we found a brilliant park and playground.  After so much driving in the car the day previous, our kids were more than happy to get out and play on the playground.

So, the next day we had some free time and considered taking a rather expensive helicopter tour.  The consensus from the kids was "Why would we spend an 40 minutes on a helicopter when we could just go back to that cool playground?"  Well, with that input, we'll just have to wait for another time before trying a helicopter tour.

New Zealand -- Day 2

Day 2 had so many different things that I'll break it into several different posts.

On our second full day in New Zealand, we went from Whangamata to Rotorua.  Rotorua is a popular location for those interested in geothermal activity in the region.  More importantly, it's the homeland of one of our good friends, Pete.


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Loving New Zealand -- Day 1

We're on our third night in New Zealand and I found a decent internet connection so I decided to post to the blog about our first 24 hours in New Zealand.

We'd heard about New Zealand ice cream so we had to try it out.  Orange chocolate-chip was a big hit.

After some tough and tearful goodbyes in Australia.  We got on the plane and came over to New Zealand.  Guess what?  It rains in New Zealand in late April -- heaps of rain.  However, we've found some spots that aren't so rainy.  Our kids are experienced travelers and quite comfortable with the idea of packing up and exploring.  I guess they are good at it because they've had so much practice in their short lives.

Ready to go?

We are going to leave Australia in about 10 hours.  We can't believe that it's already here.  Jennifer and I have put the kids to bed and are reviewing our suitcases.  We've had a great time as tourists here in the downtown area.  Yesterday, we went to the South Bank Parklands area and did the tourist thing.  We rode around on the Wheel of Brisbane -- a Ferris Wheel gondola thing.  Then we went to the Max Brenner Chocolate Restaurant before a nap.  We walked everywhere.  Jennifer did great even as we walked about 5 miles.

After the nap, we went to the Rugby match at Suncorp Stadium.  It was the Queensland Reds against the New South Wales Waratahs.  We enjoyed the game -- especially since it was a Reds win.  They've now won seven in a row -- or 'seven on the trot' as they say here in Australia.  I'll have to post more about sports some other time.

Today, we went to church on Easter Sunday.  It was likely our last time to attend Chermside Ward as residents of the area.  It hit us pretty hard as we said 'Farewell' to more good friends.  At the service, Inga Wrigley spoke did a great job of addressing the benefit of Christ's atonement.  Bishop Black then talked about how to involve that atonement as "Christ turning bad men into good men and making good men better."

Roy and Debi Woodward are also in town.  They are an expat family that were in Chermside Ward when we arrived.  It was the first time we'd seen them since they left in mid-2009.  They were a big help to us in trying to adapt to the local area and culture.  They joined us for dinner today and we enjoyed catching up with them.

Anyway, it's time for us to get some sleep.  We've got a flight in the morning.

Packed Up?

It's Monday morning and the packing company showed up earlier than expected.  We were pretty much ready for them.  We've spent our last night in our home in Australia.  We move into a furnished apartment this afternoon.  The moving company will come again tomorrow to load the shipment into two different containers.  One of the shipments (1100kg) for air freight to Arizona and the rest of the stuff (e.g. furniture, etc.) via a surface shipment across the Pacific Ocean and on to Arizona.

We got our flights confirmed last week.  We've been fortunate enough to arrange a stopover for a week of leave in New Zealand.  We are excited to tour around a bit there and see some friends.  We are going to be limited to only the North Island but it should be a good week of fun.

We leave Australia next Monday on ANZAC day and arrive in AZ on the following Monday 2 May.  Jennifer has been doing really, really well.  I'm a very lucky man.

A 'Free-Range' Son Goes to Get Some Eggs

So ... we've been working to give more and more independence and accountability to our oldest son Zachary.  He's done really well with this increasing freedom.  On Thursday (14 April 2011), he decided that he wanted to make some cookies.  He's pretty good at that too.  On this day, he wanted to make some snickerdoodles but we were out of eggs.

He asked Jen for permission to go get some eggs so he could finish the cookies.  It's under a kilometer to the closest market so Jen gave him some money and let him go.

Anyway, 30 minutes passed and he hadn't returned.  Next, it was an hour so Jen started to get concerned.  She loaded up the other kids in the car to go find him.  As she pulled out of the neighborhood, he walked into the neighborhood.

When Jen asked what had taken him so long.  He explained that when he got to the Oriel Park IGA market that he couldn't find any eggs.  Rather than ask for help at the IGA market, he decided to go further to the Coles supermarket on Racecourse Road.  While all is well and we don't regret his independence, we've strongly suggested that he ask for help in the future.

Here is a map of the route that he took with 2km each way.


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The Beginning of Goodbyes

Or, at least farewells and 'see you later's.  It's Tuesday morning on 12 April.  This means we likely have less than two weeks left in Australia.  We said 'so long' to the Brouwer family the other night as they are going to be out of the country for the next two weeks.

We are *still* waiting to hear from the moving company about scheduling the packing and shipment of our household goods.  "Household Goods": Does anyone really use that expression?  We just think of it as our home, our stuff, our things, our earthly possessions, etc.  Once we hear from the movers --  any minute now -- we can push the buttons to book our airfare back to the US.

We plan on stopping for a week of leave in New Zealand's North Island.  We'd be sad if we spent 2.5 years in this part of the world and didn't get there other than the airport.  Our boys are excited about this -- and the time they will have in the US.  At FHE last night during Family Business, we talked about all of the logistics.  I then asked the kids whether they were excited or sad about the move.  I was glad to hear that the answer was 'both'.

Jennifer was asked to speak in Church for this coming Sunday; Zachary too for a 5-minute talk.  He's 11 but mature beyond his years in matters of gospel knowledge.  He's been quite the missionary here and been good a helping to teach some of the lessons we've had for investigators in our home.  He spoke at Dallin's baptism last June and then at the McKenzie boys baptism in February.  Jennifer is a bit nervous but she'll do great.

"And All Things Shall Be in Commotion"

Over the last few months, this passage of LDS scripture has weighed heavily on my mind:

And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people.  -- D&C 88:91

As I look at the world around me with wars, famine, destruction, indebtedness, petty jealousy, and calamities everywhere, there is certainly commotion.  I've thought a great deal about commotion and the way people react to it since the September 11th events.  As I travel the world for fun and for work, I've noticed an increase in the failure of the hearts of men.  The fear and resignation that I see in the faces of many people (particularly in the US) indicates that "hearts" have failed.

Back to AZ

What our home looked like packed up to go into storage.

So, we are moving again.  When we found out that we were going to leave Australia, we knew that the time was coming soon.  Now we know that we will be leaving Brisbane before the end of April.  The family will go to Arizona to live while we wait for Baby #5 and to get our visas for Saudi Arabia.

Anyone in Gilbert near the Mercy Gilbert Hospital know of any houses for rent?