Playgrounds

Let’s talk about playgrounds in Australia. FIrst off, they have a playground about everything 3-4 blocks, so every child has access to a place to play. Secondly, they are all uniquely designed to not just be fun, but are artistically presented to look attractive. The landscape is even covered with flowering bushes and ornamentals. If you don’t look for it you won’t notice they went to the trouble to beautify the land and provide variety for wildlife. Third, it is apparent that outdoor recreation is not just important for children but for all ages. There are significant chunks of land set aside for walking, playing, sporting, and even just meditating. Most of the time there are also pavilions for eating and even barbecue grills powered by gas.

Because each park is so unique, Henry and I have been park hopping and I made a video to show you some of the variety. The granddaddy of them all is the pirate ship park in Point Cook. When we lived here before it burned down and the city council decided it was too expensive to rebuild. The *children* organized themselves together, collected support and signature from the community, presented their wishes to the council and WON. I’m happy to report that we got to play on the results today!

My second favorite park is the airport park. I love how they carry the airport theme all the way into the benches and pavilion. (Not shown are the benches shaped like suitcases.) Henry noticed today that on the side of the slide there is a slot for a hot wheels car to slide down! How unnecessarily fun!

Third place for me is the crocodile park. It is a great place to go on a hot day because it has water running through most of it. However in true Melbourne fashion, it went from blazing hot 97F/36C to 63F/18C in one day. But we still had a fun time reconnecting with it. The park is positioned right along a water way with lots of boardwalk paths for adults to take a stroll, and even has a spot with no railing so children can learn quickly how stupid it is to disregard their mums telling them not to go over the edge. You have to grow up with a healthy dose of caution and awareness if you’re going to survive the natural dangers of Australia!

As quickly as this area we are in is expanding, I’m constantly wondering who is making all these decisions about city planning. And who is designing every playground? What a fun job! Henry wants to do that. They are not just purchased from a playground company. Every one is a custom design and is different!

It will be an entirely separate discussion to explain the way they structure and view their work/life balance to allow them the time to actually recreate together. But suffice it to say Americans could learn a few things from them.

Christmas in Melbourne

It's magical to enjoy Christmas in warm weather. 

Impressive Architecture

On our first afternoon in the CBD, we needed a mental break from all the activity of travel and exploring. We slipped into one of the libraries at the University of Melbourne. We found ourselves surrounded by soothing textures and sounds. One side of the lounge had plush blue couches in soft oval shapes that hinted of flowing water. The other side had sandy colored straight benches. The flooring reflected the contrasting features and even the air conditioning vents were placed on the water side so it sounded like ocean waves. I noticed as I moved down the hall, the colors got more red, like the red rock center of Australia, and the seating got progressively more firm. The blue couches, the sandy benches, then upholstered stools, and finally wooden benches. It was so impressive, and is just one illustration of how Melbourne never does anything just for function. Everything looks interesting and beautiful. Every building is skillful presented to be a work of art.

Henry appreciated the good architectural elements here and in the city in general. He was started to embrace the vibes of the city and looked forward to returning the next day.

Flinders Station

I could lay on my back and stare at the ceiling of Melbourne Central for a long time. But it's a busy mall. 

This is a bridge decorated with airplane shaped wings just because it's cool.

Part of the beautiful pedestrian bridge.

Imaginaria: The Future of Playgrounds

 While trying to orient Henry to the pulse of the CBD, we ended up in the Docklands area just outside the CBD. Henry had been looking forward to riding the giant Ferris wheel, The Melbourne Star. 

Which we discovered is permanently closed. A Covid casualty. Whoa. That mental shock required a food stop at San Churro that was thankfully close. 

Henry saw something called "The Imaginaria: The Future of Playgrounds." It was in a huge inflated structure and looked interesting to him. So I paid for admission with what I would have spent on the Star and we went it.  

At first I thought it was just a bounce house with mood lighting and was unimpressed. But Henry was having a lot of fun and then I started to notice the uniqueness of it. There was a large rotating floor. It moved very slowly. Overhead was a large screen. It was showing the image of the people on the rotating floor. So when you laid on your back and looked up, you could feel yourself moving, but it *looked* like you were stationary because the overhead image moved with you. It was mesmerizing. And kind of relaxing. 

They had a lot of soft rubbery tubes hanging from the ceiling with lights shining on them so they were all lit up. You could walk through them. It felt like grass blades but looked like colorful rain. It was also relaxing. 

They had a huge talking AI head that you could ask questions. There was a hallway with mirrors that looked like a giant kaleidoscope you could walk through. It was eery, but also...relaxing.

Henry had fun with an interactive round screen that responded to touch with lots of little dots of light. It looked like glitter in a snow globe, but if rotated on the screen along with your movements. 

Henry was running around a lot having a blast. And I was letting go of some stress too.  

Getting ready to leave!

We spent a lot of time doing the math on how to do luggage. We only get one piece of checked luggage and one carry on. It’s fine when we first leave, but on our flights to Perth, Tasmania, and back home to Utah, a carry on can only weigh 7kg, or about 15 pounds. Most of the carryon suitcases weigh 7-8 pounds when it’s empty. So we had to take less carryon than normal. If we all took a typical carryon-sized suitcase they would have to be mostly empty to pass weight. Fortunately Allen has a Tom Bihn obsession and has collected some handy travel bags over the years. They don’t roll, but we decided he and I would use those and carry them like backpacks. We were trying to decide if we wanted to check another large bag ($100 each of three trips) or another small carryon suitcase for Henry (free the first flight but $100 each of TWO trips leaving Melbourne and Perth). The dilemma is that it’s free the first time, but it doesn’t carry as much stuff. If we take a large bag, we have to pay $100 *three* times, is it worth it to have the space on our return trip for souvenirs? We messed with that math for two days and finally decided to take the carryon bag. If we need more on the way back we will buy a suitcase with the $100 we saved, or use a box. 

Now I have to tell you how dumb it is that we obsessed about that because our tickets were over $2800. EACH. ONE WAY. An extra $100 just doesn’t matter. And Allen’s employer is paying for the airfare. Now I have to tell you the story about the airfare.*

We stuffed everything from my office and our bedroom into Henry's room. That will make for less trips to the basement when we get back. 

One of the last things I did at the house was to clean up the succulents and repot them. No, not because I'm crazy. It's because I knew that was optional and I'd only do it if everything else was done and I had time. And I did. I also took some sweet pea seeds and sowed them out front around the sunflower stem from last summer. It’s still wrapped with vines from the morning glory that grew well, but never flowered. I hope the peas will grow up the pole and greet us when we return with blossoms. 

I got a notification while we drove to the airport that our gate for the flight leaving San Francisco to Melbourne had changed to G9. No worries.

United was super helpful. I had already checked in and printed our boarding passes at home. There was absolutely no line at security, but I feel like I used about 6 bins for all my stuff. That doesn’t include Henry or Allen. Both my bags were flagged because they have so many snacks in them. :) I know how bad things are when Henry gets hangry. 

After security we needed dinner. Cafe Rio was the first restaurant. It was way easier ordering with an easy kiosk, instead of a person with a Spanish accent yelling fast at you “pinto or black?”  Henry came back from the bathroom and said, “that was the nicest public bathroom I’ve ever been in. Five stars so far.” And shortly after that said,  “I feel completely stress free right now.” 

That changed while we were sitting at our gate eating dinner when we found out they had changed our gate. He didn't like having something undone. He just wanted to BE THERE ASAP. So even though we had plenty of time, we had to scarf down dinner and move to settle his head.

Got another notification that the gate for San Francisco had changed to G6.

I had been trying to find a good time to call my mom before we leave the country and our phones won’t work for a bit. I texted her after we ate dinner and said “I’m finally going to call you after my bathroom trip.” Well I almost lost my phone to the toilet. It was in the inside pocket of my jacket and it just tilted enough to come out with out my realizing it. Yikes. Mom would have been waiting for a very long time. 

Henry called his best friend Max a few minutes before boarding and they talked as long as possible. Even after we had boarded. 

They had to de-ice the plan and we got some cool video. I’d never seen that before. 

We landed in San Francisco early even after taking off late. Got a notification that the gate had changed to G5.

Then it was G4 *and* delayed 30 minutes because they were waiting for a gate to become available. I figured that meant they didn’t actually have G4. 

And sure enough a few minutes later we got a notification it was now G2. 

It took a long time to board. Every passenger was checked with biometric screening. I didn’t show my passport or my boarding pass. I stood in front of a scanner that compared my face with my passport on record. They could tell who I was! Creepy. And they did that for 280 people.

While we waited to taxi to the runway I couldn’t stay awake anymore. I fell asleep…and woke up to find that we were still at the gate. I’m not sure why but because they were delayed finding a gate they were still refueling and getting the plane ready. We didn’t leave until 12:45 or so. Departure was originally 11:00 pm. This meant that we actually did have 45 minutes of December 20. If we had left on time, we'd have landed in Melbourne on Dec 21, entirely skipping the 20th because of the international date line. 

During the 16 hour flight, I had time to evaluate our neck pillow purchases. 

Pains in the neck pillows

Neck pillows are a fake industry. They don’t actually work. I bought a very expensive one for Allen back in August that has higher sides and can be anchored to the back of the chair. But the opening in the very front offers no support for your chin at all. Your chin just slides right between the two sides. And it’s just not snug around my neck. I bought a contoured one that is also very loose but when turned sideways can offer *some* support. The child sized one I got for Henry in the spring was useless for him but he liked the adult sized one *when* we tightened it with a Velcro strap (eliminating the chin gap). I bought another one that said it was smaller and made for people 90-140 pounds. It still fits incredibly loose and required a Velcro strap to offer any support at all. But because it’s smaller, the height of the neck support is lower. So I got to sleep, but woke because my neck was incredibly uncomfortable. 

I have bought and returned 3-4 pillows, and even the ones I kept are not that great. Allen’s seemed to serve him well as far as neck support. It has a strap that you can actually secure it to the back of your chair so you don’t slump over. But the loop strap on the case completely broke while he was getting on to the plane. It was $40. More than twice the cost of the other pillows. 

Allen’s: Cabeau $40. Good side support. Held secure to the back of chair. But no neck support and fit me too loosely. 

Henry’s, $22. Very loose for me. Worked well for him but only with a velcro strap we had to add around to squeeze it tighter against him. 

Mine-sized “small,” $15: still loose. Required a Velcro strap. Lower height offered less support for my neck. Worked a little better if I turned it sideways but then support was only on one side. Would have been better if turned backward but the Velcro cinching I had to do made it bulky there so I couldn’t turn it backwards. 

Velpeau Neck brace. This is the one I bought for Henry but had to return because I followed their sizing instructions but it was too tall for him. I think this would have been the one to get but we didn't have time to order another size. 

Those neck pillows you see in the airports for $20 can offer side to side support but won’t do anything to support your chin. That would be fine if you were able to recline and keep your head back, but an airplane chair doesn’t really recline enough to lean your head back, so your chin will still fall forward, especially with the bulk of that pillow behind it pushing against it. 

Moral of the story. You can sleep on a plane when you are tired enough, but you can’t *stay* asleep because the pain in your neck will wake you up. Unless the Cabeau fits you…and it doesn’t fall off the strap before you make it to your seat. 

Febraury 2024 UPDATE: 

I've been burned by so many other neck pillows. They clasp under your chin but your chin falls right through the opening, and you can't make them tighter at all. I'm a thin person so most adult pillows just don't fit me snuggly enough to offer support. Child pillows fit better but aren't tall enough. I basically was done trying. But I saw another very expensive neck pillow featured on a website and thought maybe I could find a similar pillow and just add my own eye mask. So I started searching for a wrap around neck support. I found this BUYUE, and for the low price decided to give it a try (I got it for less than $18). This one is so adjustable and legitimately supports my head in a way that doesn't feel like I'm being squeezed. I can wear it in different positions. The back doesn't feel so bulky and push my head forward. And it even comes with an eye mask! The very expensive pillow that inspired my search was $150! This is a fraction of the cost and I'm very happy with it. 

Airfare drama

*Airfare drama:

We bought tickets back in August because some people from Perth said Singapore Airlines was a fantastic airline, very organized and comfortable for travel. They loved it. It was also the cheapest flight. Definitely longer travel time at 44 hours (!), but I was just trying to be responsible. BYU is paying for the tickets, but when we first proposed this sabbatical, the budget for airfare was $7000, round trip. And then the war in Ukraine changed that reality so it was actually $8000 on the cheapest airline. And it was going to take 44 hours to get there. Ugh. But, you know, I was trying to respect the budget and do my part. I can buy a good travel pillow and just sleep, right? And pack snacks and then still have 5 months (minus one extra day) in Australia. 

A few weeks after buying the tickets, I got an email that our flight from Salt Lake to San Francisco had been cancelled and I needed to call to make a change. I did, and they offered me a flight that actually left later but still arrived at the same time so we went from 44 hours to 36! Yay! 

Then it was too good to be true. A few more weeks passed and they cancelled the Salt Lake flight again. But offered nothing to replace it. They told me they would have to 

1) email Singapore Airlines to see what changes they would offer

2) I would get a response in 4-5 days with a new itinerary. 

Ok. 

Never got another email. 

So I would call again about 10 days later. 

This time they would say 

3) they would escalate this issue to priority status, and 

4) there was no need to call again. 

Except there *was* a need because I never got an email. 

I repeated steps 1-4 about 6 times. It went on for 75 days. 

I am not a pushover and I don't take things like that quietly. 

Prices for tickets were now over $4000. It was cheaper to keep this booking and buy my own one way tickets to LA. Then they said I can’t do that because if I don’t show up in Salt Lake for the first flight they will consider me a no show and cancel the rest of my bookings. I said “if I don’t show up for WHAT in Salt Lake? There isn’t anything for me to not show up to!" Ugh. So they said they’d have to 

1) email Singapore Airlines to inform them of my plan and 

2) wait for a response. 

Oh my freaking gosh. At this point I had lost all faith in their ability to get me there. I said just cancel the booking. 

And can you believe,... they said... 

1) we’ll have to email Singapore Airlines to grant a refund and

2) it may take up to 8 weeks to receive my refund, and it may not even come until after my travel would have started. 

I’m furious. Actually I was furious about 2 months ago. They had already had my money for 2 months and I needed it back so I could buy new tickets (which were going to cost 50% more now). I had to call in the big guns.

I called VISA and disputed the charges. Within 24 hours I had my money back and the case had been settled. 

Bought tickets for $8500. But this time they were only *one way.* Yikes. I'll still have to buy tickets to get home. It will likely end up costing the $4000 per person. 

But here is what I learned. God loves me. He said “Shelly, I appreciate that you wanted to be frugal and were willing to make sacrifices to keep the cost of the tickets low, but I’m paying for these tickets [it’s a church owned university] and I want you to have a good trip.” The travel time went from 44 hours to 19. Nineteen. It felt like a luxury. And it was the perfect moment to rebuy them because I checked again on prices a month later and they were still the same price, but the low travel time option was no where to be found unless I paid about $9000 PER PERSON.

God loves me. And he’s taking this trip with me. 

Now I have to tell you about my fish hook.*

My Fish Hook for my journey

When I left Australia last time, a friend from New Zealand, Elaine Ahokava, gave me a fishhook necklace made from bone and shell. It holds significance to the islanders. You are not supposed to buy them for yourself. It’s supposed to be a gift. It offers protection and spiritual guidance on your travels and “journeys.” The shell piece fell off a few years ago and Nick Crockett (who also understands the significance of the hook) said he could fix it with bone cement for me. But then the pandemic happened and I never got around to taking it to him. In November I realized I need it before I travel again. So I asked him and he said he could do it but it had been so long he had forgotten what needed to be done. For some reason I felt like I should take it with me to Stake Conferfence in case I saw him. I did, but it was rare to see him because he’s in the bishopric of a YSA ward. He isn't usually in our building at all on Sundays. Two weeks passed and I’ve been worried he’d forget, and we are leaving soon. I didn’t want to bother him or remind him and make him feel pressed. So I was at the temple one day and was praying for a lot of things on my mind. Things I want for our family desperately, but know it will be a long time, if ever, that they will be granted. Another thing I asked Heavenly Father for was to remind Nick about the necklace. I explained that I didn’t want to make a big deal about a necklace and demand something of someone who is already busy and has no obligation to do this on my timeline. 

Nick showed up at my door that night just before dinner. I texted him later and told him about my prayer and thanked him for listening to God. He said, “It actually explains why I felt so strongly that it had to be done today and in your hands. Isn’t it wonderful how He is in the details of our life. It’s as though today He said, ‘yes Shelly, I see you.’ “ Yes. Because if he heard that prayer, I know he heard the other one. So now this hook means even more to me. It really is a reminder that God is my Guide along my journey.