Weekend Ministry

So this weekend was the craziest yet in the Kingston/Rudloff relationship...I went down to Arkansas and Brian went to Kansas! LOL...he was ministering to a woman that just lost her son. He made a tough choice and, after he had pulled back into the driveway after over 18 hours of driving, I realized again one of the things I love about this man. Though he didn't want to and he didn't like the idea that I was down there and he was leaving, he knew what God was asking him to do and he did it. No questions. I love the fact that I can count on my future husband to make tough choices like this. Ones that I won't always like, but in the end are beneficial to the kingdom work that we are supposed to be about and put as a priority in this life.

Even though Brian wasn't around on Saturday to spend the day with, I was able to spend the day with Bethany (the greatest thing in Arkansas...remember Brian was in Kansas!). We laughed (a lot!) and talked about every topic under the sun! We baked cookies, went to IHOP for lunch, made tacos for dinner, watched a movie with our "guys" when they got back, washed a dog...the list goes on. It was a great weekend that we were able to connect as friends...which is good since our "guys" are really good friends too. Stay tuned and I am sure you will hear a lot more about Erin and Bethany craziness!

Nature of Australia

These are just a few of the incredible flowers that fill the country of Australia with their beauty. They appear in random places, along the side walks, in the parks, and around the country side.

There are way too many to post. So here are just a few more...some are just too interesting and beautiful to leave out!



I tried to grow these in "my" garden when I was a kid...just thought it was cool to see what they were supposed to look like! LOL mine did come up, but didn't look quite this good.



Blue Mountains, Australia

These mountains were beautiful. They had legends and stories attached to many of them. To be honest they reminded me a lot of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The colors and the size of the mountains make them very close in comparison to the Rocky Mountains.

I liked all of the attractions that they had for tourist there. There was a skywalk that had a glass bottom. It took you across a gorge allowing you to see everything from a great vantage point. As it pulls across the gorge, there is a guide pointing out a lot of the sights that you can see.

 

After the skywalk, we took the world’s steepest tram down the mountain. To get into the cars of this tram, you have to squat down then step in and sit. You are caged in on all sides, but the one that you climbed into the car on. There is no seat beat only a bar to rest your feet on. About a minute after you start, you realize that they didn’t put that bar there to rest your feet on. You have to stand on that bar to hold yourself up. The tram flies at a parallel angle down the side of the mountain with you practically standing within the cage to stay up right.

 

Once you make it down the mountain, you are in the Australian rainforest. The air is crisp and clean. Beautiful doesn’t describe the amazement that is felt by what you see around you. The trees are all enormous and you can’t take a step without seeing something that you just have to look at. There are trails that weave around inside of this forest. They have signs up pointing out a lot of old mining equipment that is lying on the side of the mountain. With the signs, they have left up a miner’s cabin so that you can see what most of them lived like back then. The rainforest trail ends at the platform for the cable car that takes you back to the top of the mountain.

Termite Nest!



Part of the 900 steps we decided to walk down, only to realize that we had to go right back up!

It was great to be out of the city and back in nature, a different nature than here at home. Though it was a two hour train ride, it was well worth it.

Back to our regularly scheduled program... here is the next stop on our tour of Sydney!

The Australian Maritime National was actually the one museum that we went to that had an exhibit that was American. The exhibit was a $5 million gift to Australia from the United States in 1988 to commemorate the bicentennial of the first European settlement on the continent.

They have a tunnel that you can walk into and it feelings like a submarine. They play the sounds of the sonar and have a bunk room that you can lay in and feel how small the space they have is.

They have this fun display of swim wear that have been used throughout the decades. Because the Australian culture is so rooted in water of any kind, this display was a great reflection on how much their lives change due to the trends and fashions. From the early 1910’s to the swimming suits of today, they have about 10 different styles.

 

So this has nothing to do with anything that we talked about, but it was my favorite poster in the museum! Not Uncle Sam, but just as persuasive I guess.

Petting zoo...Australian style

Featherdale Park

...is a petting zoo full of the exotic animals that live in the Australian outback. This isn’t like a typical petting zoo in the United States. The animals aren’t in cages. They run around the entire zoo. There are a few animals that are kept inside cages, such as dingoes and crocodiles that eat people, but all the other ones are free ranging.

The best part of this park was being able to touch animals that I would have never thought I would have even been able to see in my lifetime. I got to pet kangaroos, which are pretty skittish and really only like people who have food.

The koalas that were out for us to touch were soft and almost plush feeling. It was funny though, there was a worker attending the petting area with the koalas in it. After we started touching the koala, he tells us, "Don't to touch its head because it doesn’t like that and will sometimes bite."

Besides these animals that we could pet, I learned that Australia has penguins, which I didn’t know. They also have a lot of bats and several kinds of parrots and wombats. There were quite a few animals that we would expect to see over here in a petting zoo, such as, rabbits and sheep.

Wombat

In Remembrance...

ANZAC War Memorial

This monument was the one thing that I had to see after I started my research. ANZAC is the Australian and New Zealand Armed Coalition. From the moment that I approached the monument, I realized that this was the heart of the Australian people that were remembered within the walls of this memorial. When I walked into the building, the first thing I saw was a sign that requested that everyone remain quiet in respect for the fallen that are remembered there, and it was completely silent. Whispers could be heard, but very few. It wasn’t your typical museum. The people inside were there to remember, to honor, and some to mourn. The first floor is filled with artifacts from several wars. Uniforms, pins, utensils, caps…the list of what is shown there could fill pages. All of these items were donated by people who wanted to make sure that the war heroes of Australia were remembered for generations to come.

Though the downstairs is quite amazing and informative, the upstairs is emotionally enthralling. Walking up these narrow stairs, you enter into a cathedral like room. The vaulted ceiling is covered in stars. Each star represents a soldier that was sent to World War I just from the state of New South Wales, and there are 120,000 of them gleaming down at you. There is a circular banister in the middle of the room. Peering over the banister, you see a statue of a man dying from his wounds. He is a soldier laying on a sword, held in position by three females, a wife with children, a mother, and a sister. These three represent all of the women that supported their men through the war and the losses that they suffered because of it.

This monument displays with reverence how the Australian people feel about their soldiers. They are heroes and should be recognized as such.

The One and Only

THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

This is the one site in Sydney that everyone has to see...not because it is so great, but because it is so well known. It is an interesting site, but as far as structure and design go (even just within Sydney) there are more impressive ones.

But with as well known as it is...you just have to see it. I was surprised by the tecture of the roofing materials that was used. Even in these pictures, the roof looks smooth and sleek. It's not.

You can see the panels used to put the roof together. They are metal, which is why all pictures makeit look very sleek.
The Opera House is surrounded by cafes. Cute little ones that are located in the most amazing area. The Opera House sits out on a wharf and the sidewalk goes right up to it, but you can go down some stairs and under that sidewalk. The cafes sit back inside the side walk and have a little bit of covered seating, but it isn't walled off. You can sit under the sidewalk and watch the ocean in the Sydney Harbor washing under the Harbor Bridge and up to the Opera House's wharf.
There is no other way to explain it than...beautiful.

here it is

So over the next few weeks I will do my best to post every sight and sound of Australia...it might take awhile to get through them, but I think you will enjoy finding out about the country and the people.