The Australian Outback

Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia is located pretty much in the center of the continent. It is a mere 1500 km south of Darwin and about 1500 km north of Adelaide. Perth is about 2500 km to the west and Sydney is almost 2800 km to the east. In comparison to the USA -- it is almost the same distances as Salina, Kansas is to the N, S, E, and W extremes of the continental US. (Australia and the continental US are comparable in size.)

Alice (as it is called by the locals) has only 28,000 residents. But since it is the only town of any significance for almost 1500km in any direction, it provides transportation and shopping support for a very large area (over 800,000 square miles – of desert).

Over-the-road transportation takes on a whole new dimension. We think 18-wheel tractor-trailer rigs are big. I had to do the math twice to confirm the 78 wheels on this baby. They are called road trains.

It is primarily by reason of its enormity, along with the extreme heat, that the Outback is so impressively formidable.

Beauty and interest in New Zealand focus on water and vegetation. In the Australian Outback it is the rocks that are impressive. This mound of solid sandstone – Ayers Rock – is almost 1200 feet high and well over a mile from end to end. (Six miles in circumference)

Near the center of Alice is a small hill named Anzac Hill. I climbed to the top to get a better view of the town. Here I am on a beautiful clear winter morning on the side of Anzac Hill.

Since the Outback averages less than 5 inches of precipitation a year (less than half of what Utah gets), it is very dry and dusty. The utility vehicles are equipped with special air intake manifolds that pull the air from the top of the vehicle. They are also equipped with multiple spare tires and gas cans.

If you are going to stay in the Outback, you don’t want to sleep right on the ground (snakes and other undesirables like to cuddle in the cold desert nights). This vehicle is equipped with a car top tent. Just unfold it and POP – you can sleep on the car-top platform.

Trees and other woody shrubs grow plentifully in areas where there is water – occasional water. This river bed, like most in the area, last had flowing water in January 2009, prior to that it had been three years.

Even rental vehicles (that are authorized to “go bush”) are equipped with multiple spare tires. They also have spot lights and “roo bars” in the front.

Roo bars? Guess what they are for.

On Friday, after my meetings in Alice, I had a little time to climb some of the nearby mountains. They were mostly rock with a few bushes and wild grass.

Looking down from the top gave a good view of the desert floor below, with a typical unpaved road. The mountains in the distance are untamed. This picture reminded me a lot of Nevada.

Here is a close up picture of the road shown above. It isn’t much of a road at all, but it is used more than you would think.

Just so you don’t get the wrong impression, this picture is of a major roadway. (Unlike the last one, these roads are either named or numbered). We were travelling about 120 km/hr on this road when we hit a kangaroo that jumped out in front of us.

This is a picture of the springs for which Alice Springs got its name. It really isn’t a springs, it is just residual water left over from the last rain storm. This whole section of land is situated on a large layer of granite that prevents the water from percolating into the soil.

After climbing a few hills, I went for a long walk in the bush. This is what the trail I followed looked like most of the time. I chose to follow well marked trails because it is so easy to get lost in the bush.

There are hundreds of varieties of trees and shrubs in the Outback. Most that survive have either very hard and spindly leaves or waxy leaves (like the eucalyptus tree).

There is far more variety and color than you would expect. Variety in rocks, shrubs, trees, and terrain.

I found the Outback to be a beautiful desert with beautiful flowers and lots of variety in every direction and in every form. It is a land of extremes, similar to Africa.

The bush country of the Outback is full of wild life that has learned to adapt to the hot temperatures and the scarcity of water. This kangaroo is carrying a baby in its’ pouch, but it wouldn’t stand still for me to get a good picture.

It was too hot for the ants that made this nest when I took this picture. They were waiting out the sun, underground. The Outback really comes alive after the sun goes down.

This is a picture of a termite mound. They make these to help them survive the drowning floods, when it rains, and to stay cool during the heat of the day. It also protects them from their main preditors – ants.

(I’m the guy next to the mound – we had just finished a meeting with an aboriginal community called Alcoota)

It was while we were on our way to this community that we hit the kangaroo. We had traveled about a hour over a single lane road, and then turned on to a dirt road, when the roo jumped in from of us. Since we were going about 120 km/hr on dirt, there was little opportunity to do anything. It smashed in the front of the car, killed the roo and ruined the rest of our day …

Our purpose in going to Alcoota was to discuss the English language program that we prepared for the aboriginals to use in their community center.

This is a picture of the community center we met in. We had only a handful of Aboriginals that showed up the for training.

The next day we went to another bush community, named Mulga Bore. A Mulga is a native tree that the Aboriginals use for medicinal purposes.

We conducted church services in Mulga Bore. All of the men came dressed in the Sunday best – white shirts and ties.

Even the children were dressed for church. The Aboriginals are very soft spoken and somewhat shy. They are very anxious to please and are taught to be obedient. (We provided a light lunch afterward)

This gentleman, Gary Bird, is the leader of the Mulga Bore community. Because they are so respectful of sacred things, they want to be their very best on Sunday or when attending any church function.

Likewise they expected us to do the same. Consequently, those of us that had suits wore them.

Once I understood how reverent they are of sacred things, I nolonger felt over dressed in my suit. Actually, it felt quite natural for the occation.

The outback extends forever. Except for the absence of sagebrush, this section reminded me a lot of Wyoming.

Other parts reminded me of Idaho.

This picture could just as well have been taken in New Mexico.

But more than anywhere else, I found many of the sites around Alice Springs to look a lot like southern Utah.

This area, however, reminded me a little bit of southern Idaho.

To me this picture could just as easily been taken at Cedar Breaks in southern Utah.

The Wallabies, on the other hand, were completely unique. Very shy, they hid themselves in the tall grass most of the time.

This was one of my lucky shots; one out of a twelve isn’t too bad.

On Monday, I had some time to do a little more hiking in the mountains.

In some sections I had to pick my way through the rocks as I climbed the summit.

In other areas, the layers of shale formed steps up the side of the mountain.

Sometimes my path led me through desolate valleys and woodlands.

At other times I followed dried up river beds, hopping from rock to rock or boulder to boulder.

Sometimes the distant scenery looked almost Alpine.

At other times there was no mistaking that I was in a forbidding desert.

Sometimes the trail led me to a small oasis-like park.

But most of the time it was quite dry and crusty.

Almost all of my pictures were taken when I was out walking. The trails I followed were as varied as everything else.

I saw beautiful fluffy flowers with names that I’m not familiar with ...

And flowering succulents in the desert sands ...

Beautifully colored birds ...

Terrain as rugged, jagged, and rough as anywhere ...

Even the simple Aboriginal cave paintings added to the variety and intrigue.

So, if it is adventure you want ... meet me just 1500 kilometres north of Adelaide (but only in the winter time -- summertime tempertures hover around 115 to 120 F).

Oh yeah, ask me about the flies some time, when you have an hour to spare.

Wheelchairs in PNG

PNG, otherwise known as Papua New Guinea, has eleven percent of their population, or about 650,000 people living with physical disabilities. Much of these are deformities from birth, others are the result of diabetic precipitated amputations. With the rise of type II diabeties, amputations are becoming a major issue in most of our Pacific Island nations. For this reason we receive many requests for wheelchair project through out the Pacific. One of these projects, which we just recently completed, was in PNG.

The Humanitarian Department of the church purchased 670 wheelchairs from China. About half of them were shipped to Port Morseby, while the other half went to Lae. The wheelchairs are of a new design. Each chair comes complete in a single box, but requires on-site measurement and assembly to fit the specific needs of each recipient. The wheelchair has two extra wide rear tires and a single front wheel. Like a three-legged stool, it is very stable on uneven ground and paths in rural settings. The wheelchairs are provided free of charge to the recipients.

We partnered with two local organizations in Papua New Guinea. The first was the Rotary Club. Their primary role was to get the wheelchairs through customs without us having to pay any bribes, extra duties, or "special fees," which some times get tacked on by "agents" in third-world countries. The second partnering organization was the National Orthopaedic and Prosthetic Services (NOPS). Their role was to assemble and fit each chair to the needs and size of the intended recipient. They also keep records of each chair and the recipient so that the chairs won't become a source of extra income for the recipients. (The lady in the picture above is the Minister of Health for PNG.)

Along with our two partnering organizations, we held recognition ceremonies in both Port Morseby and Lae, Papua New Guinea. Attendance at the ceremonies included representatives from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, NOPS, Rotary International, members of Parlament. Also present were many of the wheelchair recipients and members of their families.

One elderly woman, who was so excited about her son receiving a wheelchair, couldn’t express her deep feelings except to say over and over, "thank you, thank you." Our Country Welfare Manager in PNG, reported: "Just witnessing the excitement on the faces of those being given wheelchairs, I thought to myself how lucky I am to be born normal. Some of these wheelchair recipients have never walked since they were born. This will be a new life to them because they will not be confined to one place. They will now fully participate in social activities like marriages, feasts, and village council meetings, or many other activities in the community."

Geography 101: Papua New Guinea is just north of Australia and possesses the eastern half of the island of Papua, sharing the island with Indonesia.

Closing Projects

Cold wet winter weather has kept us grounded for the past several weeks. So our usual reports of our weekend adventures have been without fresh information. Besides we have both been very busy in the office. I've been closing completed projects, like the one reported below, and Diane has been helping provide scholarships and grants to students in several of the island nations that we service, such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa. The following story was written in by one of our missionaries that has been living in Vanuatu for the past 18 months. This is one of the projects we have just completed there.

The residents of the island of Lelepa,Vanuatu situated north-west of Port Vila, used to have to paddle their canoes across a bay and then climb a mountain to a natural spring to fill their plastic bottles with drinkable water. They would then hike down the mountain and paddle back across the bay bringing their bottles of precious water home for drinking, cooking and other needs.

This had to be done several times each week and bad weather could change the task from being difficult to outright dangerous. When the chore was assigned to younger members of the village, they would be out of school for hours at a time.

Village leader, Chief Barry, was particularly worried about the health of local children. On one extremely hot day he stopped at his friend’s house and was greeted by several children from the nearby school. They had come to his friend’s home to ask for a drink as there was no clean water supply at the school.

All that changed when Chief Barry and other villagers joined with volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to come up with a solution.

It all began when Billy Kalo, a resident of the village, had a chance meeting with a missionary from the Church. Mr. Kalo described his village’s dire water situation to Elder William Rogers who then sent a letter to humanitarian missionaries responsible for requesting the Church’s support.

Many approaches to solving the problems were considered with the goal to get clean water to as many families as possible. A major aspect of the project was to provide a good water supply for the village clinic.

The council of chiefs designated their chairman to work with the missionaries to achieve all of the described goals. He was instrumental in arranging work support from the village and in organizing each day’s activities. There was strong support from the village with forty residents providing over 800 hours of labor.

The final project involved the placing of six large water tanks with the necessary collection system throughout the village. The water tanks have made access to clean water much easier for the entire village.

Volunteers from the Church’s humanitarian services have completed 19 clean water projects in the South Pacific since 2004. These projects are benefiting around 100,000 people in over 300 villages in Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati and Vanuatu.

Now, what season is this again?

We don't know what to think of the southern hemisphere! We think we're almost in the dead of winter - just passed the shortest day of the year. However, looking around, we're not really sure. The tree at the foot of our stairs is a bare skeleton - not a leaf left on it. The flower bed planted under it is a carpet of violets in full bloom, beautiful fragrent little purple flowers. In among the violets, spring bulbs have popped up - narcissus blooms. And then, in a pot under the tree, we have a Christmas cactus in full bloom. Down the street is a sweet gum tree full of yellow, orange, red and maroon leaves. And the grass is as green as ever. Rain, wind, sun, clouds, whatever you want, just wait and it will be here. So what season is it? Heck if we know!

We spent a nice leisurely Saturday at home last Saturday, socked in with fog – the first we’ve seen since we’ve been here. We cooked, cleaned, did laundry, had a haircut, read, talked to several family members via Skype, and just generally relaxed, but by the end of the day, we had a touch of cabin fever. We’re so used to being outdoors on Saturdays! We went for a long walk in a very silent evening, quieted by the fog. We were down on the beach for part of it, listening to a fog horn out on the water. Good day.

The week before we decided to go back to one of the first places we visited. It’s actually two parks, side by side. One Tree Hill, when acquired by the English, had...one tree on it! It’s one of the highest of Auckland’s fifty or so volcanos and can been seen from all over the area. We were there on a gray, blustery day the first time, but this time was a beautiful, crisp bright sunshiney Fall-like day. The road leading up to the top is lined with a moss-covered volcanic rock wall.

However, this time we decided, rather than walking up the road, to do the climb up through the steep fields. There are remnants of an old olive grove planted there in the late 1800s, as well as sheep and cows roaming in various places. These hills are steep and were terraced by the Maoris. The hill is said to have been a stronghold of the Maoris in earlier days. The terraces make the climb a little easier, because you climb for awhile, then hit a level spot, and then go up again from there.

There is monument is at the top, where we had a beautiful view of the whole surrounding area.

We could look out across a couple miles and see another volcanic hill and a range of mountains beyond it.

Many more trees now grow on the hillsides, and this was a big, beautiful one, with a little foot path going past, and a beautiful view of the surrounding area.

An English nobleman by the name of Campbell owned the hill and property adjacent to it, intending to build his home on the estate. He hired a landscape architect, who began laying out the grounds. The architect was familiar with Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and incorporated some of the ideas from there. The very long drive leading up to the future home site was planted with trees on both sides of the “carriage way”, intending for the trees to arch over the roadway in a canopy. They’re huge beautiful trees now, and do provide that archway. Another divided drive was planted with oaks on both sides of the street and in the promenade that now make a double arch. The promenade is also planted with bulbs and is said to be a gorgeous stroll in the spring, with the daffodils and blue bells carpeting the ground under the oaks. Once spring is here, we'll have to make another trip back here.

This Campbell guy didn’t ever build his house here, but instead deeded all the property to the city as a park. The hill is still One Tree Hill, but the remainder of the park is called Cornwall Park, and is free and open to the public year round. During WWII, an American Army Hospital was built on the grounds, and used to treat casualties of the Pacific battles. It has long since been demolished and the grounds returned to a park setting.

It was a beautiful crisp, sunny day and we thoroughly enjoyed our walk up the hill and around the park. We took a lunch with us and were so glad to have spent another wonderful day outdoors in this beautiful place.

Progress On Many Fronts

The weather in New Zealand has proven to be much cooler than we had expected. Mind you, it hasn’t been cold in comparison to most places, but it’s just been colder than we were prepared for. Auckland is situated on a very narrow strip of land which makes it quite susceptible to anything and everything that the two oceans send its way. The weather patterns literally change at a moment’s notice from east to west and back again, or from north to south and back again. The Tasman Sea is generally the coldest, so westerly driven storms seem to be the worst. We really don’t have much to complain about, comparing Auckland weather to other parts of New Zealand. The south island, which stretches half way to the Antarctic, is much colder. Our night time temperatures have been hovering around 3 degrees for the last two to three weeks. (Just like shelf prices in the store – that reflect Kiwi dollars, the quoted temperatures also produce “Sticker Shock” when we hear them, then we have to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit. Three degrees (C) is really about 35 degrees (F), which isn’t too bad. But without central heating, our flat isn’t always warm and cozy. Receiving some amount of rain almost every day seems to be the norm. But that is what makes it so green and lush – beautiful. In spite of these differences Auckland seems to be a much more outdoor climate than Houston, Dallas, or even SLC.

Last Saturday promised to have rain all day, but we decided to take our chances and we planned a trip to the Auckland Botanical Gardens. We enjoyed the day there and were only rained on a couple of times.

It was too late in the season for many of the fall flowers and colors, but the camellias were in full bloom.

Some of the camellias had already started dropping their petals.

We really enjoyed the day and the scenery in spite of the on again, off again wind and rain.

The following week was filled with work at the office until we had hardly any time to spare. I have two projects that are in the finishing up stages and consequently taking a little bit of extra time. We also have received approval for a couple of new projects that we are quite pleased with.

The first Project that is wrapping up involves the distribution of wheelchairs in Papua New Guinea. We sent a container load of wheelchairs to Port Moresby and another container load to Lae – almost 700 wheelchairs combined. Our partner on the ground in both locations was the Rotary Club, whose principle role was to get the chairs into the country without us having to pay heavy duties or bribes to government officials. The other partner was a group called National Orthopedic and Prosthetic Services (NOPS). They had responsibility for actually distributing the wheelchairs to the disabled. They also keep track of everyone who receives a wheelchair so they don’t get more than one, or sell the one they get – since we distribute them free to the recipients. It has been quite an education working in some of these locations where crime and corruption are so rampant. The wheelchairs we provided in PNG are known as “all terrain” wheelchairs. They are pretty neat chairs with extra wide tires, a very long wheel base.

The second project that is wrapping up involves the work of several missionaries that have been developing a program that will help Australian Aboriginals learn to speak and read English – Australian English.

We have produced 13 DVDs and 6 booklets that include pictures, words, and the spoken word to help them learn the English names of things in their own environment, basic conversational English, phonics and English grammar, and reading skills.

We have been duplicating these products to get them ready for distribution in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, AU. They have asked for 100 sets of materials, but I’m going to take 50 sets over to start with. Then we’ll see how well they are used.

We received final approval this week to purchase an electrical generator for a small village in Kiribati. The village recently constructed a community pavilion. It is the largest structure in the village and is intended to be used for community gatherings, celebrations, youth activities, etc. But there is no electricity in the village.

The only lighting is by way of kerosene lamps or open fires. So we are presenting them with a small generator that will be large enough to power some lights and some audio equipment. They are so excited about it that they invited the President of Kiribati to attend the dedication ceremony where we will be presenting our “gift.”

And finally, we also received approval for a school equipment project for Majuro, Marshall Islands. This project was the result of the Minister of Health and the Minister of Education working collaboratively to address a national problem – diabetes. They wanted to start teaching young children, their parents, and teachers how to grown their own “healthy” food. So with the equipment we are providing each school will be able to develop a “hands-on” vegetable garden that the children and teachers will tend.

The produce will go home with the children. Our role is to provide the gardening equipment, seeds, and books about gardening. The equatorial sun is so hot that one of the challenges in raising garden vegetables is shading them properly. In addition to these we are also helping them set up an athletic program for the schools, by providing all of the needed sports equipment. The country is so poor they can’t afford to supply their schools with these types of things.

We are now working with our people on the ground in Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu to identify villages for potential clean water projects. These will most likely be some form of rain water harvesting. More to come on this before too long -- I hope.

Wintertime Adventuring

With the winter weather setting in, we’ve been keeping a little closer to home for our adventures. Rain is the most consistent thing about winter, and wind is the next. We decided to bundle up and hit a couple nearby volcanos one Saturday. The town of Devonport is just south of Takapuna on a little jut of land out into the harbour. It’s actually where the first Maoris landed in New Zealand prior to 1300. It’s thought that they came from some of the eastern Polynesian islands up closer to the equator. Imagine paddling their canoes all that distance! At any rate, right there on the coastline are two extinct volcanos, Mt. Victoria and North Head. They are just pretty grassy knolls now, but have quite a history. We climbed up Mt. Victoria and the scenery was beautiful! However, the day wasn’t. Pretty cold and windy and grey, but, as you can see, we could look out all over, a 360 degree view.

Our classic skyline view with the Skytower

and the Harbor Bridge. We have two missionary couples living in the tall apartment building in front of the bridge. What a view they have!


Another skyline view from the top of Mt. Victoria

Because of this location, guarding the entrance of the harbour, Mt. Victoria and North Head became a strategic location for placing guns and other fortifications. The Europeans only began arriving here in about 1840, but have always feared attack from the north, either Russian aggressors in the 1870-80s, America potentially trying to gain a defensive location in the southern hemisphere, or preparing for Japanese attack in WWII. These hills are a maze of underground tunnels, almost whole cities! There are huge disappearing cannons that could shoot and then retract down into the hill out of sight, as well as gun emplacements on the top.

North Head, the second volcano, we saved for Queen’s Birthday, June 1, which is a national holiday here. North Head is only a mile or so from Mt. Victoria. Again, it was a bitter cold, blustery day, but sunny and pretty.

A much brighter sky! This is taken from North Head, looking towards downtown Auckland on the left, and the little hill on the right is Mt. Victoria. Doesn’t look like grass in winter, does it? Green New Zealand!


North Head still has remnants of the military housing and other military buildings that were built there. In an old cook house left over from the military days, they showed a pretty good film where we learned the history of this area. North Head, too, is a maze of tunnels and has a disappearing cannon. These cannons were fired at Rangitoto Island, five miles across the water, for practice. Luckily, it’s a different direction from Auckland. Rangitoto is New Zealand’s most recent volcano, erupting and forming an island only 600 years ago.

One of the many underground tunnel entrances

Rangitoto Island out in the sea

Because it was a holiday and the sun was out, there were tons of people out enjoying the day. The best thing about this place was how much fun the kids were having. First of all, all those tunnels to explore! And second was the steep, grassy hillsides. Every kid there had a piece of cardboard, and they were sliding down the hills. What a blast!! As you can see, these weren’t wimpy little slopes!

As we were walking along the top of this hill, we saw a narrow little gravel path take off down the hill. It led to a secluded, very narrow little stone stairwell that went down to the cliffs above the water.

We get so much enjoyment from our outings and love the beautiful scenery of of New Zealand! We hope that the pictures and stories we post will give you a little flavor of this great place.