Australia Week 1

Australia Day!

So, as I left England a week ago, I think it’s time for an update on life Down Under! If I could sum up Week One in one word, it’d be: HOT. I read that if you come from a cooler climate (snow, so yes), then it takes two weeks for your body to adapt to the hot weather. Two weeks cannot come quickly enough! And the worst part of it is, everyone is saying that this is actually fairly cool weather, and that February is only going to get hotter!

Snow in London!

The flights over here were mixed. The first, Gatwick to Dubai, was pretty good, although there was an hour’s delay at Gatwick as they de-iced the plane and put our luggage into the hold. This meant that the connection at Dubai for my flight to Perth was pretty tight – we ended up getting off the first plane at 9.15pm, and the next flight was due for 9.45. If you’ve been to Duabi airport, you’ll know that it’s not exactly the smallest of places! We took a train – an actual train – inside the airport to reach the Departure Gate. Turned out they’d delayed the flight till 11pm, meaning more waiting around. Our flight didn’t actually leave until nearly midnight, as there was a lot of drama with people who didn’t have seats etc., as they’d been shoved on this plane due to delays elsewhere in the world of aviation. I tried to sleep but couldn’t really, the food was disgusting, and my body had no idea what time it was. Eleven hours later, I arrived at Perth. All I wanted was a shower, a change of clothes, and a bed. However, when I heard my name over the tannoy, I was pretty sure things weren’t getting better. Turns out my luggage was lost somewhere! They couldn’t tell me if it was in Dubai or London, and just said they’d hope to deliver it to me tomorrow (Friday). Brilliant. I met Mandy, Greg and Rebecca, and went out to get a few bits of clothing, and then we drove back to their house. I Skyped Joe in the evening which was probably not the best thing to do when I was feeling so tired and emotional – I cried quite a bit. Spent a fairly lazy day on Friday and went for iced coffee at the Dome (yep, I’m going to be spending quite a bit of time there) with Mandy and Rebecca, and saw dolphins! Saturday was Australia Day, which was so awesome! I wore all my ‘I heart Oz’-type stuff, and no one even knew I was a tourist! We went to Busselton and had a swim in the Indian Ocean, and also had a wander through the town. Back to Bunbury (where I’m staying) and Rebecca and I headed down to the Australia Day celebrations, where there was a live band and loads of stalls and things. We watched fireworks over the water which were amazing and went on for nearly half an hour! Also, I saw kangeroo’s!! Just hopping along in the wild, right behind all the houses! It’s crazy here, I thought there’d be a big divide between the houses and the wilderness, but there’s really not – you can just step from one into the other. I went to a church on Sunday morning, and if you pray, would really appreciate some prayer over this as I feel unsure as to whether I should be there or not. The people were really friendly though, and I even got invited to a film night! Sunday was also the day that my favourite pair of sunglasses melted. Yes, they melted on my walk to church. Waah.

The Ocean

We were going to go down south but the sea here in Bunbury was so beautiful that we stayed here instead – I used some goggles and swam over a reef and saw loads of fish! Also, as I’m sure nobody is surprised to hear, I am pretty sunburnt, despite using a ton of suncream. Today everyone was out, so I walked into town. I swear, I felt like I was going to die out there, it was just so hot and I drank a litre of water just on my walk into town. I’m going to write a few of my legendary lists tomorrow of things that I want to achieve while I’m here/reasons I’ve come, as I did feel a bit strange today.

So, if you pray: Pray for me to make friends whilst I’m here, to feel at peace with the Church I’m in, and to feel God’s guidance and purpose as to what to do next.

Thanks for reading! I’ll try to be more concise next time ;)

Wish you were here!