Waiting at the airport

While we were waiting at Melbourne airport (for nearly 9 hours!) for our flight home we heard the dreadful news about the attacks on Brussels.  It made me think of those poor people who were just going to check in to a flight as we had just done and had no idea what awaited them in the airport building.  I was very thankful to get home safely and our thoughts and prayers are with the families who have lost loved ones.

Watching the news unfold at Melbourne airport

We also got a message from Jo, our daughter, during our wait, letting us know she was not well.  She travels by train a lot for work and had collapsed at Euston station in London and remarkably everyone just stepped over her and ignored her.  😢. Eventually one kind man stopped to help her to first aid.  It made me wonder what I would have done in that situation and hope it will make me more aware of people around me when I travel in future.  Poor Jo was ill all the way home to Manchester on the train and ended up in A&E later that night on a drip as she was dehydrated.  They did some tests and found she had severe gastroenteritis and is thankfully recovering now.

This is a strange Easter time for us this year as it is usually so busy but we are once again thankful for the gift of a complete break and making the most of every moment!

Cairns and Uluru

Waiting for sunset at Uluru

We had a great time in Cairns and thankfully the cyclone weakened so we were spared the high winds forecast.  We had a fabulous day out on a boat to the Great Barrier Reef and enjoyed wandering around the Cairns shops in the warm rain!

While at the Yulara resort we asked about Christian worship as we were there on a Sunday and found a small Christian fellowship who meet in one of the hotels on a Saturday evening so we went along to join them.  There is a transient population at the resort maintaining the hotels, airport, tourist industry and the small group of about 8 Christians gather every Saturday for worship in one of the hotel meeting rooms.  We've been here for three weeks and experienced three very different styles of worship which we have enjoyed in different ways.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta were awe inspiring though the resort was rather overpriced...captive audience!  

The little Christian fellowship at Yulara resort

Things we like about Australia

We love this country and here are some reasons why...

Free barbecues everywhere...and not vandalised!

• Free, easy parking everywhere
• Quiet roads
• Strictly enforced road rules
• Weather!
• Interesting animals
• Friendly people (mostly...not so much when you go,wrong on the roads!)
• Lots of space
• Beautiful birds
• Loads of things free...ferry, entrance to parliament building, national parks, trams in Melbourne
• Restricted alcohol use in public
• Lots of free toilets
• Voting is compulsory
• And Mark likes the trucks
• Plus see pics ...there are barbecues everywhere in parks and on beaches which are free to use
• Twice a year (in Melbourne area at least) people can put hard rubbish out for free collection...we saw piles of furniture, wood, toys etc at the end of people's drives waiting to be collected...our friend told us that people scour the piles and take anything they fancy before its collected...a kind of community free Cycle!  Brilliant!  

  

  Hard rubbish waiting to be collected or hunted through!

Meeting the president

Safely in Cairns waiting for the sun! 

Yesterday we had the privilege of meeting Ann and John Connan for lunch near Melbourne.  Ann is the world president of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women (the movement I'll be representing on behalf of Britain from the summer) and her husband is a Uniting Church Minister here.  We had never met before but as she lives in Melbourne it was wonderful to have the opportunity to get to know them both a bit before I see them again in Texas in August.  We had a great time and could have chatted all day if we hadn't had to move on!  We all knew one or two people from different places proving what a small world it is!

Today we flew to Cairns where there is a cyclone warning...first time we've ever had a cyclone warning leaflet in a hotel room!  Nevertheless we've booked a boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef for Friday hoping the rain stops and the weather clears a little!

Lunch with Ann and John

The day thou gavest Lord has ended

It's morning here and we just Skyped my parents who were just about to go to bed.  A strange feeling that we were calling them from the future!

This reminded me of the wonderful hymn, 'The day thou gavest' and made me think afresh of how hour by hour around the world someone is going to sleep and someone else is getting up and as the hymn says 'the voice of prayer is never silent'.  So as I pray for all my family and friends back in the UK fast asleep in their beds, someone will be praying for us as we sleep tonight.  Awesome!  Here's the hymn to remind you of the words...

The day thou gavest Lord has ended
The darkness falls at thy behest
To thee our morning hymns ascended
Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.

We thank thee that thy church unsleeping
While earth rolls onward into light
Through all the world her watch is keeping
And rests not now by day or night.

As o'er each continent and island
The dawn leads on another day
The voice of prayer is never silent
Nor dies the strain of praise away.

The sun that bids us rest is waking
Our brethren neath the western sky
And hour by hour fresh lips are making
Thy wondrous doings heard on high.

So be it Lord thy throne shall never
Like earths proud empires pass away
Thy kingdom stands and grows forever
Til all thy creatures own thy sway.

A different type of Sunday

This morning we went to worship at one of the Melbourne Hillsong churches...we didn't know what to expect but had a great time and were made very welcome.  Loads of young people, families and a few oldies like us...some loud music (that makes me sound old!) but it was a good time of worship and a brilliant preacher...coffee bar to welcome people and a bouncy castle for the kids.  It was an inspiring and uplifting experience and we really enjoyed our visit.

Taken from one of the viewpoints in the Dandenong mountains

This afternoon we went into the Dandenong mountains and enjoyed spectacular scenery.  We realised its a national holiday tomorrow here in Victoria so everyone and their uncle were out and about this afternoon but that makes a change here as we've had days of not passing anyone on the roads at all!

Journey to Melbourne

Apologies for strange order of photos...I don't seem to have complete control! Ha!

We haven't had wifi for a couple of days but now we are safely at our friends' house in Melbourne we are back in touch with the world.  On Thursday we drove the long coast road from Bateman's Bay to Bairnsdale, stopping a few times on the way.  One of the stops was at a quaint National Trust village called Tilba Tilba where we tasted cheese at a cheese factory, saw Devonshire teas for sale and some rather aptly named pickled onions! Ahem!

Mark was very happy to buy some local cheese!

We stayed a couple of nights at our friends' house by Lake Victoria near Bairnsdale and felt we relaxed for the first time this trip! Their house is right by a lake and we were privileged to see kangaroos in their garden!  We also visited a peaceful lakeside town called Paynesville and took a ferry to Raymond Island where we saw koalas, kangaroos, kookaburras and parrots in the wild.  It was amazing!

The lovely view of the lake from our friends' house

A wild koala in a tree

Today we drove to Melbourne and on the way took a 120km detour to visit the Wilson Promontory which is the furthest south you can go on the Australian mainland.  A wild National Park with beautiful pristine beaches and interesting animal warning signs!  Now we are here in Melbourne for a few days and glad that all our long distance driving is behind us!

On the road

Fire hazard

We left Orange early this morning and hit the road for Canberra.  We've seen lots of warning signs about kangaroos but so far have only seen three dead ones by the side of the road.  Hopefully we'll see some live ones before we leave!  We also saw a lot of fire warning signs as its been such a hot and dry Autumn fire is a real concern just now.  Thankfully the risk isn't too high just now!

The roads are so long and empty here...we hardly see another car and hardly go through any towns...we are reminded just how fast this country is when we look at a map of the whole of Australia and see that in all our hours of driving so far we've only covered a tiny corner of the South East.  

We stopped in Canberra and visited the Parliament Buildings old and new and also the Australian War Memorial where we discovered an original copy of the Magna Carta from 1297 brought over from England and the only copy kept in Oceania.  Amazing!  We've seen copies in Lincoln and Salisbury but didn't realise they had a copy anywhere else.  

We've felt so welcome in Australia and been so impressed...most places the parking is free, the entry to the Parliament building was free and when we entered a lady handing out maps saw we were hot and directed us to the drinking fountains and cafe so we could rehydrate...we feel so loved! 

Now we are in Batemans Bay and resting up before our long coast drive tomorrow.  

Outside the new Parliament building

Topsy turvey seasons

It's March, really hot, the leaves on the trees are turning yellow and beginning to fall, magazines and shops are advertising Autumn events and the shops are filled with Easter goods! It's hard to get my head around it all!

We have shared stories with Julie and Andrew about our respective times as mission partners and they like us missed the seasons while they were overseas and are enjoying the variety of the seasons again in Australia as we are in the UK albeit the opposite way round!

Orange is a great wine producing area and Julie and I tasted some fabulous varieties on Sunday afternoon...then our drivers came to take us home!  Yesterday we drove two hours each way to the wonderful Taronga Western Plains Zoo and I got to stroke a wallaby!  Today our hosts have kindly taken us around some of the local area...Canebolas Lake, Canebolas mountain (an extinct volcano), the Botanical Gardens (including the cottage of Banjo Patterson, writer of Waltzing Matilda), and to an old gold rush town for tea and cake.

Millthorpe...an old gold rush town...it felt like being in the Wild West! 

View from the top of the mountain

A koala licking the water from a tree

We're packing up now ready for a long day of driving tomorrow to Canberra and on to Batemans Bay.

Through the Blue Mountains to Orange

Three Sisters rock formation in the Blue Mountains

Yesterday we drove through the amazing scenery of the Blue Mountains and stopped at Katoomba to ride the cable car and see the awesome 'Three Sisters' rock formation.  We saw lots of warning signs on the road for kangaroos and saw a dead one at the side of the road but no live ones just yet!

Julie and Andrew made us very welcome and it's great catching up with them again.  This morning we went to one of Andrew's churches and Mark preached on the prodigal son.  We were made very welcome and as one lady rightly said, 'When you're part of the church you have family all over the world'...so true...it's such a privilege to be here and meet the locals.

We're not sure what our hosts have planned for us the rest of the day but we think it involves visiting a local winery!  Imagine how much I'll hate that!

Goodbye Sydney

Manly Beach

It feels weird to be eleven hours further on than the UK and I'm a bit confused when I think about whether everyone there is awake or asleep!  If you're in the UK reading this I'm writing to you from the future! Ha! 

We had a wonderful day in Sydney yesterday...we were up very early after sleeping for over 11 hours so we had a good long day...we caught a fast ferry to Manly and loved wandering along the beach and watching surfers practice for a major competition which is happening all this week.  Later we met Marks sister and husband and went up the Sydney Tower which gave us great views over the city, then had a meal with them. 

Today we are checking out and collecting a hire car then heading across the Blue Mountains to stay with friends in Orange.  We met these friends while we were doing mission training at All Nations Christian College and we are excited about catching up with them.  Since we last saw them they have been to Belize and us to Guyana and now they are posted in a fabulous place as are we!  We're looking forward to driving through some lovely scenery today on the way then Mark is preaching at one of their churches tomorrow morning.  

Safely down under!

Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour bridge from the boat

After what seemed like an eternity in the air we arrived safely in glorious, sunny Sydney.  Mark managed to sleep for about eight hours of the second part of the flight and I was a bit jealous as I dozed a bit but was too uncomfortable to sleep properly.  On the flight we had some lovely conversations with a couple of the young stewards and we think it must be quite a lonely job really being so far away from home all the time and having your body clock constantly messed up! We arrived at our hotel at about 0745 and although we had requested an early check in I think we were pushing our luck a bit!

Once we'd eventually checked in it was wonderful to have a shower and feel human before venturing out to find some lunch.  We knew that Mark's sister and her husband were also in Sydney for a few days and had planned to see them tomorrow but ran into them briefly along by the quay...it was very surreal meeting so far from home!  Mark and I did a harbour tour by boat and it was fabulous to be in the hot sunshine...no wonder everyone wants to live in Australia!

At the airport

I'm writing this while waiting at Heathrow for our flight to Sydney.  It was strange getting up this morning knowing I won't be showering or going to bed again until Thursday evening!  It made me think about all those refugees who leave their homes not knowing when and if they will sleep in a bed again and made me feel so thankful for all the comforts we enjoy in our lives.  We had an easy journey up country to the airport, handed over our car and had a quick and painless check in.  We now wait for our flight via Dubai and will land in Sydney on Thursday at 0650 local time.  Bye for now until we arrive down under! 😃