Ovens Submarine

A submarine is made to sink. It's big and heavy.

An Ovens sub looks really big on the outside, but on the inside....well...

We had the opportunity to see an old World War II submarine lately.
Not just see it, but go inside. It was the Ovens Submarine.

Our tour guide trained on the Ovens after World War II which was neat
because he shared first hand what life was like on a submarine.

We walked on the interior of the submarine from one end to the other
while our tour guide educated us about each section.

I was surprised that on the inside it seemed so tight. It felt scrunched to me...
and there were so many nobs, gadgets, gauges, pipes, switches....machine stuff...everywhere! If I had to live on one of these I would have felt like I was inside of a machine! There was no getting away from all the mechanical things that lined the inner halls of the Submarine.
Here are just a few...

These are the engines. Can you tell how many there are? Do you know what they use them for? Do you know when they run them? Our tour guide informed us that they would surface in the night to recharge the batteries with the 2, 16 cylinder, diesel engines and circulate some fresh air. Aaahhh...the things we take for granted.

As our guide finished the tour of the inside of the submarine, he asked if we could imagine going out to sea for 10 weeks on an Ovens Submarine...

It was a fun and informative tour.
I am pretty certain that I would not like to spend 10 weeks on a submarine!

Blessings

This month in primary, the theme has been Temples. I had the opportunity to teach the week about sacrifices made for the temple,meaning, the things us as people must give up and do in order to attend the temple or even have temples. I already knew many of the stories of the first temples built in our times and it was a lot of fun to learn so much more about the temples

many of us are so blessed to enjoy today.

SO, that being said, here are a few temple details about our family.

-Our family has attended 2 temple open houses, Anchorage and Oquirrh Mountain.

-Dave and I have attended 12 different temples which include temples in 5 different countries: United States - Salt Lake City, Idaho Falls, Provo, Jordan River,Ogden, Oklahoma City, Houston, Anchorage;Toronto Canada; Stockholm Sweden; Copenhagen Denmark; and Perth Australia.

-We have lived 3 minutes from a temple.It was awesome to have our chapel right next to the temple...we saw the temple every Sunday and almost every day!

-The furthest we have lived from our area templewas during our time in Norway, 18 hour journey to the Stockholm Temple.

-We were sealed/married on a Monday morning,in the Salt Lake City Temple by my Grandfather,who has served as a temple sealer since his temple mission in the Philippines. It was a perfect, beautiful, most happy day.

-I met half of Dave's brothers and sisters in and at the temple.

-My Grandparents, or our children's great grand parents who are living, have all been temple workers. And now, my children's Grammie is a temple worker too.

And, did you know there are 5 temples in Australia? Sydney was the first dedicated in 1984 (the 28th temple), then came Adelaide (89th) and Melburne (90th) in 2000, Perth (106th) 2001, and last Brisbane (115th) in 2003. Before there was a temple in Sydney, many of the early saints in Australia who joined the church moved to UT or they traveled to the New Zealand temple (11th temple) which was dedicated in 1958. There are many stories of families from Perth driving across Australia (a rather treacherous road, especially back then), then taking a plane from the east coast to get to the New Zealand temple. It was an expensive journey.

What special memories and blessings do you enjoy because of the temple? I am thankful to have a temple so near to us again. That is a blessing, but only if we do our part to get ourselves there and partake of that blessing.

Autumn and the Leaf

I have enjoyed a very long autumn here....or is that winter...or are we beginning to see spring...? Where I come from, it's mid summer and warm. But here, it's winter, they say. The leaves have been turning and falling from the trees since March, I think. First they turned just a little and fell just a little, but now that it is August, there are a lot more bare trees that have only been bare for a couple weeks, if that and, there is a blossoming tree in our neighbors back yard...does that mean spring is here, when the leaves that are going to fall have just finished falling? I think I am not feeling all the seasons like I am used to. Of course. This is, after all, Australia. When it is summer in the north, Australia is in "winter" with rain and temperatures that make me feel like the far North's summer...but it doesn't really look like it. Most of the lawns are lush and green, but part of the trees have lost their leaves and everyone is wearing jackets. It looks like Autumn. Autumn to me, but winter to Australians.

So, with a few months (4 at least) of Autumn, have come a few months of Autumn leaf pictures. I hope you don't mind me sharing the lot with you. I couldn't help but notice the colorful leaves in our yard. I have put together a "little" gallery of what I have seen.

Think I took enough pictures?

The end. Finally. That's only the best ones.

This last picture is not the blossoming tree. These flowers have been on the trees this last month of winter. The birds love them and I think I do to. There are quite a few of these trees lining a few of the streets here and their orange-red is quite stunning on a sunny day. I am sorry I have not gotten a full picture of one, just close ups while watching the birds. (If I get to it, I'll post those pictures later.)

Now you are probably thinking I am not busy enough....I stay busy enough.

I am thankful for the opportunity to enjoy the wonders of this beautiful world around me every day amidst life's ongoing journey. I am amazed at the details. They certainly aren't accidental. Australia has a lot of unique details to notice. So if you ever come to visit, remember to look a little closer at what you see.