DOW’ NUNDAH! - Introduction

                               “Dow’ Nundah!” 

-- Introduction -- 

I Come from the Land Dow’ Nundah!

Like most Americans, journeying to Australia— “Down Under”—has always sounded adventurous to me. Like most, I never thought I’d go. Unlike most, I had a sister, Malissa Snow[BaDS1] , who volunteered to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified for 18-months of her life.

"Sistah" - Darth Vader, Return of the Jedi

She didn’t know when she volunteered to go that she would be assigned to Australia, but she was thrilled when she got that assignment. LDS missionaries can be called anywhere, and that was exactly where she wanted to go—there or New Zealand, anyways, that neck of the woods. She is the youngest of five, naturally sweet and content to live her life without getting much attention. Part of that may be because her older siblings, of whom I am the eldest, have quirky personalities that occasionally call for any attention at hand. Whether she gracefully adapted to this or came gracefully prepared for it, I don’t know; I do know it’s easy to be happy for her. Thus, I laughed at loud with my own happiness at her                                                                                          reaction, which was as follows.

What I remember best is sitting on the couch watching a movie as a family, maybe fifteen minutes after she’d opened her mission call and assignment. She was sitting on the couch to the side of mine. As I watched, I suddenly heard a high-pitched sound to my left. It startled me, sounding a bit like a kettle boiling. I turned to see the sound was from Malissa. There was the faintest trace of sheepishness in her face when we turned to see “What was that?” but that was overshadowed—or overlit—by her radiant delight. “I’m going to Australia!” she explained. She was the kettle that had boiled over with happiness—unwatched, since that’s the way kettles boil best.

Like a pot, this isn't boiling because someone is looking at it.

 It was an emblematic moment of her, since, like I say, she’s never asked for too much attention. She’s rarely been watched as much as she ought to have been—maybe that connects to all the joy that is bubbling up within her

*

A year into her mission, she had learned to love serving—learned to lose her life a little more and to begin living the life of Christ—and Mom was planning a trip to visit her. Mom was excited to go meet the people that mattered so much to Malissa, and to explore Australia a bit to boot, so she’d set aside some funds for the two of them to travel together after Malissa’s mission ended. She had to fly from our home in Utah to Brisbane, then up to Cairns (an area Malissa was in and was loving—right by the Great Barrier Reef), then over to New Zealand before returning home. “If it’s not too expensive, could we go to Hobbiton too while we’re down here?” Malissa had asked Mom. The flight total for Mom was going to be about $1750. I heard that and was certain we could do better, so, that Saturday I spent 4-5 hours scouring every option online, and ended up finding all the flights she needed for around $1300. (4-5 hours to save 400 is about $100 an hour savings—per person. Not bad.) The main breakthrough, in case you’re interested in flying on the cheap, was realizing that flying one way from LA to Brisbane to Cairns to Auckland to LA was actually more expensive than flying round trip every time—as in, round trip from LA to Brisbane on both ends of the trip, from Brisbane to Cairns and back first, then Brisbane to Auckland and back last, then, as I mentioned, the flight back from Brisbane to LA.

Anyway, then we called a travel agency who had special discounts available and they said they could get the same tickets for $950. NINE FIFTY. 

"Fiftay! If it wus whon!" - someone in Braveheart that I couldn't find a pic of online

Suddenly I realized, freshman adjunct instructor that I am, even I might buy a ticket at that price.

So I did. (Sadly, the rest of our family couldn’t come due to various responsibilities. Malissa graciously allowed me to join in though.)

This next section of my blog (which has basically been brought out of retirement from several years ago), is dedicated to the meaningful moments of that trip. Early on in Brisbane we passed a freeway sign for a place called “Nundah,” which sounded like the second half of “Down Under” pronounced with an Aussie’s accent, and thus I introduce the title of these tales of travel:

“Dow’ Nundah!”

Oh, and I almost forgot. Just in case you haven’t ever caught a glimpse of Australia and thus don’t know how cool it promises to be, I recommend watching this video, which was officially designated by the Australian government to represent their most chill and friendly nation:

(Alternatively, you might watch Finding Nemo or The Man from Snowy River – both great flicks, just not as culturally representative as the aforementioned music video.)

Cheers for tuning in, chums,

Bentley

PS - Just got back from the trip, actually, which went from June 11, 2017 - July 6, 2017 (two July 6's, actually--stay tuned for more). Amid my other writing projects--most notably the trucking memoir, 6 Fingers Left to Lose--I'll be uploading my stories retroactively as I write things up from journal entries. I hope to get this done quickly before memories fade too much.