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?!...