JENOLAN CAVES

On Saturday May 17th we went on an outing to the Jenolan Caves. They are 2 1/2 hours from Sydney, through the Blue Mountains. It was a cool day, crisp and clear when we left Sydney at 7:30 am. By the time we reached the Caves a storm was coming in and it turned cold with periods of light rain and wind. The Jenolan Caves are really something to see. There are a number of large caves with formations as you see below in all of them. We took the Lucas Cave tour which had a lot of steps and took 1 1/2 hours. The formations were exceptional. There is not room on this blog to put all of the pictures. To get to the caves we drove down a very steep, windy road to the valley floor and a large opening through the rock. On the other side was a large hotel,restaurant complex. Above the opening in the rock was the entrances to the Lucas Cave.
On the way home we stopped and took pictures of the decorated bus shelters in a couple of the towns as we drove through the Blue Mountains. They were really very unique.
Entrance to the caves.
Hotel at the caves.
Waterfall by hotel
River that carved the caves.
River

View of road from entrance to Lucas cave.
Our guide.
Walking through to the hotel area.

Ice castle.
Neat toadstools.
Jay & Elizabeth in Lucas Cave.
Formation
Stairs to nowhere.

Formation in Lucas Cave.
Bus shelter Decoration - Blue Mountains
Bus shelter
Bus shelter
Bus shelter

MELBOURNE EAST ZONE CONFERENCES

We left Sydney on Sunday afternoon and arrived and hour and a half later in Melbourne. We were picked up by Elder and Sister Barker who work in the office and taken to where we would be staying with the Wrights in their home. He is the mission secretary. The next 5 days we attended the zone conferences and Jay spoke at each one. In Wangaratta, a 3 hour drive from Melbourne, Sister Lindley had the missionaries prepare the evening meal using cost effective recipes that are easy and fast.
One of the AP's looks like our grandson, Nathan Kent will look when he serves his mission. We were struck by the similarity of the two.
Elder and Sister Wright's House.
Elder and Sister Wright

Wangaratta Zone Conference. Making granola.
Elders making hamburger soup. Wangaratta Zone Conference.
AP's and Zone Leaders in Wangaratta. Elder Caldwell, Nathan's look alike is second from the left.
Wangaratta chapel.
Elder Caldwell, from Georgia. Nathan Kent's look alike.
Melbourne temple early in the morning.
Sister Lindley cooking dinner in the mission home.
Dinner with the Lindleys and sisters and elders.
Narre Warren chapel. Pakenham Zone Conference.
President and Sister Lindley.

MOORABIN CHAPEL, BRIGHTON BEACH

When we lived in Melbourne my father drove to Bentley, a suburb close to the ocean, to build the chapel there. Now it is called Moorabin. One of his "signature" items that he had designed was the lion's head fountain in the courtyard of the church. At that time building a courtyard was also unique.
Brighton Beach is a famous beach in Melbourne and quite close to the Moorabin chapel. President Lindley drove us over there. On one section of the beach they have a row of beach houses that are all painted different colors. People "buy" the beach houses from the city and pay many thousands of dollars for it.
Chapel built by my father in Moorabin.
Note the date.
Courtyard in the rear of the building.
Lion head fountain.
Brighton Beach houses.

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE.

As most of you know my father served a labor mission in Melbourne, Australia when I was 16 years of age. The whole family moved to Melbourne. We lived in a suburb called Mont Albert and attended church in the next eastern suburb, Box Hill. We lived in the old mission home which has since been torn down and multiple dwelling houses built on the property. The Blackburn Chapel sits on the property on Whitehorse Road where we attended church in an old run down house. On the Sunday we were in Melbourne we drove by where I lived, where I caught the train to school every morning and where I attended my last year and a half of hgih school. It truly was a trip down memory lane for me.
412 Mont Albert Drive. Now apartments.
Mont Albert Drive towards Melbourne.
Mont Albert Drive towards Box Hill. Beautiful tree lined street.
Mont Albert Station
Mont Albert train station where I caught the train for school every morning.
Train platform at Mont Albert Station
Blackburn chapel.
Blackburn chapel on Whitehorse Road.
Camberwell High School. I attended here for a year and a half.
Front of Camberwell High School

The upper room of the school where I met with other prefects (school officers) my metriculation year.

HEALSVILLE ANIMAL SANCTUARY, MELBOURNE

We took quick trip to the Healsville Animal Sanctuary outside of Melbourne in the Dandenong Mountains. The area is beautiful and green with rolling hills and lots of farms. The lone koala bear was asleep in a tree, just perched on a branch. It looked really uncomfortable to me.
Sleeping koala.
Does this look uncomfortable or what.
Kangaroo with a joey in her pouch.
The centinnal.
A frilly lizard.