G'day Yall

Perth!

It's so surreal that we are actually here. Actually in Australia. Actually in the Southern Hemisphere. I don't even think it's sunk in for me yet. But the chilly (sometimes, down right cold) nights do help me wrap my mind around it (chilly nights in July - can you even imagine such a thing?!) That, and the kangaroos of course. And the ocean. And the driving on the other side of the road. And the accents. You'd think I'd have no trouble realizing that I am, in fact, in Australia. Crikey.

I've taken a few pictures around that I've been dying to share! And thanks to our buddy Jean-Paul (and his unlimited internet access) we can! Jimmy has been showing me around the past few days. It's crazy to see in person all these places that he's been telling me about for years.

First, this is the lovely house we are staying in. It's home to Harry and Yvonne, the most delightful couple you ever did meet. I keep meaning to get a picture of them to share. I will soon. They've been incredibly generous taking us in.

Those are real trees. I really thought they were fake at first. Like artificial Christmas trees when you don't spread the branches, you know? Of course you do.

We stopped for an overpriced coffee (known around here as 'regular coffee') at Hillary's Boat Harbor, which is a hang out spot for Perth...ites? Perthians? Perth people. People who live in Perth.

This is the exact sailboat Jimmy once took lessons on. Yes, he took sailing lessons once upon a time. A true Renaissance man he is.

Look at the water!
That weird thing at the bottom on the rock is a bird.

So far, we haven't seen as many kangaroos as I thought we would. They tend to come out at dusk, and we did drive by a few fields with about 20 or so 'roos, but didn't stop for a picture. I am determined to get pictures of them though.

Old friends catching up.

Little Joey

This is Lake Joondalup, which is very close to our current home. There are great parks all around it with bike and walking trails, really really nice!

There are also ducks in Australia.

And parrots (and pigeons...)

Ok, I don't think the white birds are actually parrots.
They do have parrots here, but I forget the name of these.
They're a beaut though aren't they?

We went into the city to get our banking stuff sorted, and stopped at King's Park on the way home. It's a gorgeous park that overlooks the city - the park is apparently larger than Central Park, you know, in NYC.

Now these are parrots. Not sure if you can see their color
well, they are bright green with some reds and yellows.

Gumtrees

Of course we had to do one here too.

The Queen comes here sometimes. No big.

 

And finally, the beach. Ahhh the beach. It's just incredible. The water is immaculate. I don't think I've really grasped that we live so close to the beach yet. (Clearly I haven't caught onto a lot of things so far...) We've managed to stop by for a look every day since we arrived. It's so refreshing. I know its so easy to grow complacent wherever you live, and I'm really determined to try with all my might not to grow complacent with such a spectacular sight. Feel free to keep me accountable.

Our rental car. We haven't named him though, we only have
him for two weeks. Don't want to get too attached.

Roll Tide.

The Lord has already been so good and gracious to us since we arrived. Jimmy already has a few prospects for work, we visited a church on Sunday that we both really enjoyed, and we've had the best time catching up with Jimmy's friends. We are still a bit homesick I think, but we are so thankful for all God is doing, how He is providing and sustaining us. This passage has been in my mind constantly even throughout the drive west, and especially now:

"May the glory of the Lord endure forever

May the Lord rejoice in His works

Who looks on the earth and it trembles

Who touches the mountains and they smoke!

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God while I have being. 

May my meditation be pleasing to Him,

for I rejoice in the Lord." - Psalm 104:31-34

That Time We Drove West

G'day from Australia!! We are here, and have a lot to catch everyone up on! Internet has turned out to be a rare commodity in these parts so we are still figuring that out. For now, here's a post I meant to upload days ago!

We (I) decided before we set off that we should to do some sort of pose at each destination, so we came up with this unique idea (which we stole from Pinterest...) And I think it's a great way to wrap up the road trip section of the blog:

We're not going to Guam, are we?

Well, this is happening.

We've been in LA the past few days visiting my good pal Molly. You might be expecting some pictures of our time here. We were too. But somebody left the memory card for the camera in the computer (me), so we have very few pictures. Here are the highlights of our LA visit in words:

Molly // Peacock // Church // Griffith Observatory // Brunch // Hollywood Sign // Scientology // Self-Serve Coffee // In-N-Out Burger // Echo Park // Silver Lake // Hipster Sightings // Father of the Bride House // No A/C // Pizza Pie // Sunset on the Beach

...They just paint the picture for you don't they? We had a really nice time, all thanks to Molly showing us around like a pro. LA wraps up our road trip west and we can't believe the end has come. Our next journey will be across the Pacific.

I had some close friends who took a flight across the Pacific once, and they turned out just fine:



Live Together, Die Alone.
Not Penny's Boat.
See you in another life, brother.

San Fran and Yosemite

Well, yall, the road-trip part of all of this is coming to an end. We head to LA tomorrow, and then take a flight from there. I can't believe all that we've been able to see, do, and experience over the past three weeks. It's a blessing that I know is meant to be used in our lives, and I'm praying that we don't forget or ignore that.

On our way to Yosemite we had the option to drive straight through San Francisco, or avoid it altogether. We went back and forth on that decision, since it would add considerable time and stress to our drive, but ended up going for it, and it was the right decision. I'm not usually impressed by cities, but it was delightful! (Granted, I wasn't the one driving...)

At the Golden Gate!

Alcatraz

Look at that street! It's like Inception!

At Yosemite, we had the bright idea to spend one night in Curry Village right in Yosemite Valley, in a canvas tent. It was an experience I would recommend, but perhaps not if your entire life is packed into your car, like ours currently is.

This was our little tent. The box in front of the tent is a bear-proof locker in which you are required to keep ALL food, and anything that could be mistaken by a bear as food. That includes all toiletries, drinks, detergent, pretty much everything short of fabric. Bears break into cars all the time at Yosemite, so leaving this stuff in your car (as we have done throughout this trip) is punishable by a hefty fine in the park. This was bad news (bears) for us. I wish I had taken a picture of the inside of our locker, it was packed FULL. I'm sure we looked like fools packing that thing like it was a nuclear shelter for only one night.

The Village

 

Yosemite was a considerably laid-back park for us since everything revolves around the valley. And that was good since we didn't have the best night's sleep in the tent. (We aren't campers, ok? Leave us be.) It's easy to see why the valley demands so much attention:

El Capitan (and Jimmy)

 

The Valley from the Tunnel View was, to us, the most spectacular:

 

Those Big Trees

We are in California! All these drives are beginning to get jumbled in my head, but here's what we've done the past few days (I think...)

TREES! It's so difficult to really capture the magnitude of the Redwoods, so interpret the following pictures as a continuing effort to portray their size. I felt like a kid walking through them, like I was in a world made for much larger creatures. My child-like state brought back a childhood song that I found myself humming amongst the trees, "Our God is so big, so strong and so mighty there's nothing our God cannot do."

Quick side note! Apparently one of the Redwood reserves is home to some outgoing elk. We actually saw a whole herd of them (probably 10-15, maybe even 20) but we were only able to stop in time to get a couple shots of these few, who were taunting a neighbor's dog in the area. You have to look for them through the trees!

See them?

I thought this was a sprinkler at first.

 

Back to the Redwoods...

SEE how big they are?!

 

Can you find Jimmy?

...can you find me?

Jimmy, Jarvis, and me (and the trees)
Jimmy had to endure the sprint of his life to make this shot in time.