6 June 2021 A Plague of Mice? What next? Our graduates!

During the last weeks, we've had a number of experiences that remind us we are not in the U.S. anymore!  Primarily, the plague of mice that is over-running the rural areas of New South Wales.  The Aussies have dealt with months of bushfires  in 2019, the pandemic continues to cause difficulties for businesses and travel, and now a plague of mice.  Hay bales, siding, feed buckets are filled with the rodents.  Who knows if they are carrying any other disease. To add insult to injury, the animals rights groups are more concerned that the eradication of the mice must  be humane! Literally, hundreds of thousands of mice over running homes and ranches is a stunning sight on the news. Think the great movie, The Birds, only with mice!

What a horrific experience for the farmers and others living in regional  lands.  One little boy interviewed  after his home burned due to mice chewing the electrical wiring, said they had mice running over him while trying to sleep and now his family has lost literally everything they owned as they were not home when the fire engulfed the residence.  It is a ghastly scourge. As we had an assignment to travel to a northwest area last week, we wondered if we would see any evidence of the invasion. Fortunately, we saw no evidence where we were.   I don't think I could have slept in the motel if I'd seen traps or rodents!

We enjoyed the lunar eclipse right from our house.  We would run outside every 10 minutes or so to see how much the shadows had moved.  Our cameras didn't capture the scene as well as we hoped, but our colleagues in New Zealand sent his photographs out the next day.  So thanks to Jeff Edwards, we have a great memory of the evening. 

On our 6-hour drive to Grafton for a speaking assignment, we stopped in Coff's Harbour on the north coast to enjoy a lovely late lunch by the ocean and enjoy the view.  The fishing boats bring in the fresh catch of the day.  The walk along the jetty provides great views, benches, fresh fish, shops, and green space to enjoy.  After our break, it was back in the car and on to Grafton where we spoke in church the next day.  Friendly, welcoming people everywhere we went.  

The weekend before we spent with other senior missionaries visiting Featherdale Wildlife Park. The park has one of the largest collection of Australian wildlife.  It is the home of over 2000 native animals from more than 260 species.  Feeding the wallabies and kangaroos, birdwatching, loving the koalas and wombats, checking out the Tazmanian Devil, dingoes, reptiles, bilbies, echindas, and the other iconic Australian animals made for a relaxing day with friends.  Our Australian friends are probably not as in awe of the animals as I am.  Steve Pollard said he'd seen enough kangaroos munching on his property to last a lifetime!  But they all think watching the deer that are sometimes found in our backyard would be wonderful!  It's all about perspective.   

Beautiful, large birds; pretty fluffy kookaburra too

Featherdale has a substantial collection of koalas and offers encounters with them like we had in Port Macquarie.  This time we just watched.  But Nina Anderson and I did have our picture taken with one of the little marsupials.  

Cassowaries -just smaller than an ostrich or emu

Some wombats - we were excited to see some running about since they tend to be mostly nocturnal, sleeping during the day or burrowing underground.  Interestingly, their scat, or poop, is cubic in shape which has to do with their digestive system.    

And of course, the Kangaroos!

Emu

Echhinda

Tazmanian Devil

I am certain we are not finished viewing more that Australia has to offer.  I know we will be in Bathurst this month and there's a great reserve to just walk through and spend time with more kangaroos.  They may be more pest-like to some, just like the rabbits in my backyard, but how can I not enjoy this unique experience?  

Finally, two graduates of the class of 2021, a granddaughter and a grandson off to conquer the world!  Both having shown incredible scholarship, she thinks the law like her grandfather and uncle have embraced may be in her future, while he thinks engineering could be his choice.  For now, she's off on a Humanitarian adventure to Belize and he is home from early entrance into BYU working as they both prepare to be in Provo next fall. We could not be more proud of their accomplishments and examples they are to their siblings and cousins and all others!