It's been great!

So there I was, face to face with a Giant Red Kangaroo, killer of the Australian outback! I knew that one false move could end it all. I moved one way, he moved the other!  A kick from his powerful legs could knock me senseless!

At that moment, one of the zoo workers told me to quit harassing the animals, and the 'roo went back to checking for fleas.

But the Taronga zoo really was cool, reached by, what else, a nice harbor ferry ride from downtown Sydney.  

We got to see platypuses, koalas, emus, wallabies, kookaburras, saltwater 'crocs and a lot of other Australian strange creatures.  
However, the central reason for our visit to Australia was to attend the wedding on Friday, the 20th, of one of our beloved Sister missionaries, Shannel Gonzalez, in the Sydney Temple.

 All went swimmingly, and we were honored to attend.

The reception was in a lovely old house in Campbelltown, west of Sydney, built just 30 years after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788.

A minor miracle has occurred, and despite driving on the left for five days total, I didn't damage the Toyota Corolla we rented from the "No Birds" company, or cause heart attacks in the local drivers sharing our routes. 

"No Birds?" Thirty years ago, car companies here used attractive young women in the ads ("birds" in Aussie slang of the time), and even to pickup and deliver cars.  This company went for simplicity, hence the name.  

A wise guy sky-wrote something that got a lot of laughs while we were at the zoo:

The Australians we spoke with (and the rest of the world?) are uneasily awaiting the outcome of THAT.

The Sydney Harbor Bridge was finished in 1932, and was a source of much-needed pride at a time when Australia was suffering from the Great Depression along with the rest of the world.

It's bigger than it looks, and of course it had to be hiked across.

It was a gorgeous day, and I counted more than seventy sails in the Harbor from atop the Bridge.

All in all, we've had a very enjoyable trip.  We expected it to be good, but Australia has surpassed expectations.  Now, the trip home, with several hundred of our closest friends.

We hope you're doing well, and that the kangaroos leave you alone, too.

Dave & Paula