From Dorothy

So, I have been wanting to learn how to blog for months now: my friend Cindy this up for me and then my daughter Brittany added pictures for me. So finally Todd had planned on helping me today (since I do not know the slightest thing about blogging or down loading pictures) after what seemed like forever to get our computer to down load our pictures Todd looked really busy so I asked him; What are you doing??? He said: "Blogging". I said "What do you mean your blogging? He said I am posting my pictures...I said what do you mean: it is MY BLOG: not yours so get off! He said it is the family blog: it says Waldron Family: well, I meant it was "MY BLOG" because I have never seen guys blog before so hey, if he wants to blog stuff on here that is good for him!

So this will be a long post catching up on our move and adventurers

Well, moving to Australia was no easy task in fact it is something that I don't like thinking of. To say we had too much stuff is an understatement to say the least . He it were not for family and friends: and especially our friends Linda, Jerry and WC Baker it would of never had gotten done.
We will be eternally grateful.

Saying good bye to good friends and family was hard and leaving the grand kids behind was and is brutal. I have had the hardest time adjusting on it is an everyday challenge. It was hard on Alan and Andrew at first and still is at times. Bethany loves it here and would like to stay here for the rest of her life. After about 18 hours of travel time we arrived and quickly came to our apartment and had less then an hour to get ready for church. That day the kids made many friends and were very excited to be here for less then 5 hours and have many friends.

One of the biggest shocks are the cost of things: most everything here costs 2-3 times more then what you would pay in the US. Example: If I want to buy lets say salsa which I would buy by the jug at Sam's Club. Here I can only get a tiny little bottle for the same price! I still am in shock about this prices here.

The nicest thing is the beach is about a three minute walk from our front door to the water. We constantly here the birds in the trees all day until night time and then you here the geckos and bats, yes BATS which are about the size of seagulls or a little bigger. They don't bother you though in fat their sounds are rather soothing.

The younger kids and I (Aaron, Brennan, Ashley and Brittany are in Vegas arrived here towards the end of November. The Aussie's do not know what Thanksgiving is so we invited the four American missionaries in our ward over for Thanksgiving Dinner: all of them are from Utah: it was so fun having them here and I made some things that they have not had in a long time: Homemade Ranch dressing: they have it here but it is terrible! We also made the famous "Green Jello Mormon Jello" which we don't eat but knew the missionaries would be thrilled which they were. I had not planned on doing much but having them over took my mind off of being homesick.

Next came Christmas which I must say is really hard to get in the spirit of things when it is blazing hot outside. Instead of hot chocolate and cider it was frozen lemonade, fans swimming and sausages and shrimp (they say prawns) on the Barbie!

We have been spending any free time sightseeing. Wet and Wild, Movie World (which basically stuff from Hollywood) Sea World with no Shamu or Whales of any sort! The Australian Zoo has been a favorite and last time we were there we got to see Steve Irwin's wife Terri and children Bindi and Robert. The Zoo is an awesome place and they are working hard to keep Steve's legacy alive. We camped out one night and woke to tons of Cockatoo's singing wildly in the trees and saw our first koala in the wild.

After Christmas we went on vacation or "Holiday" as they call it to a place called "Bundaburg" and a town called "1700". We stayed at a Villa right across from the ocean at a caravan park. So I found out that my vision of a Villa was not anywhere close to the reality of where we stayed: I was thinking : cute, classy and cozy: not blue and purple, or pink and yellow tacky, ugly old little buildings with built in bunk mates (geckos) that like to crawl under your bed! (That has happened at our apartment twice as well.) I am getting a little used it it sort of but not really. Brennan said she had one in her room in China and they eat the bugs so it s a good thing (I guess) I was really disapointed in our accommodations and acted like a brat because I had been looking forward to it for months. I finally got over it and it was ok.

We went on a day cruise which I guess was fun (except the part that they DON"T tell you that about 1/4th of the people get horribly sea sick on the 75 min. ride out to the island. Well, let me just say that those 75 min were the longest of my LIFE. Ok, to say it mildly everywhere around you people were barfing their brains out! I was ok or thought I was until Alan started up and that made me loose it. I was hating Todd for taking us on that boat as I didn't think I would live to tell about it. Thinks were better when we landed they had crackers waiting for us! No kidding about all I wanted to eat for about a week was crackers!!!

There was not anything going on for New Year's Eve so we had our own little toast and went to bed after a long day the beautiful Kelly Beach.

Todd's travels while waiting for the family

One of the first places I started visiting regularly was the Brisbane LDS temple.


This is the view from in front of the temple. To the left is the city and botanical gardens. On the right are the cliffs where you can rock climb. Below is the Brisbane river - riding the City Cat (center) is great.


On a whale watching trip I saw several whales but none up close. This is the spray of one coming up for air. After breathing they will bring their tale up as they dive back under.

After whale watching I went to a near by island to eat relax and play. Then I rode back to the marina on a sailing ship. What a busy day!

I went to one of the local kite festivals. They had these kites that were 50+ feet long.

This is a group of cockatoos at one of the local parks.

There are a couple of small tourist towns in the hills about an hour from here. They have some nice antique, art and souvenir shops.


Near this one town I went to one of the many rain forests within about an hour to an hour and a half of where we now live.


There are manyweekend markets in the area. You can find a wide variety of arts, crafts and produce.


I have always wanted to have and play the didgeridoo.


After the market I drove over to the beach. This one has a rain forest in the background and shopping on the street behind the beach.


This is part of the glass house mountains. (Tibrogargan) Many people think it looks like a gorilla.


Just before the family came out I went up north for a workshop for my work. Ruff place to spend a weekend.