Friday 31 December 2010

2010


I have never been one to hugely celebrate New Year, after all it's just another day in 365. But this afternoon (whilst stood on Palm Beach, on the north shore of Sydney, with my ankles in the ocean, soaking up the sun - as you do! :P) it has just really hit me, that the past year, the glorious 2010, has by far been the best, most beautiful, most unexpected, most God-led year of my life! And even better, this time last year I had no idea it would even be vaguely significant!

This year I met Mike, found a best friend, found the other half of me, fell in Love, got engaged and planned a wedding! All with more of a sense of God working in something than anything I have ever previously experienced. I could never have planned this, his timing is perfect and in the midst of all my imperfectness and human frailty and inconsistency, this is PERFECT for me, for us, and all planned by HIM - perfect!!! :)

As if that wasn't enough, this year I have also...

Started my own life, independant from family, after uni, living in Bath.
Handled all my own finances
Learnt to cry
Beaten addictions
Had a depression free year
Become more and more happy with being ME
Lost approx 2 stone
Got really good at saving money
Started songwriting again
Learnt lots of new life and work skills
Quit a job I hated
Learnt some HUGE God lessons
Made new friends and become a lot closer to old ones
Become more comfortable with my weaknesses and more confidant at starting to tackle them
Travelled half way around the world, on my own, funded by myself.
Found beautiful, spirit-filled, people in really unexpected places (thank you Bryan!)

So all in all this New Year has to be noted for me because 2010 has been absolutely HUGE!

So tonight I will watch the fireworks and all the people celebrating and be abudantly thankful for all I have been blessed with, even for all the difficult years leading upto this year, for I would be half the woman I am today without them!

I really pray that I can continue to be this thankful and aware of the blessings I have even when the years aren't all that nice! I pray for wisdom and peace in those times, and overall a continued abundance of Love and Hope whatever may come. All praise to you God for your perfect timing, your patience, your grace and your Love. May I never forget it!

Happy New Year Everyone!
I'm getting married in 2011 - I think that maybe enough to make this coming year FANTASTIC! :) :) :)

Mike - I Love You, beyond words, always! :)

Photo Via: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2009/01/018235.html

Wednesday 29 December 2010

Yarrangobilly Caves and the Australian Alps

Went on a beautiful day trip today with Rachel and Dubs. About 2 hours drive up into the Australian Alps and to Yorrangobilly, where there are some stunning caves to tour, a lovely riverside mountain walk and a hot spring swimming pool! All in all very lovely day complete with picnic, ice-cream and swimming (oh and walking up very steep hills in blazing heat! I'll sleep well tonight!).

Have a few piccies :)













So my time in Wagga Wagga has come to an end, I'm leaving tomorrow to go back to Sydney on the train. I have lots of lovely photos to share with you from the last few days, I will try and fit in sharing them over the next few days before I go to New Zealand next week!!! Thanks for being patient with me :)

Saturday 25 December 2010

An Australian Christmas!





So I know I'm being a bit late and blogging this on Boxing Day but it's still Christmas in England right!? :P
So my Australian Christmas consisted of 15+ Australians, 6 dogs, hot HOT weather, an afternoon storm, water-volleyball in the dark, swimming, unexpected presents, pool competition (I lost miserably!), marjong, lovely family, wonderful company, amazing vegie/meat christmas dinner, blissful air-conditioning, skype conversations with my boy and the family in England :) :) :) and lots of fun!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! :)

Tuesday 21 December 2010

The Great Ocean Road

So, I decided to splurge a little and do a trip/tour thingy and the one that comes highly recommended in Melbourne is a One Day tour of the Great Ocean Road. Even better they have a 'Sunset Tour' option which naturally was my choice so yesterday off I went in a bus with 24 other people from all around the world and a very friendly, hilarious, aussie driver (though he definitely had his own politcal/environmental agenda lol. Though his quirks did make it all the more entertaining!).
So I played co-piolet for the day, sat at the front with the best views and prayed for good weather!
Here's what the tour incuded...



  • Bells Beach

  • Historical Light house

  • Seaside Villages

  • Great Otway National Park

  • Lush Rainforests

  • Wild Koala spotting

  • Port Campbell National Park

  • Sunset at the world famous Twelve Apostles

  • Loch Arc Gorge

  • London Bridge



  • Unfortunately the weather wasn't great and the sunset we got was just about there but very stormy looking skies (quite nice though actually). Thankfully the rain came only in the times we were in the bus so all in all a good day was definitely had and it was just about worth the money :)
    At the end of the day it was nice to spend the whole day travelling with a whole bunch of other people.... it can get quite lonely always doing stuff on your own!
    Here are some piccies as promised...




















    So that was that!

    And now I am in Wagga Wagga, with family, in the sunshine, in 'real' Australia contryside, with the dogs and the horses and the chickens, relaxing, unpacking, ready to spend a lovely 9 days over Christmas! I've been here 7 hours and already it's lovely! (Though I did get bitten by 6 mozzies within the first 5 minutes lol - typical!)

    Love to you all for Christmas!

    Mike - wishing you were here!! xx

    Melbourne

    Have just finished a lovely (if not wet, stormy and cold) weekend in Melbourne. Quite a different city to Sydney, not just in climate, but in feel. Was a lot easier to get to know and hang out with my room mates here, whereas in Sydney the Hostel was so big and people were on the go all the time so there wasn't much of a chance. In Melbourne hung out a little bit with Lisanna from the Netherlands, Ashleigh from Ohio and Helen from London. I even bumped into two more guys from Bournemouth - seriously what are the chances!
    Despite bad weather I still managed to do quite a few things including The Melbourne Aquarium, The Royal Botanical Gardens (Huge and beautiful!), Free tourist tram around the city, chilled in federations square, ice-cream in the pouring rain, $3 pizza and a one day sunset tour bus trip along the Great Ocean Road!
    So here are a few photos, I will do a whole separate post for the Great Ocean Road as there are lots and lots of photos! Quite a lot of the photos are flowers from the gardens in Melbourne, boring I know but beautiful and I am LOVING the macro setting on my camera lol!


    Random (but apparently quite famous) modern art in Melbourne...


    Royal Botanical Gardens






    City-scape!


    Red marble wall and red stone paving at Federation Square - nice!