Day 19 - April 19th: Brisbane to Kempsey
We were driving again, so no photos to show. But we stopped at Surfer's Paradise and Byron Bay on our way. My favorite stop was at Byron Bay because it's just like Crawford Bay and Nelson, BC - hippies were everywhere! My brothers and I went shopping together, but I think they regretted it because I took forever in the shops.
Day 20 - April 20th: Kempsey to Sydney
We were still driving, so still no photos. As we were coming in to Sydney, we stopped at the Sydney Temple and walked around the grounds to stretch our legs. When we got back to the house, some of our cousins came by to visit and TiJ finally got to meet his Australian lookalike. When I went to Australia by myself in 2001, I met my cousin David and thought he looked like TiJ. When we came to Australia as a family, everyone that met TiJ said he looked like David, but we hadn't had the chance to meet him. And when we finally did get to see David, TiJ said he couldn't see the resemblance - of course.
Day 21 - April 21st: Shopping, Take 2
My batteries died. So no photos (I know! I really suck at this!). Me and the boys caught the train all by ourselves and went to Parramatta for one last shopping trip. We were at the same mall as before. That was when I met the clerk guy that I mentioned before.
Day 22 - April 22nd: One Last Hurrah
Yay! Photos again!
We went to see the Olympic Stadium from the 2000 Summer Olympics and it was so cool! They had poles all over out front and some of them had information about different parts of the games. One pole had the Sydney Olympic torch in it and another had bands on it to show the heights of the high jumping and pole vaulting records. I left wondering what Vancouver will do to memorialize the Olympics there. When we got back, the boys played one last game of footy with our cousins and broke into shirts and skins for the teams. The little ones wanted to get in on the action too.
Day 23 - April 23rd: You Say Goodbye, And I Say Hello
Another day of travel, so another lack of photo. Can you blame me? As I predicted, the goodbyes were tough. It was so sad to see Gramma Mele say goodbye to my Dad. It would be nice to see her again, but with her being 86 and on the other side of the world, the odds are against us. We had an evening flight, so when we arrived in Tonga, it was 2am. Although it was the middle of the night, it was a balmy 27 degrees celsius. Our Uncle Misi met us at the airport and brought us to his home; the place where dad grew up. It was pretty cool to see it after he's been telling us about it all our lives.
Day 24 - April 24th: A Whole New World
I awoke to the crow of a rooster and mosquitoes in my ear and I knew I wasn't in Sydney anymore - let alone Kansas. There were chickens and children and dogs running around the yard, people spoke very little english and I knew I was in for a culture shock. We went to the beach that morning and collected seashells and the boys went spearfishing for the first time. In the evening we went to the plantation where we were shown how to prepare banana leaves to be used for cooking and how to husk a coconut. After my first day in Tonga, I could tell I would like it.
On the beach by our hotel (or beside the beach if you want to get technical)
Day 25 - April 25th: Checking Out The Island
It was a beautiful day and we would have swam - except it was Sunday. So we drove around the island instead and saw the sights after church. First we went to the blowholes. In Hawaii they have a couple blowholes, but in Tonga there is a whole coastline of blowholes. The waves crash up against them and it really makes you respect the power of the ocean. After the blowholes we went to the Temple in Nuku'alofa and snapped a few photos. Me and mom snuck off to meet the temple president, Elder Eric Shumway. Mom knew him back from when she was a student at BYU and he was the president. Then when she came to visit Tonga in 1986, the Shumways were there as he served as Mission President and she stayed with them. When Mom heard that he was there again this time as the Temple President, she had to go say hello. Elder Shumway was really cool and you could feel the love he has for the Tongan people. When we finished meeting with the Shumways, the family got going again and we made one last stop at the Ha'amonga; the Tongan equivalent of Stonehenge. It was really cool. TiJ even climbed to the top of it.
Day 26 - April 26th: Rain, Rain, Go Away!
It rained all day. But luckily we were in Tonga and not Canada, so it was still warm while it poured. The boys had camped on the beach the night before and got drenched. They'd originally planned to stay another night, but changed their minds. I went out to see them on their beach and my cousins showed me all the different mollusks along the shore that could be eaten. I even tried a few of them. Once we got sick of being rained on, we went to the fale (house) and played cards for most of the evening. And ate. We also ate.
Day 27 - April 27: The Final Goodbye
The rain finally let up in the morning and the day turned out to be sunshiney and beautiful. So naturally, we hit the beach. Mom and I finally got to go snorkelling and the boys went spear fishing one last time. We saw a lot of beautiful fish and we even found Nemo! TiJ and Keanu speared a few fish and Keanu got an octopus too; it was really cool. Since our flight didn't leave until 9, we had lots of time to to stay at the beach and soak up some final rays.
April 27th, 8pm
Our plane landed in Calgary and Canada greeted us with 8 degree weather. I was in a skirt and flip flops.
April 28th
It rained all day and the highest it got was 4 degrees. Our tans are fading.
Today, April 29th
Still raining and still cold. There's even been some snow. FML.
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