We just happened to be in Sydney May 30 – June 3, 2019, for the annual “Vivid Sydney” light shows where there are light displays on the Opera house, the Harbour Bridge and several of the downtown buildings.  It was a great event which only lasts three weeks. We also got to revisit the Bondi to Coogee beach walk, and visit Manly and Shelley Beaches as well as Palm Beach this trip in between the meetings and legal work.

Though rain was predicted, we got lucky and were able to do a fair bit of hiking, scored great street food at Spice Alley which sold every kind of Asian food imaginable, whale watched (just a couple of weeks too early), and spent an hour at the Chinese Friendship Garden at Darling Harbour.  This site was a refuge of peace encircled by noise, cranes, skyscrapers and an energetic, cosmopolitan vibe.  The gardens boasted the usual koi, carved wood pagodas and benches, stone animal guardians and zig zag bridges and walkways designed to keep evil spirits away, and even rented beautiful Chinese clothing to those who wanted to “be in the zone”.  We just loved Sydney and were glad to have a car there so we could cover some territory.  Gordon will return there many times.  Tahiti is on the horizon for the two of us in the near future!

The sweetest time for Julie was another visit to the Sydney Temple where we went in March, this time for a J. Reuben Clark Law Society conference. Because it had been just over a year since my mom passed away I was able to perform the temple ordinances on her behalf and Gordon and I were proxies as my parents were sealed to each other, to their parents and then I got to be sealed to my parents.  The Temple presidency went above and beyond to come early and make themselves available so this could happen and Gordon could still make his meeting that evening in downtown Sydney.

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Having arrived on May 8^th, we are coming up on our one-month milestone in New Zealand at the end of this week.   It hardly seems possible!  As we moved into an unfurnished flat, we started off feeling like we have been doing a bit of camping with no can opener, vegetable peeler, knives, etc.  But now we have a bed, table and chairs, two sofas and a dresser so are living comfortably until our 40 boxes arrive – hopefully by the end of June. In fact, wwe just learned that our shipment is here, but will be “clearing customs” for the next ten days.

Everyone we have met has been so welcoming; the transition has hardly been a sacrifice.  The challenges are things like tortilla chips not tasting like tortilla chips, the lack of parking in and around town, not knowing where things are, and knowing the best products available to use around home.  Gordon has done a terrific job of converting to driving on the left side of the road, both here and in Sydney. I need to start taking the car out by myself – if only to the grocery store.  I will do that soon – as soon as I can make my way out of the steep, narrow, twisty labyrinth leading up to street level from the lower basement of our parking garage.

Gordon works hard day and night with a constant stream of calls and emails that will never slow down and must be addressed “right now”.  This whole “retirement” thing was a mirage! I am teaching Relief Society this Sunday and speaking in Sacrament meeting the next; Gordon is speaking in Sacrament meeting tomorrow.  I have been asked to help teach English to a group of women on Wednesday nights, to show up at the Mission Office on heavy days and especially at times of transfer. And, I am looking to join groups that are already feeding the hungry or doing other humanitarian work.

It has taken awhile to get used to the terms “courgettes”, “capsicum”, “minced beef “(zucchini, green pepper, hamburger) on the menus and the sticker prices in the grocery stores.  The prices can be so high I have to fight the urge to boycott many products.  But the eggs are fresher, and the apples and carrots amongst other things are so much sweeter and more tender!  Of course the ice cream, well let’s not even go there because I’m convinced I gain a pound every time I even talk about it or look at it.

The restaurants here are excellent and represent every nationality on earth.  As food prices are so high anyway, people tend to go out to eat a lot.  We have had our share already of Indian food, Turkish, Italian, Thai, Vietnamese,  Indonesian,  Greek,  Mexican,  Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese,  mid-Eastern and American.  There are so many Asians and Indians here. The responses coming out of their mouths in thick kiwi accents and style never fail to catch me by surprise.

Basking in sunshine and vistas

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Cheers!  We are loving life here in Takapuna!  Granted, living out of a suitcase and eating out most every day is a little tiresome (we are so grateful for that occasional home-cooked meal!) but otherwise, life couldn’t be much better- unless you were here with us!

Geographically speaking, Takapuna is to Auckland as Mercer Island is to Seattle.  The traffic is really, really bad going over the bridge and there’s not much there for us so we’ll be happy staying put in this beautiful little piece of paradise.  There’s a long, sandy swimming beach a few blocks away facing the spot where America’s Cup will be held next year where we have gone to walk to see the sun rise or set.  Legend has it that President Nelson swam out to the volcanic island a couple of miles out and back about ten years ago.

The people here are so great!  Almost without exception they are relaxed, love to laugh, and are full of faith and goodness. They are also very patriotic it turns out and fervently sing their national anthem, first in Maori, then English “God Defend New Zealand”.  They also know and use their original national anthem “God Save the Queen” being a part of the British Commonwealth.  Perhaps what I love best is the fact that the population is so diverse.  On every beach, in every bank, in every restaurant, you see people from every part of Asia, every island in Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, Australia, England, Ireland, Scotland, USA.  There are transplants from France, China, Brazil among other places and intermarriage of all types barring none.

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With the temple in Hamilton having closed for renovation last summer and the one in Auckland not being completed for maybe five years, the closest temple is in Sydney, Australia.  Gordon had meetings there March 6-8, so I got to take some names through for all ordinances and then go work across the parking lot at the Mission Office. 

Julie and Michi had a chance to sightsee in Syndey while the guys were meeting local lawyers and dining at a fancy downtown restaurant.  With its iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House, Sydney was as beautiful as ever!

Last Wednesday through Friday we got to attend an Area Leadership seminar in the gorgeous Bay of Islands.  We were treated to lunch on arrival and a boat tour of the bay. We were fortunate to be one of the 3 in 10 trips in that big tour boat to successfully “thread the needle” sailing through the heavily photographed Hole in the Rock.

Our three days in the Bay of Islands was a fabulous experience to rub shoulders with so many faithful, consecrated husbands and wives who have worked tirelessly in building the kingdom of God in such places as Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Kiribati, Australia, Tonga, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tahiti, Marshall Islands where the church has made great headway in helping organize and finance humanitarian projects involving clean drinking water and sanitation.  We walked along the beach and grassy acreage of the Copthorne hotel near the treaty grounds where New Zealand was founded, hiked, shopped, ate, sang Karaoke, played games for two days and had a hard time saying goodbye!

Yesterday, we were invited by one of the Associate Area Legal Counsel and his wife – Elder and Sister Riggs from Tennessee – to drive north and hike the Ecology Walk in Tawharanui Regional Park and nature reserve.  The views were spectacular and being overcast early on, I only got slightly burned.  We started our hike by walking through “the bush”, resplendent with fern trees and abundant cicada and other tropical noises. Before descending to the beach, we found ourselves surrounded by green meadows, wood fences and sheep in a “Sound of Music” like spot.  Believe it or not, the Pacific Ocean was pleasantly warm, and I would have gone right in swimming had I a suit or a towel.  By next week, it may all be different as fall is technically here.

Church is from 9-11am for us at the Takapuna Ward -just 5 minutes away.  We will end up attending there four weeks in a row on this trip!  Everyone is so welcoming, and we are starting to feel part of the ward already.  We scoped out the cultural hall and there is room for a pickleball court, so I am working on finding a net to bring down.  That way we won’t be at the mercy of the rec center where 15 – 18 senior missionaries and friends play every Tuesday. 

We were here during the national tragedy in Christchurch on March 15^th, when about 50 Muslims were fatally shot, and 50 others injured by a reputed white supremacist who entered a Muslim mosque during Friday prayer.  No one can understand or believe that this has happened in such a peaceful country with no such history.  At the same time, two LDS meetinghouses were burned to the ground also in Christchurch and in Greymouth under suspicious circumstances the week before – but fortunately no one was hurt.  At church today, many were shaken and tearful as we sang all five verses of “God Defend New Zealand”. 

To end on a positive note, a touching story was related about a girl who just returned from Manila where she attended the temple and learned of a precedent set there.  Last summer it seems, a large family who had saved all their lives to be sealed there as a family were preparing to go upstairs.  All dressed in white, the Temple President sensed that they weren’t as happy or excited as they should be. “We are happy and grateful” they said, “But one of our daughters is not here and can’t be sealed to our family today.  We are missing her.”  The 15-year-old daughter lay in bed at their home, never having left the house due to having a cranium that had never completely closed – leaving her brain exposed.  They were asked to wait and a short time later, the President returned and said that President Nelson had approved a living proxy to stand in for the daughter.  The entire family was sealed for time and eternity that day in the Manila Temple.

We left for Hamilton on Tuesday to see the site where the temple is being remodeled and where the former Church College of New Zealand was.  Gordon attended more meetings and we returned today by way of the infamous Pokeno’s ice cream place. 

To end this visit we leave next following Tuesday for 4 nights in Manila for OGC (Office of the General Council) Area Cluster meetings.  Our flight home will take 24 hours (13 hours in the air and 11 more in time changes) so we actually land in Seattle 15 minutes before we leave Manila!  Then we have two days to gather everything we’re sending down in the 300 square foot pod they are shipping for us.  It’s going to be interesting- stay tuned!

Thanks for joining us!  Gordon and Julie Tanner –

Here is our address in NZ: 24D Killarney Street, Takapuna, Auckland 0622, New Zealand. Our emails remain the same – Gordon:gwtanner@gmail.com and Julie: tanclan55@gmail.com

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton