Our visit to Melbourne…

(A long post…probably will be boring to most everyone…haha)

On Sunday, July 13, 2025 we flew to Melbourne. That morning we went to church at 9:00 am to our Forest Lake Ward and got to sit by Elder and Sister Sansom, whom we really love and enjoy! They are serving their mission here in Brisbane as the welfare and self-reliance Senior missionaries. Their home is in the Salt Lake City area. They get to visit different wards in our mission and chose to come to ours that day. Elder Sansom served as a young missionary in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission, just like Duane did! I love when they are together and sit and tell stories of their mission experiences! It was sooo fun to see them that morning at church! We love them!

After Sacrament meeting, Duane and I were all packed and ready to go to the airport. We drove back to the house, loaded up our suitcases and then drove to Elder and Sister Hill’s home, which is near the airport. Elder and Sister Hill said they would be happy to drop us and the Keil’s off at the airport. We loaded all of our luggage into the Hill’s van and off we went to the airport. We thanked them profusely for taking us to the airport! We were standing in the line, making our way to the check in counter, when I discovered I had left my purse in the Hill’s van…in the very back seat. Dang! I hurried and called Sister Hill and told her about my purse in their van…and told her I was so sorry! She said don’t you worry and she would have Elder Hill bring it quickly back to me! We were almost to the check in counter when I called the Hill’s. We all checked our luggage into the Virgin Australia counter and then waited about 12 to 15 minutes for Elder Hill to return with my purse. Elder Hill is such a great guy! I thanked him profusely when we saw him hurrying toward us from the parking area of the Brisbane Airport. I even gave him my coveted package of double coat chocolate “Tim Tam’s”…the only thing I had with me…my way of trying to say thank-you to him!

Our flight to Melbourne was almost three hours and we landed at about 5:45 pm. It was already dark when we landed…and it was very chilly, which we had expected, since they are colder than Brisbane in the wintertime…which July is winter for them.

Elder and Sister Keil rented a car and so did we. As we drove to our hotel, a section of their motorway had really cool, curved blue and purple lights over the lanes of traffic.

Peter Howell, who is the director of Family Services for Victoria and South Australia, had made our hotel reservations at the Novotel Glen Waverly Hotel…a very nice hotel…which was close to the Melbourne Mission office and Melbourne Temple. Thank you so much Peter! We love Peter…he is such a great guy…so very kind, patient and genuine!

I was excited for Monday, the 14th, because we got to see President and Sister Anderson again! They are the brand new mission leaders for Melbourne and are from St. George, Utah. Elder Nelson and I got to meet the Anderson’s while they were still in St. George, back in March when our son Logan moved to St. George. The Anderson’s are awesome and we love them!

We had a very good meeting with them Monday at 9:00 am. Sister Keil was able to spend about an hour telling / training them about the new Emotional Literacy program that Sydney and Perth are already doing in their missions.

Monday afternoon, we left at 2:00 p.m. so that we drove with the Keil’s one hour and forty minutes to Philip Island, which is a gorgeous little, resort island. Peter Howell had purchased tickets for all of us to go to the penguin parade that night once the sun went down. We were all excited to go watch the penguins surf in from the ocean! Peter told us that once we get on the island to first go to the most southern part of the island, to a place called “The Nobbies.”

The Nobbies is known for its huge rock formations and breathtaking coastal views of Bass Strait. There is a wooden boardwalk that winds along for about 30 minutes, providing amazing views of the waves crashing, the seals sunning and of the mesmerizing Blow Hole, a sea cave that pumps dramatic, powerful waves in and then pounds the water back out of the cave! We stood transfixed at the Blow Hole watching the crashing waves being sucked in and out. We were just glued to the spot and enjoyed watching the power of the moment in front of us! We felt so blessed to be there walking along the boardwalk and seeing all the spectacular beauty around us! Duane and I kept saying, “we can’t believe we are here!”
We walked the boardwalk with the Keil’s back to our car and then drove over to the Philip Island Nature Park where we got to be part of the Penguin Parade!

Elder Nelson, the Keil’s and I met Peter Howell and Elder and Sister May at the Penguin Center. The Mays are from Twin Falls, Idaho and Elder May is serving as the Melbourne Mission Health Adviser. We love the Mays and were so happy to be with them for the parade and for some of the rest of the week. Such great people we are getting to know!

Oh! My! Word! What a magical experience…we LOVED it! Every night at sunset, the smallest penguins in the world, Fairy Penguins, come surfing onto shore and waddle quickly inland to their burrows, where their babies are waiting to be fed. This is such a magical, fun, cute experience and we again feel so very blessed to have had this experience!! Once the sun sets, the nature park does not allow any photography AT ALL! They are very strict about this and ask that all cell phones be completely put away. Even when a few people tried to be sneaky and sneak their phones and try to snap a picture, the rangers were right there to enforce no photography. They did say that there are pictures inside the Penguin Center that were free and we could use the QR code inside the center and scan the photo’s for free, which we did. I also looked online to see any pictures that others may have posted and there are a few plus several fun video’s on YouTube.

We sat on the cement bleachers as it got darker, listening to the waves hitting the beach. Such a calm, peaceful moment! Soon the sun was down…about 6:31. The dark orange lights behind the bleachers came on and soon the Fairy Penguins started surfing in. The park rangers told us ahead of time to sit very quietly and not make any noise so we didn’t scare the penguins. Everyone sat there just soaking in the magical moment, watching the little penguins with full belly’s waddle towards us! I loved how everyone had a smile on their face as they sat and watched. I wish Pres. And Sister Anderson had been there with us. They wanted to be but couldn’t tonight. Such a wonderful experience! I really loved it! I couldn’t thank Peter enough for purchasing the tickets for us! We walked along the wooden, dimly lit boardwalk back up to the center. As we walked, we could hear the penguin babies making their noises. We said our goodbyes to the Mays and to Peter, ate dinner with the Keil’s at the Penguin center…loved my unique can of water I ordered for dinner. After dinner, Duane drove us the long way back to our hotel.

Tuesday, July 15th, we were up early, ate breakfast at a fun café near the hotel and then drove to the mission office where a chapel is…about ten minutes from our hotel. We went to a Zone conference, to be with some of their missionaries and to hear the Anderson’s teach. They did a great job teaching their Zone. I wish I had had my notebook with me so I could have taken notes. So mental note…try to bring my notebook with me each time!

We got to meet Elder Wi Repa, whose parents are serving as mission leaders in Perth right now. It was so much fun to meet him! The Anderson’s left right after Zone Conference and flew to Tasmania to have a Zone Conference down there. We saw them again when they flew back.

After Zone Conference, Duane and I had an appointment at the Apple store in the Chadstone Mall to get my phone looked at. My phone, which I got brand new at Christmas, has been getting quite hot whenever I barely use it and the battery drains rapidly. We were in the Apple Store for over an hour as they tried to figure out what is going on. The Chadstone Mall is HUGE! I mean really HUGE and seems like a very upscale mall. I could have walked around for hours and just let myself get lost for awhile, but didn’t.

Wednesday, July 16th, was wide open to do what we wanted. Elder Nelson and I drove into downtown Melbourne to ride the city tour bus we had reservations for. As we drove, we both noticed an exit for “Batman Avenue.”

We had a VERY funny thing happen to us. Duane had made reservations and had prepaid for the two of us to take a hop on hop off sight-seeing bus around downtown Melbourne. We got up, grabbed some breakfast and then drove to downtown Melbourne and parked in their downtown parking garage.

As we came out of the parking garage, we saw our Hop on hop off bus just pulling up at the stop a few feet away. We quickly walked up to the bus and the nice driver flung open the doors and asked if we were the Nelson’s? We said yes. We noticed the bus was completely empty. He then explained that the bus company was a brand new start up that was not yet officially licensed to operate. He said that their website was not supposed to take reservations but had somehow taken ours. Their company decided not to disappoint us, so they sent our driver, Brian, with one of their brand-new buses and he arrived at the bus stop we had indicated we would be at, just as we walked up, so he could give us our very own private tour! We were both really surprised and started laughing! Our driver said that he usually only does the driving, not the commentary. He got on his phone to try to get someone to come join us to give a commentary as we drove along, but he couldn’t find anyone available. Brian, laughing and smiling really big, told us, “Well, I guess you’re stuck with me.” He then said to go ahead and sit up top in the front, which we did. Off we went for the next two hours on a private tour and enjoyed the most hilarious commentary we have EVER heard!

Brian drove us around and we LOVED listening to him speak in his wonderful Australian tongue! We loved being about to sit back, relax and enjoy the beautiful city of Melbourne! We loved seeing their parks, buildings, China Town, the neighborhoods and so many other things! What a delight!

Brian drove us past the Anglican Cathedral and told us that there had recently been a scandal with some skateboarders. He drove us through a very rich, posh neighborhood, where the homes start at almost 2 million and said if you have money you can live here, but if you’re like the majority of us poor blokes, you’ll never get near these homes. Sometimes Brian would totally forget what he was saying and would tell us, “I’m having a brain fade.”
Brian drove us by the Museum of Contemporary Art and told us how boring the outside of the building was. Brian told us about their parks and as we passed by one park, we passed some joggers. He then said how they have joggers…if you are not normal like the rest of us and are into that sort of thing.

Brian drove us past the old Young and Jackson Hotel heritage listed landmark and said, “This hotel here is where every young bloke that turns 18 goes for a rite of passage…to see Chloe! He then asked, who is Chloe you may be askin, well she is the pretty young thing that was painted nude on the wall in 1909. Every young bloke comes to see her…and you may be wondering did I? oh, yes I did make my way to see Chloe!”

Brian told us the long story of how in 1932 the Australians were furious at the Americans! He went on to tell us why. The famous big red Australian racehorse, the mighty “Phar Lap” the world’s greatest racehorse at that time, a gorgeous beast, perfectly healthy and strong, who was predicted to be the greatest money maker of all time, was shipped to America, to California, to race against our best horses…and somehow mysteriously died. When word of Phar Lap’s sudden death reached Australia, it spread like wildfire and Australians were furious at Americans and accused the Chicago mob of having a part in Phar’s death! Many believed Phar Lap had been deliberately poisoned. Brian told us they shipped Phar Lap back home to Australia, still furious at Americans, and eventually pulled out a tail hair from Phar Lap’s tail. After some testing and further investigating, Brian said it looks like the stable boy unintentionally gave Phar Lap a large dose tonic or feed made up of arsenic, cocaine and strychnine. Duane and I had never heard of Phar Lap, but now we know so much more about him.

Another thing Brian told us was, as we passed by the beautiful old, Catholic Church, he said, “Here is the oldest Catholic Church in Victoria. I don’t know if you are Catholic or not, but my sister is and I went to my nephew’s confirmation. A Catholic’s hell must be sitting on those hard benches for more than two hours. I could hardly get up afterwards.” Then Brian had a good laugh at his bench memory.

Brian had us gut laughing up top in our “private seats!” We could hear him but he couldn’t hear us laughing. So funny! For two hours he had us laughing and I know he wasn’t trying to, he was just talking like he would with a bunch of his best blokes! I wish we had recorded him for the entire two hours, but we didn’t. As we drove along, people would wave to us as they saw we were the only ones on the bus! We LOVED every minute of it! At the end of two hours, we thanked Brian for giving us a WONDERFUL tour and we slipped him a nice tip…even though tipping isn’t done down here in Australia. We really loved our private bus tour with Brian! We drove over to the famous Lygon Street and ate a delicious pizza place.

Thursday, the 17th, we grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonalds and then drove about 40 minutes southwest to a chapel in Werribee, so we could attend a second Zone Conference, which was just as amazing as the first one two days earlier. We had to leave the Zone Conference for about an hour to be a part of a Zoom Meeting. We were able to rejoin their Zone Conference right before lunch. We got to visit more with Pres. And Sister Anderson and again, they are wonderful! We also got to visit more missionaries, who are so fun to be with. After lunch, Elder Nelson and I helped clean up, take down tables and sweep the floor and help in the kitchen.

We drove back toward our hotel in Glen Waverly. Elder Nelson needed to go visit a few hospitals and clinics, which he enjoyed. Elder Nelson had a lot of calls and Zoom meetings with the Dones from the Sydney Mission with some things needing attention there. Elder Nelson also got a phone call needing to help the new mission leader on the Marshal Islands. Later that night we went to the Melbourne Temple and loved it. On the inside, it looks almost exactly like the Brisbane Temple.

Friday the 18th, we had enough time this morning to go to the hotel swimming pool and get some exercise in. I took my Ipad to the pool and did my morning routine exercise “30 minute power walking / marching / kicking / sliding routine” in the water. We both usually do this exercise routine in the hotel room or back home in the living room, Haha.

Elder Nelson had more Zoom meetings and more phone calls that kept him busy for about two hours. Afterwards, we drove into downtown Melbourne with our friends, Elder and Sister Keil and had a really fun time with them. Sister Keil and Elder Nelson had another Zoom meeting with the Sydney mission leader about something going on in the Sydney Mission, so Elder Keil and I just sat on a nearby bench and waited for them to finish.

Around 1:00 pm, we drove over to the Melbourne “Queen Victoria Market” and had fun walking around looking at what seemed endless booths stretching in every direction. There were dozens and dozens of food choices and we each grabbed lunch. After eating, we were just starting to do a little shopping, when we saw many people taking down their booths. We didn’t realize that the market closed at 3:00 p.m. Darn! I wanted to look for some little souvenirs for my grandkiddos. Elder and Sister Keil purchased a couple of things, which was fun.

We left Victoria’s Market and Duane drove us around downtown some more and then back to our hotel so that we could grab some dinner from one of the many choices around where we were staying. Elder Nelson and I ate dinner at a very crowded Thai place around the corner from the Novotel Glen Waverly Hotel.

We received some good news! Pres. And Sister Young Yen, the new mission leaders for the Lae Mission, FINALLY received their Visa’s and were able to arrive just after midnight to the Lae Mission! Pres. And Sister Hosea finished serving three, actually I think four weeks earlier, toward the end of June, which left the missionaries without a mission leader until today.

Saturday, July 19th, we had paid for a 13-hour Greyhound bus tour to drive us to see “The Twelve Apostles” (about 120 miles from Melbourne) and to drive along the Great Ocean Road. Elder and Sister Keil decided to join us on this tour. We had to meet our bus at 6:30 am in downtown Melbourne. We were there about 20 minutes early. Soon our bus arrived and we got to meet David, our driver and tour guide. It was a long drive to get out to see “The Apostles” but I really enjoyed the drive and being able to see the beautiful countryside of Melbourne. We made several stops along our drive so we could get out and explore for a few minutes.

At one stop, we walked along a cement pathway at Loch Ard Gorge and saw stunning shear limestone cliffs and turquoise blue water coves. It was gorgeous! The Twelve Apostles are part of Port Campbell National Park.
We LOVED the drive through gorgeous, green Victoria countryside…lots of rolling hills and, trees, kangaroos and sheep. We pulled off the road at one point and walked down a dirt road with trees and meadows. David wanted to show us three Koala’s that were up in the trees. We loved the “The Twelve Apostle.” After walking down to the amazing lookout area to see the Twelve Apostles, and coastline, which we LOVED, we then drove to a resort town, Apollo Bay, for lunch. We all had fish and chips, except for Elder Keil who was having a really difficult time getting sick from driving so much. Poor guy! Not a fun time for him.

After lunch, we drove along the Great Ocean Road and couldn’t believe the stunning coastal views, sheer cliffs and turquoise water! At one point it started raining slightly, and rainbows followed us along the coastal highway. It was so pretty! Our last stop was to hike up to Split Point Lighthouse, set in a beautiful setting against the cliffs and ocean below.
It was a long day, but oh so worth it! We arrived back in downtown Melbourne around 8:15 pm and then drove to Glen Waverly. Glad we got to do this adventure with the Keil’s and make a fun memory together.

Sunday, July 20th, we were up early, packed our suitcases, checked out of the Novotel Glen Waverly and grabbed some McDonalds for breakfast. Elder Nelson and I had the morning free before we needed to fly back to Brisbane. We chose to go to the 9:00a. sacrament meeting at the chapel in the mission office area. We didn’t realize it, but it was Pres. And Sister Anderson’s ward. We got to see them briefly and visit for about 15 minutes. They said they would love to have us come back to Melbourne, maybe in January, so we can go to Tasmania. We told them we would love to come back and will look forward to it! We love the Anderson’s!

Before we took off for the airport, we stopped and got pictures in front of the Melbourne Temple.

We made our way to the airport and then flew back to our home base, Brisbane leaving around 3:30 pm. The Keil’s flew home early this morning. Elder and Sister Hill were kind enough to come pick us up at the airport. We love them!

We LOVED Melbourne and feel incredibly blessed to have the service opportunity that we do…to serve our Savior, to help where-ever we can and to be meeting so many wonderful, delightful people…like the Andersons, Peter Howell, the Mays and the Keils. What a blessing! And of course, I am grateful for our pizza waiter that we met that day on Lygon Street who stood and visited with us, made us laugh several times and then took us on a private tour of the very old section of the building where their pizza joint was located…it felt like stepping back in time. He was so fun! And I am so very grateful for Brian who was utterly delightful and brought us joy on our bus tour! What a great memory to take home with us!

I can’t seem to find all the words I want to use in order to express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father and our Savior for all the blessings and tender mercies they give to us daily to enrich our lives and to help, lift, comfort and guide us. I am so deeply grateful to them for bringing all the amazing people that have come into our lives over the years and for the friendships we have made…and are still continuing to make…especially here in Australia and Papua New Guinea!

We feel so grateful for this wonderful world we get to live in and all of it’s unique, stunning beauty, majesty and charm!