When I was a kid...

A good friend of mine (Anthony) made the observation to me the other day that at some stage in the (very!!!) distant future my kids will be swimming in a lake somewhere and I'll be able to say to them "I proposed to your mother under a jetty." Where upon they will acuse me of being stupid or making the whole story up. To which I will reply to them, "No, I proposed under the edge of a jetty in a dry lake." After their laughter/ astonishment has subsided I'll be able to say a line that I have been waiting my whole life to say.

"Back when I was a kid it never rained. Not like it does now, you kids have never seen it really dry. We used to make jokes about it being this wet!"

The above lake is currently dry for only the second time in recorded history. (~120 years) The special location was underneath the jetty shown above.

But then you assure me.....

It's amazing how God can assure us.

Anthony suprised me by showing up in Ballarat out of the blue on Friday night. He collaborated with another one of my good mates who is down here & we meet up under the attraction of Pizza and bowling. Which meant that instead of a weekend of dirty rooms, assignments and boredom I had a weekend of mates, movies, eating out and laughs. Despite my initial internal apprehensions, (& shock/surprise) it was the best thing that could've happened. (or second best anyway!) It interrupted the cycle of Uni, sleep, work, Uni, Assignments, Work etc. Also, instead of sitting in my room feeling guilty about now doing work of some description I was able to get away from it completely.

Sometime during the duration of the weekend I was also reminded somewhat of my (our) own self-worth. God loves me enough to give me mates that will take a weekend out for no other reason than to 'catch-up' or 'hang'. It was a huge encouragement to be reminded that with God I've got this far through Uni, and the with his help I can get through my final year. I have more Uni work now than I've ever had, but 2 years later I'm starting to learn to actually manage it. Don't get to wrapped up in the immediate stresses and work of life. Because then you lose your perspective on other areas of life. Not only that, but you become (as I did) introverted & self focused. This leads to guilt, selfishness and negativity etc. It seems that as Spiderman 3 (which we saw) showed, it's very often that the greatest battle lies within.

In Summary:

Sometimes I think that I'm not any good at all
And sometimes I wonder why, why I'm even here at all
But then you assure me

I'm a little more than useless
And when I think that I can't do this
You promise me that I'll get through this
And do something right
Do something right for once

More Than Useless - Relient K

Arrivals

Sydney: A Summary of the best city in Australia.

Day 1: When Anthony arrived at my place to leave it was 6:45 am. We where leaving early because we where embarking on what would become a ~1,250km trip to Sydney. When we arrived at Hay (NSW) it was lunch time & we'd burnt 1 tank of fuel. When we arrived in Sydney we found ourselves heading into the city along Pitt St. (Think Bourke St in Melb, or North Tce in Adelaide.) We got through that drama and then found ourselves driving around Kings Cross (think St Kilda in Melb) trying to get onto the right street in the right direction at 10pm at night. Needless to say, after arriving in Sydney, we where happy and tired.

Day 2: After arriving at Circular Quay (read: Key!) we learned that the Opera House & Sydney Harbor Bridge really are the coolest buildings in Australia, & that all the hype about them is completely justified! Jet Boating across Sydney Harbor is very cool. After tea that night, we realized how cool Monorails are! So after doing a complete loop of the monorail, we arrived at Darling Harbor, which is a very cool place, (like Southbank in Melbourne, except better!)

Day 3: After arriving at the Taronga (as opposed to my home, Tooronga!) Zoo we would spend over 5 hours looking at all sorts of weird and wonderful animals that live on Gods earth. After walking seemingly many kilometers around what really is a great zoo, we caught the ferry back to Circular Quay again.

Day 4: By this stage tiredness is starting to set-in and arriving at a stage of consciousness proves difficult, especially given that this is the coolest night (ie. best for sleeping) since we arrived. After arriving via Ferry to Manly (Who was insecure enough to name a place that?) we cruised around what was a fairly nice beach, and some nice cliff face sorta things as well. Later that night, when we arrived at the top of Centrepoint tower, we saw a very pretty view of the Sydney night skyline.

Day 5: When we finally arrived at the markets at 'The Rocks' we saw some weird and wonderful crafty creations. It was about 1pm when we'd finished there. It was by far the hottest day of our trip t0 date, and what better thing to do on a hot day than go to the beach? So that's what we did. Took a bus out to Bondi and managed to fill in the rest of the afternoon at what we rekon is a fairly cool, but mostly overrated Bondi beach. When the sun went down, we went back and changed before heading to the Hard Rock cafe Sydeny for tea. Best eating out experience ever. Funnest atmosphere & best food. American Brownies are really good!

Day 6: After arriving in Canberra, it was late in the afternoon on a day in which we had: Driven across the Harbour Bridge. Driven back across the Harbour Bridge & then spent over 1 hour trapped under the Sydney Airport in the M5 East tunnel because of an accident. It was hilarious watching people get frustrated because they where running late. As if getting annoyed was gunna get the accident cleared faster. Anthony & I had a whale of a time drinking coke and memorizing the warning message: "This is the M5 East Tunnel Control Room. There has been an 'incident' in the M5 East Tunnel. For your safety, please observe all signs, including the reduced speed limits. (The traffic was backed up for well over 1km & at a standstill!) M5 East Thanks you for your co-operation."

Day 7: After arriving at the Australian War Memorial, we learnt that the Australian love of a 'souvy' ( souviner) was even extended to the battlefield. Apparently there is more WWII German Artillery in Australia than in any country in the world. There's even a piece of artillery on display in Kaniva. Our diggers really are legends. Learning about war odly fascinates me. Somthing about focusing the best of humanity's technology, manpower & ingenuity into somthing that is such a fallacy. Imagine if we put the same effort into usefull things, like reducing greenhouse emmissions, finding a cure for AIDs or reducing poverty.
After a brief look at the mint, we would arrive in Albury 3 hours or so later, to an awesome cabin & some Hungry Jacks for tea.

Day 8: After arriving home, we had traveled almost 2,700kms for the trip and spent at least $210 on fuel. After arriving in Bendigo we had lunch and briefly caught up with Sammy, one of the locals. We where pretty tired and glad to be home, but we had an amazing time & saw some really cool things. It's one of the best things I've done in a long time.