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

Melbourne

Hey everyone!

Today we are sitting in an internet cafe in downton Melbourne, Australia. We have had a good time in Victoria thus far (I say Victoria because that is the state we are in and drove through much of it yesterday) and will have until tomorrow afternoon here.

We are staying with the brother of a Covenant student and an old roommate of Scott's. He lives southeast of the city in a suburban area. Our first day in we got things settled at the house, threw in some laundry (first time since LA) and headed to eat. We ended up going to St. Kilda a beach, a hot spot in the summertime. It was very cold and windy, the climate difference from Sydney was obvious. From there we went to a pub and watched some of the World Cup.

Yesterday was a great day...I knocked off a good bit of my Australia bucket list. We began by taking public transportation into the city and renting a car for the day. We grabbed some groceries for the day and took off. the weather was crazy...we began the morning with a crisp blue sky, which quickly disappeared behind a dark gray cloudy mess, which then turned into downpour. We probably went through that cycle three or four times. As we have heard, Melbourne gets four seasons in one day.

Anyways, the plan for the day was to hit Great Ocean Road and eventually get to the Twelve Disciples, the most famous area of Australia's coastline. On our way we saw beautiful beaches and coast...gorgeous blue water. We drove through a bit a rainforest and some wide open plains as well with great landscape views of the surrounding area. I feel as if much of what we saw was a small taste of what some of New Zealand might look like. Vast arrays of powerful views that really make you stop and stare.

On to the bucket list: We saw stopeed at a lighthouse gift shop where the lady told us there were hundreds of koalas in the trees around the area. And so we went on a koala quest and sure enough we found several just hanging out, sleeping. It was awesome to see them live in the wild. Down this same road, while looking for koalas, Joel spotted a field of kangaroos and screamed, "Dude, KANGAROOS!" We jumped out of the car and chased after them. They started flying in the opposite direction. It was incredible to be running in a field of about 30 or 40 kangaroos...and man could they jump. Once I stopped to think of what we were doing I realized if these things turns on us we would be in a world of hurt. There was one male that was much bigger and darker than the rest and he was off to the side staring at us. Pretty intense...but awesome!

Kangaroos! (video)

We finally got to the Twelve Apostles and they were worth the hype. Amazing! So beautiful...so stunning. Huge rocks sitting in the ocean off the coast, with giant waves of white foam crashing against them. They are located on the southernmost tip of Victoria and it was cold and incredibly windy. Possibly one of the windiest places I have ever been, almost got knocked down a few times. It was crazy to think that we were just a little bit north of the South Pole. The landscape at that area was pretty New Zealand-like. Beautiful.

Today we have gotten to explore the city. It is a cool place to be. So different for Sydney, but I like it almost as much. It is a bit more rock and roll and artsy, versus Sydney's more elegant and romantic style. There are a ton of athletic arenas here as well. We walked through the old Olympic stadium from 1956, the Cricket Grounds, the Australian Open stadium and park, a couple other arenas and another oval stadium. Pretty sweet. I like Melbourne. It has a good feel to it. Tonight, we are hoping to go to an Aussie Rules Football game in the McG Cricket Grounds. It is supposed to be a huge game, 65,000 people...should be great.

Not sure if I have time to say much more. I am really loving it here. Learning a lot about the culture and enjoying it. Joel and Scott say hey.


So long.

-b garrison

goodbye Sydney

Well, we have spent just over 72 hours in Sydney and have absolutely dominated every spare moment. It has been an incredible three days...I wish that I could spend three more weeks here. Sydney is the most beautiful city that I have ever seen. It has so much to offer. Incredibly beautiful, super clean, really diverse, so much culture and opportunity. I am very sad to leave.

So what should I write about in this short time I have...the walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens for the view of the Sydney Opera House and the city skyline with the Harbor Bridge in the background...or perhaps our ferry ride to Manly Beach and back giving us incredible views of the harbour and the city, Opera House, etc. during day and lit up in the dark...or maybe our 4 mile cliff top walk along the eastern beaches of Sydney, Bondi, Bronte, Tamarama, and Coogee...then there was our time spent in the Rocks, eating from a rooftop resturaunt with views of the harbour and city and getting a great $10 steak meal.

Indeed, it has been pretty remarkable. We all really love Sydney and the Aussie way of life. We were talking last night of our favorite part of the time here thus far and honestly I really couldn't think of what I loved more. The sights and experiences were one thing, but learing the culture and lingo has been a completely seperate aspect which I have loved. The accents, the driving on the left side of the road, the walking on the left side of the walkway due to the fact that they drive on the left side of the road (which is interesting because my tendency is to walk on the right side), the early morning rush where everyone has their iPod's going, the "flat white" coffee, the crazy amount of runners in this city, their love for sports, the World Cup, and beer.

Last I wrote, early Monday morning, I explained how we were heading to the Opera House. Well, we left the hostel and heading north toward the harbour. We went through Hyde Park which was modeled after London's Hyde Park. It is a really pretty location. We went through that and past St. Mary's Cathedral, gorgeous old building. From their we walked into the Domain park which connected us to this beautiful walking path along the harbour which funneled us into the Royal Botanic Gardens (what a great park!). We followed the walkway and made it up to the point at Mrs. Macquirie's chair, an old stone chair from the 1800s which had an inscription carved in it. Then we turned and saw it...the Opera House. It caught me by surprise. It was stunning, I literally couldn't believe I was standing there.

SydneyOpera House! (video)

Manly Beach Ferry Ride (video)

We took the walkway and followed Farm Cove around and took a path through the Botanic Gardens...such a beautiful park with all sorts of tropical trees and birds and then the huge city in the background. We eventually made our way down to the Opera House, took pics, sat on the steps, walked around it, soaked it all in. We took the Cahill walkway to Circular Quay; the ferry port in the middle of Sydney Harbor. We got breakfast there and got ferry tickets for Manly Beach. The ferry ride was incredible. It took about a half hour to take us northeast through the bay to the city of Manly. We were able to lay out at the beach and go for a walk around the North Head cape. There were some beautiful views there. We also ran into and old military headquarters, with barracks, guns, all sorts of stuff. In Manly we were able to pick up some food from the grocery and we headed back to the ferry. The ferry ride in the dark was amazing. Coming back into the harbor seeing the city lit up was one of the most beautiful things I've seen. Awesome. It was during that ferry ride that I noticed I could see the Southern Cross constellation...pretty cool.

We ended our day with a stroll through the Rocks. An awesome area built on and around old Sydney. It had a distinct European feel to it, just one of the best areas of any city I've seen. They had this outdoor market going on with all this incredible food, music, and people selling their merchandise. A licorice guy gave us a ton of his flavored licorices, which was great. On the way back to our hostel we hooked up a reservation for at a rooftop resteraunt for $10 steak dinners for the next night. It was a sweet day.

Yesterday we headed out at about 9 a.m. and took the bus out to Bondi Beach, surfing capital of the area. It was sweet. There is an incredible walkway which goes along the coastline for miles (or should I say kilometers?). We took that an hour and a half to Coogee Beach where our hostel was putting on a barbecue. It was a beautiful walk. Maybe my favorite part of the trip thus far, but I love the ocean. The water was so blue, tons of surfers out. We walked back and spent a brief time shopping in Bondi where Scott and I each prchased boomerangs. And of course I had to try it out on the beach. I got it halfway around...it was pretty tough. We finished our day off yesterday with a great dinner in the Rocks on top of a roof overlooking the Opera House, with some good beer and good discussion. Just $10 for the meal...no tipping, no tax. Pretty sweet.

Thats all the time I have for now. Cheers.

-b garrison

Sydney, Australia!

Good day everybody!

This is my first post from the land down under. The local time is about 6:45 a.m. Monday morning. We got up at about 3:30 this morning to watch the Australia vs. Germany game. There is a huge setup down at Darling Harbour called International FIFA Fan Fest which is 1 of 7 locations around the world. People from all over the place are here to watch the World Cup; it's crazy. There might have been a quarter of a million people down there this morning. Unfortunately Australia got smashed 4-0. We left after halftime to go to a pub to finsih out because it is pretty cold out today.

The plane ride in was pretty decent, around 14 hours long. I wasn't able to get a lot of sleep, but not really a big deal. It was great to have all the Aussies on board...I love there accent and they had good insight into where we were going to be. When we landed wew had to figure out 2 things: 1) Where we were going to stay for the night, and 2) how we were going to get to Hillsong Church. Trains from the airport cost too much so we called in a backpacker hostel shuttle to bring us in for free. That meant that we had to stay at the hostel for 3 nights, but we decided that would be the best option. So we are at the West End Backpackers hostel off of Pitt Street near Sydney Central Station. It is decent, pretty dirty, really crowded. We are staying in a 32 person room...mostly young people, guys and girls. 

We discovered in the airport that Hillsong's main campus was pretty far away, but we found their city campus, and a free bus ride there and back from Central station. Hillsong was pretty cool...great worship, great people, incredibly multicultural. There were certainly things about the service that we all disagreed with but overall a good experience. Coll to see what was happening in the church here. We met a lot of neat people too. So far we've talked to people from England, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Germany, Korea, China, Japan, Netherlands...Sydney is so much more diverse then I expected. We are staying in a very oriental focused area., which has just been weird coming in thinking that I wzas going to see blonde, white people everywhere...not the case at all.

After church yesterday we were able to go visit Darling Harbor and see the World Cup craze. It was that inded. And it was beautiful down there. There is an aquarium and wildlife area down there, a Maritime Museum, and lots of cool resturaunts. There are tons of pubs around too. Sports are just really big here. So far Sydney has exceeded my expectations, beautiful, diverse, large. Today we are going down to the Opera House, the harbor bridge, and the Manly Beach. It looks like it will be a clear and beautiful day. There could be so much more to write about, like all the cool lingo I am learning, but I don't have the time.

One cool thing that happened before we left California was going to Laguna Beach for a bit of time, then going up to the Ritz Carlton and getting treated like kings. We met one of the Hagopians friends, Ryan, Thursday night who told us to stop by and we ended up getting free chips and salsa, free lemonades, free drinks, and ice cream sundaes. Sweet pool and pool area, and a beautiful view of the beach. It was a really great send off.  

Well, so long for now...

-b garrison