Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Aussie Rules!

WOW..What a mad but wonderful few days. We met up with family in Sydney on Saturday and did the tourist thing. We met with my uncle David, auntie Pauline cousins Kay & Tony and some of their kids; quite an outing. What a beautiful city. We went up the Centerpoint tower for the fantastic 360 degree view of the city, visited the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. In the afternoon we took the ferry to Manley and I paddled in the Pacific (which was freezing!!!). The weather on Saturday was quite cold and breezy. Things warmed up as the day progressed and by the evening we were able to eat out (open air in winter!) in China town . Thanks Aussie family for a great day.One amazing thing that happened in Sydney was bumping into someone we know on the Opera House steps. A fellow Kip McGrath franchisee who runs Milton Keynes just happened to be on holiday in Sydney (not at our conference). What are the chances of that?

On Sunday morning we met James Fokkens (Amy’s fiancé)at the fantastic Hillsong Church in Sydney. We went to the first of their four Sunday services and needless to say their massive auditorium was packed. Darlene led worship (she wrote the famous song ‘Shout to the Lord’). This is church on a mega scale, very exciting and dynamic. It was great to be actually their as I’m doing my Phd on them!

After church a car was sent for us to take us up the cost to Newcastle (about 100 miles) where Kip Mc Grath’s head office is based. Newcastle is on the coast, great beaches and big blue skies. Monday and Tuesday were spent in meetings but today (Wednesday) we spent the whole day wine tasting in the famous Hunter Valley. There are so many beautiful vineyards here and the weather has picked up; it been 22 C for the last two days. 22C in winter?? WOW. Needless to say all the Aussies are in coats, hats and scarfs. As well as vineyards we visited a smelly cheese shop, chocolate emporium and loads of touristy shops.The jet lag has been harder to get over than we thought, we keep waking up in the dead of night and being hungry at ‘odd’ times. By the time we have got all this we’ll be heading home.

Well, thanks for checking in on me.

God Bless - Dave

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well thanks a lot for that!! Really jealous now! Glad you're having a fab time. Look forward to catching up with you both on your return.
Best wishes,
Cerys (Kip Neath)

Anonymous said...

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My name is Dr Ahmed Abdalla director and board member,Transparency
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Source of the funds are:

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