We're in Australia!

Very joyous we were too to be in another new country! We arrived in Sydney (somewhat blearyeyed from our night as tramps in the airport) and set about exploring as soon as we'd found a place for our bags and later for our heads. Sydney is very big and exciting and city like but also has a very laid back feel to it. It wasn't long before we'd crossed off the list the two main icons of Sydney, the bridge and the opera house. It felt quite surreal to be standing looking at a view you see so often in pictures. It was a lovely sunny day and very nice to be out!

The next day we went on a mission to find Hillsongs church, and on the way walked down Elizabeth st and then Redfern street, an apt reminder of Cal's sister Elizabeth Redfern who we later found out was giving birth to our newest niece Ruby Grace Redfern at that very moment! It was awesome to see Hillsongs (the city campus), very lively worship and extremely well organised systems! After a bit more wandering and a picnic lunch we set off for Circular Quay and took a ferry ride to Manly on the North Shore, what a lovely trip! Just like Finding Nemo. Manly was a nice area with a lovely little beach and some good ice cream shops! It was night by the time we got the ferry back (feeling quite manly ourselves by this point!) so we took in the city views over the water and were rather reminded of New York.

The next day we flew up to the Whitsunday Coast, and joy of joys it was hot and sunny and full of palm trees and blue sky and sugar cane - ahhh! We really liked the tourist town on Airlie Beach and made a habit of strolling up and down the main street at least 3 times a day! Full of happy holiday makers, it felt very much like Spain or somewhere similar, only it was English speaking! The tropical weather and plants made it feel like we ought to be somewhere much more foreign but the shops and bars were all very familiar - quite strange but we liked it!

Airlie Beach had a saltwater lagoon built on the seafront so people could swim without needing to carry round vats of vinegar (apparently the most effective antidote) in the fear of being stung to death by 'marine stingers' - is 'jellyfish' politically incorrect?!-? or munched by lunching sharks. Matt took?the leisurely lagoon scene?to his heart immediately and splashed, frolicked and?dived for his watch?as merrily as the day was long.

After much debate over the best deal and whatnot we picked a day boat trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, where we motored out for 3 hours to a pontoon moored next to a sheltered part of the reef. It was very cool, the pontoon had its own resident scary looking fish, a Maori wrasse which is a huge fish almost as big as us with big flubbery lips and a funny looking eye - but it was very friendly! The scuba divers were able to get close enough to pat it? while those?of us with snorkels floated enviously above and tried in?vain to hold our breath for long enough to dive down and?make friends too!

There were loads of crazy types of coral and big blue lipped clams, and lots of colourful fish...we were a bit disappointed not to see any turtles or sharks (and a bit relieved too!) and there weren't quite as many fish to see as we had hoped?(we'd seen?more in Fiji for example) but?it was still?a lovely day and we were pleased we'd made it to the reef. The rest of the days were lazed away under the palm trees by the lagoon and the suntans made some good headway again!

Back to Sydney we went to see Sarah Montgomery from Macclesfield on the outskirts of?the city, she's studying at the Hillsongs college so we got to have a look round there as well and went to two more awesome services. Man they're slick, the notices themselves were like a movie trailer! It was cool.

A?few more days looking round the city now, staying in a YHA hostel built in a railway station - there is an active train platform right outside our bedroom window! Quite exciting! We went to the Sydney wildlife centre which was impressive becaue they had all kinds of snakes and birds and animals all under one roof...bit disappointed that they didn't have kangaroos though (not enough space we guess) and the koalas were not to be cuddled :-(.  Never mind, it's been fun here but time for some warmer weather - Asia here we come!