Hamilton, Suburb of Brisbane

Sunday afternoon we took the CityCat ferry up and down the river from beginning to end. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon but a bit cool outside when riding the ferry. some of the ferry stops had cute huts to wait in until the ferry arrived. It was a short 10 minute walk from our motel to the ferry stop in Hamilton.
Ferry Station.
Brisbane skyline from the ferry.
Temple as seen from the ferry.
One of the many bridges that cross the river.
The old and the new of Brisbane.
CityCat ferry.
Storey Bridge, comparable to the Sydney Harbor Bridge but not as big. People climb this bridge as well.
Elizabeth outside the Pegasus Motel
Poinsetta bush.
Kent - Allen street signs in Hamilton.

Brisbane

We arrived in Brisbane in the late afternoon. We had no idea where our motel would be located or what it would be like. We were pleasantly surprised to see that it was very nice. They could not give us accommodation for the full week in a motel room so they upgraded us to an apartment as they had both motel rooms and apartments available on the property. We had a nice living room with a new TV, a kitchen with garbage disposal and dishwasher, stove, refrigerator, washer, dryer and free broadband Internet as well as a bedroom and large bath room with tub. We thought we had died and gone to heaven. The parking was all underground and was totally secured.
We checked in, unpacked and went in search of food for dinner. We found a wonderful Thai restaurant and loved their food so much we ate there three times during the week.
On Sunday morning we attended Church in the chapel next to the temple. That is also Elder Smibert's ward, the member of the Area Presidency here last year. His son is the bishop. He was there and recognized us right away. We stayed through Sunday School, then went out and took pictures of the city skyline from the temple, the temple and grounds and the river walk below the temple. The parking is all underground for the temple and church services. It is a beautiful location for the temple and all the tour buses come to that spot to see the city skyline. On the way back to the motel we passed a car dealership that sold Smart Cars. We had to take a picture of the Smart Car display. Our son-in-law, Corey Kent got a real kick out of the Smart Cars when they visited us in Germany.
Ferry on the river.
View of the city of Brisbane from the temple.
View of the river and one of the bridges and ferry.
Rock climbing below the temple.
Guess who?
Grounds in the rear of the church on the temple grounds.
Rear of the temple.
Angel Moroni.
Brisbane Temple from the front.
Brisbane Temple.
Temple plaque.
Flowers on the temple grounds.
Smart cars displayed at a dealership in Brisbane. This one's for Corey.

Featherdale Wildlife Park, Sydney, Australia

On Saturday July 5th, after spending two hours on the video phone with 3 of our 4 children who were gathered at Michelle and Corey's home in Eagle Idaho for the 4th of July, we visited the Featherdale Wildlife Park in western Sydney. This park has all Australian animals and birds. It was very interesting. As we entered the park we were greeted by a number of small wallabys who were very tame and would let you pet them and take pictures. There were also two kookaburra birds that were very tame and just sat on the low fences. We could walk right up to them, stroke them and take their pictures. We walked a little further and came upon 7 or 8 larger wallabys or may have been small kangaroos, just lying in the path. Again we were able to get close and pet them and take pictures. We enjoyed the animals and hope you do too.
Storks
Large black kangaroo.

Black and gray kangaroo eating.
Albino kangaroo
Albino kangaroos.
Albino kangaroo.
Echidna.

Frilly lizard.
Frilly lizard.
Frilly lizard.
Reptiles. Just before this picture was taken, the one on top crawled up from the far left and laid on top of the other one and stayed there as if he was posing for pictures.
Another reptile of sorts.

Tasmanian Devil. They are mean looking things.
A chicken, believe it or not.
White peacock.
Python snake.

Kookaburra. He was just sitting on a fence and did not move when people took his picture.
Wombats.
Wombat.
Wombat
Black Swans.

Petting a koala. Yes, he is real, not fake. We had the park attendant prove it by waking him up.
Elizabeth and the wallabys. They are miniature kangaroos.
A wallaby with a joey in her pouch. You can see the legs hanging out.
Bats.
Bat asleep with its wings wrapped around it.

Wallaby that was walking around wild as we entered the park.
Petting a wallaby.
Chinese cockatoo
Koala bear.
Koala bear in his natural pose, sleeping.