On the bus to Accra!

My apologies for the problems posting these blogs...I pray I have them all worked out now!

Our flights went well, customs was a little slow coming into Accra when some of the fingerprint scanners stopped working, but all our bags arrived and we were waved right through security. Our 24th team member, Arie, who came from Texas was happy to see us as he had already landed 7 hours earlier and had been patiently waiting for us. Simone and Jackie, our drivers, and Forsby, our hotel host, we're waiting for us. The best surprise was seeing Carol Mensah there waiting for us too!

The Mensah's were all together for Christmas this year. Elizabeth left last week and Deborah left last night on the plane we came in on.

We are on the bus. We slept fast, had a wonderful breakfast and we feel really privileged to have Carol Mensah with us for this bus trip :).





We've already become separated from the cargo truck with Jackie driving, and Glenn & Donnie are with him. We are presently waiting on the side of the highway for them. Simone is not looking concerned, so we know we'll all come together again soon :)

The roads have improved a little here in the city so far on our trek...with your prayers and great drivers, we expect to be in Carpenter by 6ish tonight (hopefully no flat tires to delay us again this year). :)

Until Carpenter where I hope to find a good signal,
Kim

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

June 1-4, Port Stephens & Sydney

Port Stephens/Soldier's Point was our city of rainbows. The rain came and went several times during our stay, so we didn't see a beautiful sunset or sunrise, but we saw a few rainbows...even a partial double rainbow. Anke made us a wonderful breakfast of fruit, sausage, bacon, eggs and fried mushrooms...yum! Tony made sure he showed us the 40 year old alligator scull he had in the garage before we left :)

On our drive to Sydney, it rained off and on, but the sun shone when we got back to Brittany's house. Something special that we couldn't have planned any better, was that we got to see Brittany and her band's performance of 7 songs! We were early enough to watch the set up and sound checks, and then had front row seats to watch. I have to brag...Brittany was really great and received great accolades from the judges:) It was really nice to welcomed by some of her bandmates and to see her housemates again.

Any of you that know Joe well, know that he is not a great at being a regular sightseeing tourist...being busy and working with his hands is his joy. He has done really well this trip, but when he saw a car in Brittany's driveway that needed some repair, he got right on it. Without tools, he could only do so much, but he left the car owner a note with the couple of things left to do so they can get it back on the road :).

Joe also made himself at home in Brittany's kitchen making burgers with Courtney and Lina on salads, and Brittany made a wonderful guacamole as a burger topping...wow! So good! Joe and I made our way to our hotel that evening while Lina and Courtney stayed at Brittany's.

On Friday, Joe and I were back at Brittany's to help make a sausage and egg breakfast before we headed out for The Blue Mountains. The sky was clear and blue, so the view was quite beautiful, although once you've been to Grand Canyon, nothing truly compares. We then had an amazing lunch at the 'Common Ground Cafe'. Awesome atmosphere and a menu full of nutritious meals made of wholesome tasty ingredients for great prices. Unfortunately the main street stores of Katoomba weren't much to talk about, but Joe and I did take time to check out the local hardware store that looked like it was that same location for about a hundred years.

Dinner that night was the pot roast that Joe had put in the slow cooker that morning. Three of the housemates were there to share it with us along with friends Lisa and Chad. Lina had bought a wonderful cake for dessert and we spent a couple of hours at the table discussing everything from our experiences on mission trips we'd been on and the world's major problems to the challenge of living in college housing with some sometimes untidy housemates :)

I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to Brittany. We are so thankful for our Skype dates with her, but there is nothing like having her sitting a the same table, walking next to her or getting one of her hugs...possibly the best hugs in the world :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

May 31-June1, South West Rocks & Port Stephens

As planned, we continued to head south to South West Rocks.  Shortly after we left Byron Bay, we came across The Macadamia Castle.  The girls were really excited to take a photo with the giant knight, so we quickly pulled in.  We enjoyed a breakfast of Carmel Macadamia Pancakes (stacked pancakes with macadamia ice cream, macadamia nuts & carmel drizzled over it all); Macadamia bread toasted with yogurt, fresh fruit and macadamia nuts; Canadian pancakes with bacon, sausage & maple syrup.  Yum!  The girls didn't choose to check out the play castle, petting zoo or the outdoor playground, so we continued down the Pacific Highway :)

Our next stop was at the Giant Banana at Coff's Harbour.  More photos and a chocolate banana muffin, frozen banana on a stick covered with chocolate & nuts & a banana blizzard later, we were on our way.  No time for the ice rink, playground or a banana plantation tour :)

We then chose to turn into Nambucca Heads where we bought some paint to leave our mark at the 'V Wall'.  The pier is lined with large stones where for years people have stopped to paint something on one of the stones.  We painted a Canadian flag with our last names, the year and Ont. Canada Eh!!!  and Joe's signature happy face.  We were all so glad we took the time to do it :)

We finally arrived at South West Rocks were we got out of the car and were almost deafened by the sound of the birds!  Courtney, who just loves birds...not!, had to record some of it so that everyone would see how brave she was.  I have never heard birds that loud before...even in a zoo!  We checked into our room at the Heritage House Bed & Breakfast.  Our hostess Trish was very nice, and we ate at the SeaBreezes Grill & Pub after enjoying another awesome sunset on a beach!

The girls then chose to watch 'Finding Nemo' (on VHS!) as it was set in Sydney (I had never noticed that before!)  That night, we were hit with an amazing wind and rain storm.  It rattled the windows and things were banging outside.  I heard it and was able to fall asleep again...I figured that the house we were in was built in 1867 and it has survived this many years, so we would be just fine.  In the morning as we drove to the Smoky Cape Lighthouse, we drove over many small branches in the aftermath of the storm.  

Our drive to Port Stephens was really quite uneventful although we drove through our first real rain since we've been here.  So far most of all the rain that has fallen has been at night.  When we arrived at Mitchell's Bed & Breakfast here at Soldier's Point, the sun was trying to come out, but the wind was still blowing pretty hard.  Anke & Tony are wonderful hosts that welcomed us with some loaf and tea.  Because of the choppy waters, we were not able to see any dolphins off of the deck.  Normally the waters here are home to hundreds of bottlenose dolphins which can normally be easily seen.  We went into Nelson Bay and walked around the shops a little and had some grilled fish and rotisserie chicken for dinner.  The evening was busy with showers, free wifi and Lina & Courtney enjoyed playing cards.

Tomorrow we are having a 7:30 am breakfast served by Anke, and then we head to Baulkham Hills when at 2, Brittany and her band will be performing for their second time this term.  I am so excited that we get to be here for it!!!  Pray that she is ready for it...since we hi-jacked her weeks' plans by showing up, she hasn't had a chance to practice in about 2 weeks.  

I'm back!!! May 26-30

It's hard to believe that I have had the opportunity to come back to Australia exactly 4 months to the day after I left! I left January 26th, and arrived here May 26th! This time was super special because Joe is with me and we got to surprise Brittany!!!

Courtney (Brittany's friend and Ren's girlfriend) and my sister Lina were planning to visit Brittany in Australia once Courtney finished up college. In helping them plan their itinerary, and preparing for our trip to Ghana Africa with a mission team, we decided to set up the dates in a way that we could travel the coast together as Lina was a little nervous about the prospect of driving on the wrong side of the road, and rental companies don't like to rent to drivers under 25. We decided to arrange that we would join them at the airport the morning we would be flying in from Africa, to fly to Fraser Island for a holiday together. One of the most exciting parts of the plan was that we decided not to tell Brittany that we would be there to join them :)

For about 3 months we were able to keep the secret, which was amazing because I couldn't help but tell everyone about the exciting news. As Joe and I sat at Terminal 2, Gate 39 in Sydney waiting to see Brittany's face for the moment she would recognize us, I wondered if when they checked in if the surprise would be ruined as I had purchased the flights under the same confirmation number. Sure enough, the girl at the check in desk mentioned several times that Joe and Kim had checked in as they looked for Brittany's reservation, but Courtney and Lina kept giving excuses and reasons why that wasn't so (those must be the names on the credit card, etc...) until Courtney was able to indicate to the girl not to say anything else. Brittany fortunately didn't catch on, because of course there was a mistake somewhere...her parents were on their way back from Africa to Canada!

Lina made eye contact with me first as Brittany paused at the departure screen just before turning into the Gate 39 waiting area. A flight was just leaving the same gate for Melbourne, so there were many waiting in the chairs and standing. The chairs directly behind us in front of the window were open, so Lina pointed to our area and they headed over. Brittany looked right past us as she saw where they were headed, but then she noticed our mission team shirts and then noticed it was us! She squealed and ran into my arms and wept, and then into Joe's...she couldn't believe it. It was moment I will never forget!!!

Our itinerary is covering the same areas that Brittany and I were planning to in January but we had to change our plans due to the flooding.

The flight to Hervey Bay was on a small plane (2+2 seats wide), and the cabin was certainly not as well pressurized as a larger plane, so poor Brittany suffered as she had a sinus cold so she had a lot of ear/sinus pressure pain. She was such a trooper though because she decided not to let a cold ruin this time for her :). We were picked up at the airport in 2 cars and taken to the mainland check in, grabbed a few groceries and were bussed to take the 45 minute ferry to the island.






It is fall/winter here in Australia, so it is pleasant and warm in the mid day sun, but otherwise it is rather chilly when the sun goes down. We checked into our 2 bedroom villa. Perfect for the 5 of us. Our first afternoon at Fraser Island was a little disappointing when we couldn't find any hot eats once we arrived. We had to wait for dinner at 6, so we headed for the pier ('jetty' here in Australia), watched the early sunset at about 5, enjoyed our first meal and had a rather early night. Joe and I had not been to sleep in a bed since Sunday night when we were in Accra Ghana. We lost 10 hours with the time zone change, and it was now Thursday evening. We slept well!

Everyone slept in Friday morning, so we ate a nice breakfast in the villa, and sat by the pool for a few hours midday. The day was for relaxing and we had to watch a 30 minute video to prepare for our 4x4 excursion the next day.

Saturday we were up and picking up our 4x4 Land Cruiser for our day of exploring the island...the largest sand island in the world. 75 Mile beach is the main highway. To get there we had to cross the interior that is a rainforest with some deeply rutted roads. Once we hit the beach, the speed limit was 80 km/hour. It was quite unnerving at first because we were trying to stay on the hard packed sand close to the water's edge, but avoid the salt water, carefully cross the fresh water runoff crevices that come from the inland to the ocean, and keep our eyes open for other vehicles, pedestrians/fishermen on the beach, and small planes that also land on the beach. After a while we learned it was more comfortable to follow someone else who obviously drives there many times. We drove up to Indian Head and made the climb up the steep hill for some beautiful views of the ocean and beaches below. We stopped at the Maheno ship wreck, Eli Creek, Eurong Beach Resort for a snack, and then at Lake Mackenzie (the inland silica sand lake). We had a great day, and Joe did a fabulous job driving in 4 high and 4 low and with the stick shift! It was his first time driving on the wrong side of the car with everything set up backwards! He only put the wipers on instead of the signal once :)





We were due to leave Sunday morning on the 7:30 ferry so that Brittany could catch a flight back to Sydney, but her school week schedule this week was changed and Monday classes were cancelled, and she could do her assignments online that were due, so we cancelled her flight and were able to leave on the 10:30 ferry instead. When we got to the airport to pick up our rental car, there was no one there. Being a small airport that is only open at arrival and departure times, because we weren't there to pick up our car at 10, the attendant left at 11 and we were there just before 12! Fortunately, he happened to pass by on his way home from the town office to pick up some keys that were dropped off :). The challenge now was that the full size car (like an Impala), would not hold 5 of us, 3 large suitcases and our backpacks. At first it looked like we would have to take 2 cars to Noosa where they had a van we could rent, but then he realized he had a Subaru Forester in the town lot. It is perfect...the girls are a little snug in the back seat, but all is well and our luggage stacks up well in the back :) By the time we left Hervey Bay for Noosa it was after 2, but it all worked out! We are so thankful God had Matt pass by the airport when he did!

We got to Noosa just in time to watch the sunset on the beach and then we walked on the main street where our apartment at the Sandcastles was. Stores were mostly closed, but we could window shop and we had dinner at Laguana Jacks and enjoyed some gelato for dessert :). Joe and I enjoyed the early morning sun walking the beach, Brittany and I walked it a bit later while Courtney and Lina shopped for souvenirs.

We arrived in Byron Bay at about 2pm. When we checked in at 'Friday at the Beach' at 45 Lawson Street, the hostess Sandy gave us some wonderful homemade date loaf. It was so good. It's amazing how such a gesture is so special! We then headed out for at least an hour's sunny walk one way along the beaches and boardwalks to the lighthouse. We forgot to count the stairs, but it was a real effort! Some of the stairs were extra tall and the sloped areas were pretty steep. Along the way we got to the point that is the most Easterly point of Australia. Some of us even saw a few dolphins in the water below! Many photos later, we made our way back down just on time for the final pictures as the sun set behind some low clouds. Great exercise and a great way to see more of the beautiful Australian coastline.

One night is not long enough to discover all the special parts of each of these great coastal towns, but it's all the time we have. Today we head out for South West Rocks and on the way we will be stopping in Coff's Harbour for lunch and to see 'The Big Banana' and the Surfer's museum :)

What a special time! I am so thankful that Brittany is able to do this with us!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

January 19-26, 'The Hills', Sydney

I leave tomorrow for the airport...back to a very cold Ontario winter!  It's 38 Degrees...hot & sunny here in 'The Hills' of Sydney.

Brittany and I have spent the last week here at Brittany's new home with some of her housemates...the first 3 that welcomed us here were Americans, then another returned on Saturday from Ohio, then Brittany's roommate Ali (from our hometown of Uxbridge) arrived on Monday, and the final housemate from the US arrives on Thursday.  That will make up a full house of 7 girls - 2 Canadian & 5 Americans!  Brittany is the only 'freshman' in the house, and the girls have been wonderful getting her up to speed and welcoming her here.

The first few days were spent shopping & cleaning as Brittany settled in, and then I was invited to attend the 'Frontline' annual summer camp themed 'Renaissance'.  Although I was afraid that I didn't qualify to be there (I'm not really between the ages of 25 & 35 - in case you didn't know:), I was made to feel very welcome and met so many wonderful people.  'Frontline' is not a college group, but is the name of the church's 'connect groups' (small groups) in that age range that meet between Sunday services.  There were some students, but most were young professional individuals, couples & parents.  There must have been 1500-2000 people there?! One the first day I attended the conference, Brittany spent the day at the beach with one of her housemates and her friends.  The second day she attended the conference with me, and really enjoyed it too!  The funny thing is that most everyone that she ended up talking to, I had met the day before, so they would say to her "You must be Kim's daughter!"  Yikes...I think it's time I went home :)

Sunday we enjoyed a Sunday morning & Sunday evening service where guest speaker Louis Giglio continued the talks he was sharing at the conference...all about the year of new beginnings (1.1.11), and The name we carry with us as we do what we do everyday...everything...from the mundane, to the things we are passionate about.

Attached to this post is a CBN report on Hillsong.  The video footage is taken in the main auditorium here at 'The Hills' campus where Brittany is attending the Hillsong International Leadership College for this year. She has the opportunity to attend the college for at least 2 more years if she choses to, but at this point the plan is that she attend just this one.  She started today with Orientation and auditions (to determine band/group placement), and this school year is done on November 29th.  I am so happy that she has this opportunity and although I love what I do everyday and I know I need to 'go home', the thought of spending a year here is really tempting!  I wonder what Joe would say?  Can I run the business from here?  What do you think??? :)

I have had a wonderful month here in the 'Land Down Under'!  Brittany and I have enjoyed more beaches than we can name, enjoyed experiences we've never had before, witnessed a national disaster (the floods) and we've met some amazing people.  Australia is a wonderful country and I hope to be able to come here again.

Although this is 'the end' of my vacation and a very special time with my one and only daughter, it is a new beginning for Brittany as she makes this land her home for a while.  It is also a new beginning for Joe and I as our children begin to make a life of their own, and as we plan ahead to our next travel adventure to Ghana Africa for the month of May...an experience that we know will change our lives.

Thank you to everyone that helped me make this trip of a lifetime a reality for me!  Thank you Joe & Ren for letting me go and for keeping the business & home fires burning.  Thank you to Mirella, Marion & Mark at the office...not one project concern came my way (do you really need me there at all?)  Thank you to our friends and family that followed Brittany and I on this adventure.  You covered us with your thoughts and prayers and we never felt alone or forgotten.

Love, Kim (& Brittany)

January 16-18 Bondi Beach, Baulkham Hills

The enormous crowds on a beautiful sunny day at Bondi Beach.

The amazing mexican fiesta we enjoyed with some new friends.

She’s all moved in!

Sunday Brittany and I really enjoyed the 11:30 service at the Hillsong city campus.  The diversity of the congregation, the coffee & hot drinks sold in the foyer, the TV screens and booths set up for different upcoming events, the 5 ‘jumbo tron’ screens at the front of the sanctuary working together as video/service filming was showing or all working separately to feature different things, 12 piece music worship team, new music...just like we would have expected.  Incredibly, with all the people in the foyer, we were singled out as ‘new’ by a wonderful woman named Sheila (must have been the way we were looking around trying to take it all in :), who welcomed us and let us know where and when to be where we should be.  In the service I sat beside a woman from Uganda, Africa who is studying law & social justice in Sydney...she was overjoyed that I was from Canada as her life was changed by canadian missionaries serving in Uganda.  After the service, we joined many others in the ‘garage’ where free drink orders were taken and biscuits served.  The welcome booklet was full of information and a DVD that we haven’t watched yet.  Very welcoming!  They also have at least 2 buses, as they run a free bus service to and from the Sydney Central Station so that anyone coming from across the city can get to the church from the public train/bus service...it runs every 15 minutes or so for about an hour before and after each of the 1 Saturday night, 3 Sunday morning and 2 Sunday evening services.

Sunday afternoon, we navigated the local bus system and got ourselves out to Bondi (pron. bond-eye) beach.  It was nothing like all the other beaches we’ve enjoyed in Australia...constant waves for surfing = cold water, crowds of people, lifeguards and ‘surf rescue’ personnel on the beach, surfing with the others, on a rubber dingy and on seadoos watching over everyone.  We even got to see the lifeguard in our area in action as he ran in with his surf board and paddled out to help a young man who was okay, but needed help getting out of the tow of the waves and needed to catch his breath.  The tidal waves changed several times in our couple of hours there.  The lifeguards had to redirect those in the water to different sections at different times when the waves became too big to jump into safely.  Lots of action and so many people to watch!

On the bus we met a family from Nice, France (Dad, Mom Patricia, 16 year old daughter Lena) who had already been to Quebec, the rockies, Victoria Island, drove down the west coast to San Francisco, Argentina, Kenya, now Australia and would still be visiting India & somewhere else before returning home.  A 7 1/2 month vacation!  Now THAT is a vacation (not that I’m complaining about mine!)

Sunday night we enjoyed Pizza Hit pizza in our room and watched a movie.  

Monday morning we checked out of the hotel, Brittany watched over our luggage enjoying the free WiFi service in the foyer while I walked to the Hertz depot to pick up yet another Toyota Camry (great for all the luggage!), and we drove out to the Hills campus...only a 40 minute drive at the most!  A wonderful girl from the Texas, Julie, welcomed us and spent time with us while Brittany waited her turn for registration.  We were at the house in no time and were lovingly welcomed by former house resident Elisabeth and housemates Ivonne, Alyssa, and Calli even though they didn’t know we were coming. Calli skyped Ali still in Uxbridge and Brittany was teary as she saw Ali’s excitement to see Brittany here...in the house :)  There will be 7 girls in the house (4 bedrooms & 2 1/2 bathrooms).  Nice house in a gated community.  Not only is Brittany Ali’s housemate, she is actually Ali’s roommate!!!  Ali will be here next week.  In the meantime I am sleeping on her bed (thanks Ali)...I’ll be off to the couch when Ali’s here :)

Brittany and I now feel as we know one of the local shopping centre’s very well as we shopped for groceries, power bars, reverse plug adapters, sheets, hangers, storage bins, lamp, fan and I bought her/the house a George Foreman grill as they don’t have a BBQ.  Otherwise, the house is well furnished and other than a vacuum that doesn’t seem to be working too great, they seem to have everything they need.

Tomorrow the carpets are being professionally cleaned,  and we will be doing laundry, getting her bank accounts opened and funds transferred, and trying out the new George Foreman grill.  Tonight we didn’t need to make our own dinner!  Tonight several other students came over and we had an authentic mexican dinner made by Smiley (mexican) and Justin (southern USA).  REALLY good!!!  Better than I ate when in Mexico with Joe in 2000.  

All the other students have been incredibly helpful and really great helping Brittany understand how things work around here...both at school and in their part time jobs. Brittany plans to get her resume out sooner than later.  Sounds like the best shifts for her will be weekday evenings and on her day off (most likely Fridays, but maybe Mondays).  Weekends sound like they are pretty chalked full of service hours on Saturday morning street teams/outreach programs, Saturday evening & Sunday morning services and then taking in a Sunday evening service for herself where she won’t be serving.  The amazing thing about this program is the practical learning it provides.  Yes, there are tutorials & reports, but academics and theology are balanced by a lot of service hours in regular church activities (services, youth programs, outreach) and at the large conferences throughout the year.  They are a very active student body!

I am so glad to be able to be here to settle Brittany in and see her getting to know so many fellow students.  Looks like she will be attending a retreat with a lot of them after her first two days of orientation.  More beach, a great way to get to know other students better, be personally challenged and spiritually encouraged...ready to get started!  Although it will be hard to say goodbye when I leave next Wednesday,  I am so excited for her!

We aren’t sure just how the next 7 days will look.  We may make some day trips to the Blue Mountains, maybe to some of the northern beaches and maybe not.  We’ll just see how things work out.

Soon,

Kim (and Brittany)

January 13-16, Sydney

From our window on the Sunset dinner cruise,
we got some great views of Sydney's Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

After the Le Grand Cirque show at the Opera House,
we stopped to take some more shots.

What a change from the quiet northern coast of Queensland!  Sydney is beautiful, but a very busy, happening place!

Our flights from Mackay to Brisbane, and Brisbane to Sydney, went very well...and all our luggage made it with us one more time :)  We couldn't get a late check out at our Mackay hotel, so we were at the Mackay airport about 4 hours early, but thanks to free WiFi access, we relaxed on one of the couches with Brittany's laptop and enjoyed a movie.

Once we landed in Sydney, we grabbed a cab and checked into the Holiday Inn Darling Harbour which is located right in the heart of the city and on the outskirts of Chinatown.  It really is a lovely place and we have been able to walk everywhere.

Friday we spent the morning getting organized and we had a Skype chat with my parents, Joe & Courtney and then with my sister Lina.  We then left the hotel and started our journey into Chinatown where we ate our breakfast/lunch at a Malaysian restaurant called 'Mamak' right around the corner.  What an amazingly loud & busy atmosphere with amazing food!!!  We were thrilled.  We then headed towards the harbour, but kept getting distracted by all the amazing shopping outlets & boutiques along the way.  The Queen Victoria Building, built in 1893...beautiful building with stained glass, copper clad domes, cornices and pillars and interior colonnades and balconies with exquisite stores.  Castlereagh Street's Tiffany's, Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton (including security guards at their doors)...you name it, it is here...in just 2 blocks, 600 shoppes. We headed for the Sydney Tower and found it was built into the Westfield Sydney mall with over 100 shoppes & incredibly fresh food restaurants.  Once we took in the views from the tower, we walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens, past the Government House to the Sydney Opera House, along the Sydney Cove, past more shoppes, hundreds of restaurants, bars/pubs & cafes.  On the way back to the hotel, we stepped into The Strand...another historical beautiful building full of boutique shoppes, but we decided we would try to return to check it out some more.  We took in the 7:15 showing of the movie 'Unstoppable' at the huge theatre that has 16 theatres in it and seats over 4000 in total.  By the time we got back to our room, we were 'done'...somewhat over-stimulated, but thrilled with everything we did and saw.

Today, Saturday, we started our day with some hotcakes & a chicken wrap at the McDonald's across the street, and headed to the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife World.  Interesting, but not as exciting as actually swimming with the fish while snorkelling in the Whitsunday's, nor as up close and personal as petting the kangaroos & koalas in Kuranda.  We had a great lunch at one of the harbour restaurants and we walked back to the room, napped & freshened up for our 5pm sunset dinner cruise on the Sydney harbour and our 7pm Le Grand Cirque 'Adrenaline' show in the Concert hall at the Sydney Opera House.  Another great day!!!

Tomorrow, Sunday, we plan to take in the Hillsong Church service here in the City and head to the Bondi Beach area.  If we're up to it, we may want to take a surfing lesson?  We'll decide once we see just how hard it is :)

We check out Monday morning, pick up our next rental car and head out to Baulkham Hills to get Brittany registered into school and move her into her new place!  We received an email Friday afternoon confirming that she will be living in the same house as Ali, a second year student from Uxbridge.  Brittany was alright heading into a living situation with all strangers, but you should have seen how excited she was when she heard!  She couldn't be happier!!!

We hope to be able to get some time to go through all the new Sydney pictures we've taken and get them posted asap, but it may have to wait until Brittany is settled in...we don't want to pay the daily $27.95 charge for broadband internet in our room, so we are making due with a slower, but free WiFi connection from McDonald's across the street, but it makes for some pretty slow uploading.

The flood waters continue to rise in the lower parts of Australia in the province of Victoria, but Rockhampton and the Brisbane areas are starting to clean up.  Today was dubbed 'Salvation Saturday' in Brisbane because of all the volunteers that were going in to help out...so many in fact, that they were turning many away and they are pre-registered to help tomorrow.  It is wonderful to see, but the sad news is that 16 are confirmed dead and quite a few more are still missing including a couple of complete families from a small community that was hit without any warning.

We may not be hand-gliding in Byron Bay, or sleeping at a lighthouse like we had originally planned, but as you can tell, we are doing very well and we are really enjoying spending this time in Sydney.  We may not be city girls, but Sydney is a very clean and safe city to be in (except maybe for the way the taxi drivers drive!).  The only problem is that even if we stayed in the city a few more days, we'd still never have a chance to see and do everything there is to see and do.  It's an amazing city and we are just so glad to have been able to spend at least 3 full days here.

Until next time,
Kim (and Brittany)