FIJI!

Well, hello everyone. This post is coming quite unexpected because I didin't think I was ever going to get internet, but the place we are staying at has free internet, which is pretty awesome. Might I add that we get free continental breakfast as well....oh, and we got our very own little chalet of a honeymoon suite for $18 a person! Pretty sick. We walked in around 7 PM to this place called the uprising for the backpacker dorm rate of $18 and were told that the dorm was completely booked. However, there was a "bure" open a day early than expected and (probably because they felt sorry for us) they gave us the entire thing for the same rate! God is so good...just when we were wondering where in the world we were going to stay for the night.

Anyways, Fiji has been amazing. Unlike Australia in its similarity to U.S. feel, Fiji is entirely a foreign experience. It is obvious that we are in another country; we are easily the minority.

And it has been incredible thus far. This is our third night here and our first on the mainland island of Viti Levu. Our first to days were spent on Mana Island, west of Nadi (which is pronounced "Nandi") where our flight came in from Brisbane. It was about a 45 minute boat ride out there and the water kept getting bluer and bluer...beautiful.

Mana was a pretty cool place. We stayed at a diving backpackers hostle called the Ratu Kini. The place was located in the midst of a village, which was really cool. We went for a hike to the tallest hills on the island, around the island (walked on the beach where Survivor Fiji was filmed), went kayaking over some sweet waves, went snorkelling through thousands of fish, and ...yes, we went scuba diving at this site called the Sand Bank which was one of the most incredible things I have ever done in my life.

We also met a lot of people and had a few good conversations with others there. The Fijians were so friendly and created a good atmosphere for us. There is really too much to write about in this short time. Let's just say that there are a lot of good things going on with us and we are processing through a lot of different thoughts and feelings, which is really a good thing.

Today we returned to the mainland and checked out Nadi, the markets and such. Fiji has the feel of a third world country in the cities. the litter is ridiculous for the beauty of the place. There is trash everywhere and pollution is so high. It is hard to cope with the fact that such a beautiful place can also be covered in such an amount of garbage. But it is so beautiful here. I am really loving it.

Well...because I am getting carried away by mosquitoes, I need to go.

Farewell for now,
-b garrison

goodbye Australia

It is so hard to say goodbye...unless you are heading to Fiji!

Australia has been incredible for sure, and it is very sad to know that we are leaving a place we have really come to enjoy. But it does make things easier to know that we are headed for sunny, warm and beautiful Fiji.

Let me update a little about our last couple days and then I will summarize our time in Australia.

On Monday we left Brisbane for the Australia Zoo, in Beerwah, Queensland. We had heard nothing but good things about it so we were really psyched. It took a $10.80 (Aussies say that "Ten dollars eighty") ticket to get up there by public transportation. Then when we arrived we had to throw down another $57 to get in...granted this is all in Australian dollars, but still, that's like 45 bucks for a zoo...

This is the zoo that was started up by Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter) and his family. He is legend up there, even has the highway named for him. The zoo was pretty cool. We got to see a show where they brought out elephants, all sorts of birds and a huge crocodile to feed him. There were tons of crocodiles at the zoo; along with a lot of kangaroos and koalas. My favorite part of the zoo were the areas were you could just walk in with the kangaroos and feed them, pet them, even lay down beside them. They were so tame and gentle. A lot of the zoo was set up so that you could encounter the creatures by walking in the midst of them which was really cool. So we hung out with kangaroos, petted some koalas, fed some elephants, and sawa sweet tiger show...definitely a cool zoo. Not sure if it was worth all the hype and money, but it was great to be there and see hte place Steve Irwin created. By the way, did you know that the four most venemous snakes all live in Australia...good thing we haven't run into any of those yet.

From the zoo we picked up a bus that took us toward the beach. We met a nice older lady who gave us a spoken tour of each bus stop. She told us of all the things we needed to see and do in the area. We told her that our plan was to sleep on the beach that night, for some free accomodation and she told us of a good beach where it would be best to do that...because of course, it is illegal just to camp on the beach.

So we got off at Dickey's Beach and shortly found a perfect little spot up the bank of a sand dune covered by trees. We set our bags out there. It really was a perfect location. And it was a great experience, not only to say that we slept on a beach in Australia but to hear the ocean and look up to see the stars and realize what we were doing. It was great...

We woke up pretty early to get out before being seen and we started trekking south down the beach. Some of the views were really gorgeous overlooking the area. The beach here is so obviously different than the other two areas of Sydney and Melbourne that we have been to. The sand was browner and the plants and trees had a more tropical feel. The rocks were flat and low. We often walked along them as we made our way down. During our hike south Scott and I both jumped into the ocean an area of really choppy waves...a tad cold but not too bad.

Queensland Coast (video)

Once we reached Kings Beach we started to question what we were doing for the night and rest of the day. Our original plan had been to camp again, but this area of beach didn't look to promising, plus it had gotten a tad cold the last night and it looked like it might rain. Neither one of us were sure what to do...and somehow we ended up staying in a 5-Star resort. The details of how that went down are pretty hilarious, but we are sure that it was a God thing, as we were starting to get stressed and tense around each other. By a random stroll we were going on we discovered this resort, which led to me and Joel exploring this resort and checking out their awesome pool and hot tub, which led to us legitiamtely thinking about doing it, which led to me flipping a coin which determined that Joel should go negotiate for a better price, which led to Joel knocking down $45 of the original price, which led to another flip of the coin, which led to us staying there. Sorry for the confusion.

We couldn't believe it when we walked into the room to find: a washer and dryer, two bedrooms, three beds, a huge flatscreen TV, a fully loaded kitchen, two showers, and a jacuzzi. It was a sick place. So we got some groceries, a little bit of alcohol and cooked up some good food and celebrated our last full night in Australia; what a way to go out. Our goal to watch the World Cup was dominated by our desire for sleep (because the World Cup doesn't start until midnight over here) and we passed out in true comfort and satisfaction.

We hung around in Caloundra today until our bus left around 2 pm and our now back in Brisbane and will soon be leaving for the airport. Australia is a beautiful country...we have been so blessed in our time here. It is bizarre for me to think that our time has in this country has come and gone so quickly; but that is all of life. It is a daily reminder for me to soak up every second, looking forward to the future should not cause you to live in the future.

I have traveled roughly 12,375 miles thus far this summer. And that is not including my time travelling around the beaches of Sydney or driving 10 hours around the Great Ocean Road in Victoria or heading up the Sunshine Coast from Brisbane. Thinking about all the things we have done and seen is pretty ridiculous...God has been so good to us.

How can I even begin to sumarize a country, especially since I have only been here for 11 days?

Things I dislike:
-the cost of everything, especially food
-the fact that there is no acknowledgement of God anywhere...Australia is much more secular and Godless than the states; very sad
-the fact that we never got to see the Outback which makes up more than 70% of the country
-that many of our interactions were with international folks who weren't local Australians; this was primarily due to staying in the cities
-driving on the left side

Things I like:
-the diversity. Both in people and cultures and in the geographical landscapes.
-the smell of the food. Everywhere you go you can smell the griling of something...it's wonderful.
-their love of sports, especially in Melbourne
-I absolutley loved Sydney...definitely my favorite location
-the animals and plants are so obviously unlike anything native to the states; sometimes other worldly
-most of the people here have been so friendly and kind to us
-the exchange rate
-the fact that "G'day mate" is not a stereotype...I've had that said to me countless times.
-the laid back mentality...the phrase "no worries" should be the national motto, everyone says it for everything
-their lingo: rubbish bin (trash can), arcade (basically an outdoor shopping mall), chips (french fries), mates (friends), cheers (used in a farewell), track (hiking trail), tap (water fountain), lollies (candy), college (high school) and many more.

There is much more that I love about this place, but it will have to come from me verbally, because I am not very good at articulating what I want to say. Basically, Australia is awesome.

Here are a few videos that I didn't have time to upload previously. There are still more but I don't have the time to upload them all. The videos are of Joel messing with one of the Koalas we found along the road, footage from the Aussie Football game, and video from the 12 Apostles.
Joel and the Koala (video)
AFL game (video)
12 Apostles (video)


I've got some more pics too which I am just going ot throw up here.

Not sure if I will have internet at all in Fiji so this may be the last post I have in while...until next time, God bless. We love and miss you all.

in Him,
-b garrison

welcome to Brisbane

Well, hello everyone...greetings from Brisbane in beautiful Queensland! The weather is incredible here, pretty chilly in the evening, but this afternoon was incredible. Sunny, warm, a more tropical feeling climate; it has been a great change from the Melbourne cold.

We went to an Aussie Football game our last night in Melbourne which was an incredible experience. It is amazing how much Aussie's love their sports. There were about 65,000 people there (the Melbourne Cricket Grounds - McG) and the atmosphere was awesome. In AFL the game is constantly moving, there is always excitement, opportunity for scoring, etc. Great game.

We got into Brisbane last night around 7pm. It took a little while to find a hostel, but we have found a pretty good one, the Tin Billy. $20 a night is better than Sydney and much nicer facilities than Sydney. Brisane is a city of about 1.5 million, much smaller than Sydney's 5 mil or Melbourne's 4. And the size difference is definitely noticeable, but Brizzy is a great city. We spent the day today discovering what it had to offer. Really cool.

We soent the mornings on our own, either looking for a church or having some alone quiet time with the Lord, to reflect and think and pray. It was really good for me. I ended up going into the Botanic Gardens and reading my Bible and then walked around the city listening to a sermon. Later in the day we went to state library, which was huge and then got a ferry ticket to take us around the river. 1 ticket will take you way down the river, on and off as much as you want. Brisbane is a really pretty city from the water at night. The Story Bridge lights up the area and makes for a good picture with the city skyline in the background. We found a great $5 meal at a pub which is super cheap for good food here...everything here is very expensive.

Two things that are very true about Australia: 1) Every guy calls every other guy mate...I've been called that several times. 2) No worries has been said a thousand times for so many different things.

Well I have only 5 minutes of internet left so I will have to say so long. I'll post again on Wednesday before leaving for Fiji. Tomorrow we head up to the Sunshine Coast to go to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo...it shoudl be sweet!

God Bless.

-b garrison