The Long and Winding Road......

The Royal National Park  This national park is full of gum trees, palms, and pine trees that we have never seen before.  It was peaceful, cool, and silent except for the noisy birds that are always making their presence heard.

As we left Saturday Morning at about 8:30, the sky was clear and blue and the forecast was for 60 degrees.  We had a speaking assignment in Ulladulla - about 229 kilometers south along the coast.  We had already been to Wollongong, and this was past that another 1&1/2 hour drive.  Australia has more than 500 National Parks and we drove through 7 on Saturday and Sunday.  Ulladulla has a small branch of the Church and our goal was to drive down on Saturday, sight-seeing as we went, speak on Sunday morning, and drive home Sunday afternoon.

Hymans Beach - the whitest, softest sand in the world!  We spent an hour here with plenty of other tourists.  We did not go in the water because we think it is cold in the winter!  Others are not as logical.  

 Australians take very good care of their beaches and this one was exceptionally clean, including the water.  They have laws about water drainage and are always careful with trash - so the place was spotless!

 Elder Feil, why are you playing in the water??  Oh, your wife told you to stand there while she took a picture! Some nice tourists offered to take our picture and we returned the favor.  

Jervis Bay and the light house or the rubble thereof.  They built this lighthouse in 1860 but it was in the wrong place, and the wrong color and didn't work so well as a lighthouse.  So great was the fall.  But the view is still amazing and it helps to use the lighthouse as an introduction for my talk on prayer.

 

 What a name for a town and a beach.  We are almost to Ulladulla now as the sun begins to set in the west.  We use a GPS to find our way around and for the first time, it did not work on the motel address.  But after calling the motel, we were not far away.

This is the best use of a tire that I have seen.  I'm sure there are crafters that would pay big bucks for one of these planters.  Or maybe this should be a Relief Society craft project.  

Here it is-Back to the Future!  And the Branch President offered us a chance to stay at his house, after we had made the reservation :/  This was taken Sunday morning before going to church.  At the office on Saturday they had to get an "impression" of my credit card.  Gee, 1970's.  It was just as "quaint" on the inside.  We did have a good day at church.  Molly played the piano and we both gave talks in Sacrament Meeting. The highlight of being there was talking with those attending afterwards.  They are a humble and stalwart group.

Here's the church building.  It's located inside next to a chinese restaurant.  It has been fixed up nicely and works well for church services and activities.  Fast Sundays are a little hard because of the smells from the restaurant.  A counselor in the Branch Presidency blessed the Sacrament while the only young man present passed it to the congregation.  There was one young boy in Primary.  Relief Society and Priesthood Meetings are combined.  But they sang the hymns louder than most Wards we've been in.  We felt loved and we loved them.  And it is true, as Paul said "and  all were edified".  The next time we drive the Long and Winding Road, we will have friends to greet us.