Bondi

Hey. I just wanted you all to see a few pictures from our afternoon at Bondi Beach last week. Sorry it's taken a few days to get them up.

It was a beautiful morning, but about the time we arrived at the beach the clouds started rolling in. It was still really fun and the rain held off for a while.

Here are the girls testing the water temperature. It was a bit chilly, but not too bad. That's Paula on the left. She's been on here before. Coral is in the middle. She's from South Africa. That's Amy on the right. She's from Canada.

Now, here are the men. You've seen these guys before - Larry on the left and Stephen on the right. They're a great bunch to hang around.

There are hundreds of beaches around here. Hopefully by the time two years are up we'll have tested them all. Feel free to come and join us anytime. We miss you all.

Ryan

Blue Mountains

How’s it going everyone? I really hope you’ve all had an awesome week. Amy and I did for the most part – I was a bit sick all day Tuesday, but it wasn’t too bad at all. We’ve had the whole week off and have tried to take advantage of it. A few guys called on Tuesday night and asked if we wanted to go to the Blue Mountains on Wednesday, so that’s what we did and I thought I’d give you all a bit of a look at the scenery we took in. It was absolutely amazing!

This trip was a lot like the one we took last summer with Jamie, John and Jon to Mount Carleton except these mountains are about a billion times bigger and the trail is a lot more challenging and the scenery is a lot more beautiful… so Jamie, John and Jon, come for a visit and we’ll head to the Blue Mountains for a day and you can compare for yourselves.

These are the Three Sisters. Apparently there used to be seven of them, but they seem to have disappeared or something. Aboriginal legend has it that these are actually real sisters imprisoned by their father to protect them from a bunyip (what’s a bunyip?).

Here’s Amy and I in front of the Three Sisters. The little balcony we’re standing on is way out over the edge of the cliff. It’s a long way down. We had to be pretty careful because it was so windy (as you can tell by our hair – man I need a hair cut).

Here is the whole crew that went to the mountains. Next to me is Dany from Paris, France. Next to him is Joni from Switzerland, and next to him is Ryo from Japan. They’re really great guys.

This cliff is part of the Three Sisters.

Here’s Amy at the bottom... finally at the bottom. It was such a long way down and we had to walk down a really, really steep stair case carved into the rock. By the time we reached the bottom our legs were like jelly. That really sucked because we still had to climb all the way back up.

Dany knew of a little side road that led us to here. It was absolutely incredible! I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was up here.

That was our last stop of the trip (except McDonald’s on the way home) and we had a really neat experience there. I’m not sure if anyone else really even noticed, but after we discussed the view for a few seconds everyone went silent and it stayed that way for about ten minutes. I’m pretty sure that everyone was thinking the same thing – God is big!

Marty Sampson wrote a new song last week for Encounterfest called Devotion. The chorus says this…

When You stand, the tall trees and mountains bow
When You speak, the fiercest of oceans is still
And I see the sinner seek devotion
The lost become chosen
And I fall to my knees

It was really neat to have heard that song all weekend long, and then to have seen these amazing cliffs and mountains and trees, and to think that my God created them and that at any moment He could simply speak a word and they would bow to Him... Wow.

Ryan

Encounterfest

Hey. How is everyone doing?

This past weekend we had Encounterfest here at the church. It was incredible! Jeannie Mayo was here speaking. I had never heard of her until Encounterfest, but she is so good. She's been in youth ministry for over 30 years, so she really seems to know what she's talking about. There was also some Martin guy here from Africa. He was really interesting to listen to. I guess he's worked with Nelson Mandela and works a lot now with the current president of Zambia. The Hillsong youth pastors were also here of course. Phil Dooley and Paul Andrews and a bunch of others. It was great.

There were a ton of great new songs from United (as seems to be the case every year). They keep going deeper and deeper and writing bold songs that will be sung around the world. It was really cool to be here and see it all first hand.

Have an awesome rest of the week! Amy and I will. We are enjoying a week off from classes. Yesterday we went with a few friends to the Blue Mountains and tomorrow we're heading to the beach. I can't wait!

Ryan

PS - We'll post some pictures of the Blue Mountains in the next couple of days. They're amazing! Much like Mount Carleton times a billion.

Thanksgiving In Australia

Hey. Hope everyone is having an awesome Thanksgiving weekend. There is no such thing as Thanksgiving here in Australia, so Amy and I had a few fellow Canadians (an one American) over for a Thanksgiving feast on Saturday night. We had an awesome time and some amazing food.

This is our lovely table. We got it at Target for $99. It was regular $179, but we did a little sweet talkin' and got the price down a bit. We only have 4 big plates, so one of the guys brought a couple extra from his apartment.

Here is our chicken. We actually cooked two of these, but it was still much cheaper than buying a turkey. For just a small little turkey it cost over $50. That's absolutely insane! The chicken was so good though (I think I like chicken a little better than turkey anyway). All of the food was very good. Amy made stuffing that was so good. Everybody bought a bit of food to make the meal.

Here are the girls diggin' in. You all know my beautiful wife Amy there on the left. In the middle is our American guest, Paula. She's so nice and she's from one of the Carolina's... I can't remember which one. On the far right is Michelle. She is from Vancouver. They are both Worship & Creative Arts majors like Amy and I.

Here is Paula and Michelle relaxing at the table after the meal is done with Larry (www.larryinaustralia.blogspot.com). He's a great guy and he's studying Pastoral Leadership here at the college.

This is Stephen. He's from Petrolia, Ontario and has become a really good friend of Amy and I. He's just doing a little clean-up before dessert. He is another Worship & Creative Arts major.

And last, but certainly not least is the APPLE PIE. It was so good. Amy actually made two of these as well, and I'm pretty sure they're the best pies she has ever made. We loaded vanilla ice cream on the pie and stuffed ourselves full. It was a really great evening. We're really thankful for these people. They are a lot of fun to be around.

Anyway, It's my bedtime. You all haven't even started with your thanksgiving dinners yet, and I'm heading to bed. How weird is that? I'm still not used to that... it's dark here right now and back home in Florenceville it's light... that's crazy.

Enjoy your dinners.

Ryan

Two Months Ago

Hey again. Just wanted to tell the world that it's been two whole months since Amy and I tied the knot over ten thousand kilometers away. We're celebrating tonight with "Grilled Chicken Broccoli Alfredo".

Ryan

PS: She's a really awesome wife!

Alexis

Hey. I really don't have much time, but I wanted to put this little picture up for everyone to see. I'm sure you've probably already seen it, but I like it, so here it is.

This is Alexis, Alison and Dustin's first baby. She's also the first neice of our family... I told Dustin that so far he's been the only one man enough to produce a little baby girl... as for Jason and Jeremy... well, we don't need to go bashing anyone here for everyone to see, so we'll just leave it at that... (Just kidding... they've done pretty good too... i'll put some pix of the boys up really soon).

Ryan

PS: Still waiting to see this goat...

An Inside Look

Hey everyone. I really hope everything is going good for you all.

A few days ago, Amy and I spent a day in Sydney with a few friends. We had a great time so I thought I'd show you all a few pictures we took.

We first got on a ferry in a suburb called Paramatta which took us straight into the harbour in Sydney. It landed us right beside the Opera House, so naturally that was our first stop. From there we could see a nice view of the city, the bridge and the Opera House...

Here is Amy and I out front of the Opera House. It's a huge building. We went into the box office to see what shows would be playing and how much tickets cost there. We didn't stay too long. There were some descent shows coming up, but tickets were about $850 each. How crazy is that?

Here is a picture of Amy and I with the bridge in the background. It's a pretty high bridge, and people pay a lot of money to climb to the top of it. It's a huge tourist attraction here.

Here is the view of the city from beside the Opera House. There is a lot more to the city, but this is a really nice view.

From the Opera House we went to the Wildlife Park and the Sydney Aquarium. I accidentaly erased my pictures from the Wildlife Park from my camara, but here is one from the Aquarium with Amy standing in front of a tank with some small sharks and a few other fish.

Here is a picture of one of the bigger sharks they had at the Aquarium. They were pretty nasty looking. They had a few different shark species in this tank with some huge sting rays and one huge turtle.

From there we headed to Sydney Tower. At the bottom of the tower they have the "OzTrek". It's a virtual reality ride that takes you through Australia's history. It was pretty descent. This is Amy and I sporting the top quality (not) headphones during the ride.

This is a view of the tower from the ground. It's 305 meters high. It's not the CN Tower or anything, but I still wouldn't want to fall off of it or anything.

Here is the view from the top. You can really see a long ways away when you're up there, and you can get a nice look at the bridge and Opera House from up there as well. If you want to spend the money you can actually strap on a harness and walk out onto the towers roof. I'm not sure why you'd want to, but you can do it.

It was a really great day. We finished up with supper at the Hard Rock Café. It was awesome! Along with Amy and I was Stephen from Ontario, Larry from Saskatchewan and Manitoba (yes both), Michelle from British Columbia and Jenny from somewhere in the USA. It was a North American getaway I guess. We never planned it that way, that's just how it worked out.

Hope you all have an awesome week! Talk to you soon.

Ryan