Aotearoa - The Land of the Long White Cloud

Why hello!

After a day in Sydney, we stayed the night with a couchsurfer which was great. We explored a bit of the harbor where Nemo was, and went to a Hillsong service for Mel. Was really good!

Fine flight to New Zealand, and here we are in Christchurch, staying with more kind couchsurfers who have lively children and a gorgeous garden. We will be camping in their back yard.

What a place this is. Another land with a crazy history of struggle between First Nations peoples, and exploring settlers. It brings you to tears. We have seen some incredible paintings and artwork of the Maori...and are learning more history. They named this land 'Aotearoa' when they discovered it about 1000 years ago.

The Creator's creativity is so vast and awe-inspiring!
How we all need to know the heart of Jesus and be healed by His love.

What we've been up to?
wondering about all sorts of things, photography, lots of walking, seeing loads of art, bird-watching, baby-sitting kiddos, trying to find jobs in Alaska, doing dishes, packing and re-packing luggage, getting free food from the hostel 'free food shelf', reading, dreaming, and tonight to an outdoor Shakespeare play -'The Merry Wives of Windsor'

Tah!
J and C

All of Creation Praises the Maker!

One more day in Australia... We finally made it to the Great Barrier Reef. A dream come true... More colourful than Joseph's technicolor dream coat and much more entertaining. We had to pay for it though, with a week indoors, stuck in a tropical cyclone, wearing our bathing suits to the store as walking felt much like swimming, and no umbrella could stand a chance... but the weather started to turn around and the sky did clear so the next day we hopped a boat to the reef and went snorkelling for hours. We saw endangered giant clams that I (Joseph) could not get my arms around if I tried. We saw squid that the largest flippers could not propel me to keep up with in a chase, we saw a few Nemo's(clownfish) hanging out in their anenome, safe from predators, as they coat themselves with a mucus and are immune to the stings that would kill other fish, and we saw literally thousands of colourful fish of so many shapes and sizes, with the largest being a giant Queensland grouper - 12 feet long - that a few months back had put a diver half way down it's throat before deciding it didn't like the taste of rubber and oxygen tank, so spit him out. Seeing the Great Barrier Reef up close (you can also see it from space) is an experience hard to explain, but overwhelming in the best of ways, as I'm sure heaven is(to a much greater degree). Just when you think it can't get any better, it does.. and you just can't believe it.

The next day we caught another ride to a 6 km long pure white sand beach, which you'll see by the attached photos that we had way too much fun at. We had to wear stinger suits, as the jellyfish are bad at this time of year and there are some that can kill people within 3 minutes.

So that pretty much wraps up our time in the north east tropical region of Australia. Tomorrow we head down the east coast to Sydney, the land of the Opera House and the mega-church, as well as a cherished reunion between father clownfish and son clownfish, as seen in "Finding Nemo." And almost as soon as we arrive, we will catch our connecting flight to Christchurch, New Zealand. The next leg of the journey and the last of new countries to be seen this time around.

There's a feeling floating around us of this journey's impending end, with the knowledge that this grand adventure will soon be over. By that time, we'll almost certainly be ready for it, as all voyages in this life must start somewhere and end somewhere....the 2nd law of thermodynamics and all that jazz, I guess... But we've had a lot of fun and should go out with a bang, as New Zealand and Hawaii are not bad places to be and God is never finished with us. So keep us in prayer as we make our way, and begin wrap up this part of the journey. We look forward to seeing you all again, with hi-fives, hugs and celebrations to be had.

Great Love,

Joseph and Christy

P.S. A quick description of the photos and video:

Most of them, you can tell: fish, birds, snorkels, the Great Barrier Reef, the Coral Sea, and us splashing around on Whitehaven beach in our superhero costumes "aka" Stinger Suits. The video is self explanatory. Then theres a couple goodn's that Christy took of the journal I got her on the Isle of Skye (off the Scottish coast) and me reading a great book called "Under the Mercy" which is a sequal of sorts to a superb true story with 18 letters from C.S. Lewis, called "A Severe Mercy." I highly recommend them.. Now there are two more photos, before and after. One of Christy holding a fish over the mouth of a Barramundi, that sucks 2 litres of water into it's gut, along with the fish, making a sound like a shotgun blast. Thankfully, on the next photo, Christy still has all her fingers and a bunch of water on her face. Oh here's this sweet video.

Who goes there?!...

Rained In!

Ah, today was so refreshing, cannot tell the half... We are at the Whitsunday Islands in NE Australia...
We got a free boat trip to Daydream Island today, and snorkeled for hours in the Coral Sea
(Christy for her first time)! It was phenomenal! After hiking through a rainforest in a torrential downpour, we swam some more, and explored a bit. Now the weather has gone a bit mad and the airport is closed etc. They are calling for flash floods and things along those lines. After the rough ride back from Daydream Island, the bus didn't show up to pick up the passengers, so we ended up in a taxi with the news crew who had been out documenting the storms,...more rain then they've had in 12 years. (There is more stuff going on up North, where we are not...more rain than they've had in 100 years)

Anyway, we are just fine, staying in a house here in Aerlie Beach, and will wait the storm out.
Pray for us , but know all is ok.
Blessings to you very very much!
-Joseph and Christy R.

storms and spiders

It has been a good week..surfing lots (Joseph), hanging round in the shallows and praying.(Christy)... :)

It has been raining and raining, not the extremely hot Australia we were anticipating/dreading...heehee...
Now there's a monsoon rolling in to the NE coast, so we had to forgo our flight today (to the Great Barrier Reef). We found out 6 boats ran into the rocks up there today. We'll see what happens tomorrow. We're praying for the weather to clear up.

So, we're here in Brisbane, in thestorms ...and there are ji-normous black and yellow spideys with big webs on what seems like every other tree. But the palm-sized butterflies and rainbow parrots make up for that.

'Twas good to be in Newcastle last week visting Joseph's ywam friends. We enjoyed the fellowship, the art, the ocean.
...Have been thinking lots about the birds and how God made them so lovely, and they sing and fly and are free, and know how to make little homes from whatever is around them. This morning, I woke Joseph up by whistiling a tune that a bird woke me up with. A really creative melody!

Again and again, we remind ourselves, there is no need to worry, since we have such an incredible Creator and Friend in Jesus. May we let Him into every part of our lives to do the miraculous work of healing and love.

Have a splendid day!
*Joseph and Christy*

Australian Wonders

We are in Newcastle, where Joseph did his dts with ywam, four years ago. It has been neat to see this place and catch up with some people.

It has been stormy off & on and here, which is lovely...not too hot! and Joseph has really been enjoying surfing.

Last week was spent mostly with our friend Sparky and it was really sweet to see him. (photo) He is incredible with hospitality, and really is a blessing to us.

Very enjoyable of late, was the Great Ocean Road, on the S. coast of Australia, gorgeous landscape and all kinds of beautiful wildlife. We spent a couple days exploring God's creation there. His shells and seas and snails and trees, koalas and kangaroos. There all wild parrots all over...It is so cool!

The Wonders of His Love!

We love you guys,

Joseph and Christy