More Holiday

Day 7 - The day of expensive petrol. (Sunday)
I left Kingston S.E. and fueled up on the way out of town. $60.
Drove north and looked at the Koorong which is a long thin stretch of water. Quite interesting. I met this cool guy and his dog who fetched rocks. That's right, rocks. A small growl and a larger than fist size rock was thrust at my feet. I threw it and off he went. Hehehe, loved it.
After that I drove to Adelaide through Strathlbyn and looked at Adelaide from the summit of mount Lofty. It was cool but by this time of the holiday it had started raining a bit and was really overcast. The drive into Adelaide was interesting with this really long steep descent which seemed carved out of the rock. There were tunnels and everything. Pretty cool. Engineers entertainment!
By this time the funds were getting pretty low. I could have sat in my car for 4 hours and gone to church in Adelaide but thought I should press on. Drove through the Barossa and stopped at a small place called Blanchetown. Man it was crap! After a thorough search through the whole town I found that they had no churches in the entire town! I was to discover a bigger and nicer town a way up the road called Waikerie but it was all part of the adventure. It had churches and stuff but by then it was Monday.
Filled up that night for $50 or so. Hmmm, $110 worth of petrol in one day...
Day's Km's = 480
Roadkill count = 4
Music - MYC 2005 - Ministry - Talk 2
Franz Ferdinand
Soundgarden - Down on the upside
Daft Punk - Discovery
Spin Doctors - Pocket full of Kryptonite

Day 8 - (Monday)
I'm out of here! After looking at the funds and realising I had roughly enough money to pay for petrol to get back to the gong I started home along the sturt highway. Stopped on the way at Renmark which is nice. I bought 3 nice bottles of wine from the Woolpunda wineries cellar door ($6 each). I thought it would be a crying shame to drive through so much wine country and not buy a single bottle.
Made it to Wagga Wagga at about 7:30 and parked outside my friend Luke and Liz's house. I had spoken to him late the week before and since then couldnt get in contact. They werent home so I thought they would be back soon. After all he is a youth minister and I thought he was out. Little did I know they had moved! Oh well. He called me at about 9:30 and gave me directions to the new house. Pretty funny. I was just thinking I would have to spend the night in the car again.
Day's Km's - 832
Music - MYC Talk 3
Triple J Hottest 100 Volume 3 Discs 1+2
Triple J Hottest 100 Volume 4 Discs 1+2
Triple J Hottest 100 Volume 6 Discs 1+2
Sophie Ellis Bextor - Read my lips
Billy Joel - Greatest Hits Vol 3
Best of Van Morrison


Day 9 - (Tuesday)
It was great to catch up with him and Liz. I slept on their ultra comfy (doesnt look it but it is) couch. They have a little baby called Henry. He is 6 weeks old and gorgeous! I got to hold him lots and before we went out in the morning I put his booties and jumper on.
I'll say it again... I want to be a dad!
I went to the Wagga zoo and looked at some cool animals. Made friends with the birds there (my housemate Dave has a cockatiel and so I know some bird type noises) and walked back to their house for lunch.
That afternoon had a bit of a nap and then we went to their bible study. For $2.50 I got heaps of pizza and snackys. It was great to study the bible with people I had never met before. We studied Zephaniah 1. It was good. I reccomend a read if you get a chance. The people's house we had the study at was really nice. It was kind of on a property (I would guess 100-150 acres) and was pretty new and cool. They were growing wheat and some other stuff. I guess it is kind of what my dream home would be like. A bit of property with a few animals on it and growing some things. Also, my engineering juices could flow in regards to designing and building all sorts of sheds and the like.
Days km's - 37

Day 10 - (Wednesday)
Woke up after a great sleep on the red couch. Said goodbye to Luke and Liz and Henry and made for the gong. Got in at about 3:00 in the afternoon. Went to Tim's house and we downloaded/looked at the 250 or so photos I took while I was away. Burnt them on a CD and I went to Ben and Alice's house to visit them and their new baby Alex. It was nice to see them again and hang out. Alex is only 2 weeks old and sleeps alot. I still got to hold him and got more clucky...

The remaining days I did alot of sleeping and cruising around. Watched 'Once upon a time in Mexico' with Kester and Tim on Wednesday night. Role playing with the dudes on Friday, Pub with Cath and co on Friday night. Mmmm, totally good to have a relaxing few days after a holiday as well.
Thanks heaps to God who provided everything for me. Kept the car running, me awake and the Kangaroos away from the car! I had a great time and sometime tomorrow I will post a summary of the holiday and costs and recommendations to others who may be thinking of having a similar trip. I should also be having a 'hot drinks and photos' night once I print up the photos which should be fun.

Holiday - Days 5+6

For the sake of ease, I will write out the rest of the holiday less posts. It may be long, but enjoy!

Rest of Day 4 - Went to Young and Jackson's for a beer because it was reccomended as a place to go. It was cool, but there is something about being in a heaps social place (such as a pub) by yourself. I thought this to myself while I drank my $7.90 beer. It was a nice beer, but man! Walked over to the casino to have a look, man it's offensive the kind of money people were throwing away at that place, someone living in any kind of non-first-world country would cry at the waste.
Got lost on the way back to the hostel. Found my way back at about 12:30 or so with a massive blister on each foot. I did the pepsi challenge with them by popping the one on the right foot and leaving the one on the left. Popping is definitely the go. The best way to pop is to tear a bit of the skin and watch the goo flow! (Sorry to the faint hearted!)

Day 5 - Probably the best day of the holiday, went through Geelong and along the Great Ocean Rd which was fantastic! Saw the 7 apostles along with the pile of rubble that used to be the 8th. They had helicopter rides but they were pretty schpensy. Stayed at a caravan park in Warrnambool that night. Found out that is where Deakin Uni is.
Day's Km's = 447
Music: The Cure - Greatest Hits
Jamiroquai - Travelling without moving
Gun's and Roses - Use your illusion 1
Triple J Hottest 100 #3 Disc 1+2
Tracky Dax - Crimes of fashion

Day 6 - Drove from Warrnambool to Kingston S.E. Quite a nice place really. Stayed at a caravan park for $10 and the guy even gave me a powered site for the non-powered rate coz i was only charging the digi-cams.
The local place had good food pretty cheap. I got a T-bone steak with huge amount of juicy sides (including cooked mushrooms, cauliflower in cheese and roast pumpkin) for $9.50. Heaps good value compared to lots of other places I had been to.
During the day I stopped at Portland and enjoyed a tram ride which ended up being far better value (and way longer) than expected. Got some good photos though.
Roadkill count = 2
Day's Km's = 406
Music = Jamiroquai - Funk Odyssey
Queen - Greatest Hits
All time greatest Pub anthems (dont ask!) disc 1+2
MYC 2005 - Ministry - Talk 1

Summary So Far

Totally awesome. I wish I had done it earlier. The car has been quite well behaved and havent had any problems. Thanks heaps to God. Food has been ok but I keep eating too many lollies as I drive along. That has got me a potential upset tummy if I am not careful. Had some fruit for lunch today and it was really good. After all, you dont spent vast amounts of energy sitting in the car driving. So, a light cheap Woolies fruit lunch is a good option which I will use more as I go along.
I must admit, as someone who esteems the company of others so, I thought I might be lonely. Far from it actually. I have been having a great time and it has been really rewarding and fun. I think my experience over the last few years is more of an 'alone in the crowd' one, rather than plain lonely. If I hear about all the fun stuff other people are doing, naturally I want to be a part of that. I have found out from going away that I quite enjoy being by myself and enjoy my own company. I think the feeling of being less of a friend compared to so-and-so is the feeling I dont like. Of course, that is something to deal with but I think I am coming along quite well with that anyway. Especially over the last 6 months. This has been quite helpful.
Fuel has been pretty schpensy. Varying from $1.15/litre to $1.30 for just plain unleaded. I have been using premium which has sometimes been only a few cents a litre extra.
Today's km's - 400
Today's music: I will have to get back to you about that.

Holiday - Day 4

Day's summary: Well, it's not really over as I write this but at least I have a few things sorted. After waking up after a comfy sleep (far comfier than thought originally) I went and paid for my accomodation. $20! That's ok. It was offset by the fact that I didnt have to buy dinner! Went up mount Oberon and found that due to a recent bushfire, the only path up the mountain (you can drive part of the way up) after the carpark went for 700m then was unable to continue. Still got a couple of photos but not as good as hoped.
Drove to Phillip Island and looked at stuff for a little bit. Not really much to look at but got a refreshing cappucino at the cafe there.
Continued on to Melbourne. Go here at about 4:30 and started to look around. I realised that my options for accomodation were limited. I thought I could drive through and find a camping site on the other side of Melb or could try and find a cheap Hotel. However, sitting down waiting to see what I would do, I stumbled across some American tourists (who would have thought, right) and thought, where would they stay...? The answer dawned and at the local info centre I found a close YHA - with Parking. For all of $31 I am staying in a 4 person room, have a bed, somewhere to park the car and are heaps close to town so I can actually do some exploring. Thanks heaps to God for his abundant provisions to me!

Holiday - Day 3

Day Summary - Had a big ask this time, needed to make it to Tidal River in Wilson's Promontory. Decided to set up the tent this time in a local caravan park overlooking the water. Sooo goood. For all of $10 i was able to have a spot, and use of facilities. I woke up at 6am to see the sun rise, took a photo of it hoping it would go away after that, but alas no. Refused to get up and slept in to 10:00. Breakfast consisted of an 'Up and Go' breakfast bar and some 'fruit sticks' I made the mistake of packing...
Made it to Tidal River at about 6 to realise that it is not actually a town, more of a giant caravan park. No shops, no pub, not much at all. Dinner that night consisted of some salted peanuts and some homebake chocolate chip biscuits. Sad, but they did the job. Since I got there late had no one to pay for my time, doesnt matter, the next morning they managed to charge me $20 to sleep in the back of my car... It was soo comfortable though. Warm too. It go to about 5 degrees outside. I had a thermometer on the roof of the car which I checked periodically...
Km's driven - 587.6
Roadkill count - 3
Music:
St Germain - Tourist
Everclear - So much for the afterglow
No Doubt - Return of Saturn
Ugly Kid Joe - America's least wanted
Midnight Oil - Greatest Hits
Jamiroquai - Space Cowboy
Ben Folds Five - Whatever and ever amen (Sad, already used up all my folds...)

Holiday - Day 2

Day's summary - After good sleep in and chats with nan, I got away at about 11. Headed south and looked at a few interesting places along the way. Stopped at Moruya for a sec and thought of Doug! Missed out on Bega (sorry Anne I know you love it there!) due to driving through Bermagui and Merimbula. I am glad to have done this coz there are some really cool photos from the detour.
Continued though Eden and made it to Mallacoota as planned (each night I plan the next day. Pretty cool.). Both places were awesome with some tasty photos on the speed-cam. Malacoota is in VIC and so has beer in 'Pots' and 'Pints' (a pot is a middy equivalent). Stayed at the beachfront caravan park. Totally awesome place. Had dinner at the local club. Not bad...
Km's driven - 257.6
Roadkill count - 1
Music:
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Ben Folds Five - Self titled
Blink 182 - Dude ranch (I was getting sleepy and needed fast music! - just kidding!)
Green Day - Nimrod
Propellerheads - Decksanddrumsandrockandroll
Faith No More - Greatest Hits

Holiday - Day 1 16/8/05

The day's summary:
Slept in! Every good holiday starts with some well earned rest! Bought a new tyre for the car $110, Paid the Electricity and my phone bill (or at least organised for it to be done), washed the car at 'carlovers'.
Left the Gong at 3:30, got to nans at 5:30 in Ulladualla. She had a huge T-bone steak and wedges for me soon after arrival and I slept in a real, fresh, bed. Hard start to the holiday I know!
Music:
Counting Crows - August and everything after,
The darkness - Permission to land,
The Vines - Highly Evolved.
Km's travelled - 150
Roadkill count - 0

Holiday Note

As previously said, I will be on holidays for the next 2 weeks.
As I will have no access to a computer, I will be unable to blog stuff or email people.
You have been warned! :)
Stu.

Disappointment

Hey all,
Just had lunch with Rob Copland.
Doesnt look like I will be doing MTS next year.
Bit disappointing really.
Stu.

The System is Down...

The email server at work is being dumb again. Yesterday I only had email half the day, today it's been out pretty much all day.
Here's hoping for tomorrow...
Stu

Stu the Tent-Maker?

The email server at work is being a bit dumb so I have a little time to post things.

Soon, I hope to do MTS and then go to bible college (almost certainly SMBC). After that, I hope to go overseas as a missionary. Of course, all these plans are just that, plans. God may have a completely different plan for me, but that's my plan at the moment. If God chooses to bless me with a wife, obviously what she wants to do with the future will impact on what we will end up doing.
From previous posts you know that I am a structural engineer. Well, if I end up overseas as a missionary, I think one thing that would be really cool would be to do some engineering as well as telling people about Jesus. I could help build bridges in Africa (I watched the movie "The ghost and the darkness" and thought I could be like the main character guy - Just no man-eating lions please!)
or some other kind of engineering whilst working with the local people to proclaim Jesus.
This would be quite good in that I probably wouldn't have to be financially supported by a mission organisation. The prayer and emotional support I wouldn't be able to do without of course, but I would be able to free up funds to be able to send other people.

A friend brought to my attention recently that this idea is basically a modern day equivalent of what Paul did during his ministry. He supported himself by making tents so as to not be a burden on the churches he ministered to. Often people used to live in tents... these days they live in buildings... I would help design and build the buildings...get it? :). Maybe my sense of humour is slipping...
I reckon that sounds pretty cool.
I guess we will see what God has in store for me....!

Living in Bellambi

For those who have not visited my abode, it is a 2 bed townhouse located in the suburb of Bellambi. It's quite a nice house but it's in a fairly undesirable neighbourhood. Our neighbours on at least 2 sides often have 'domestic disturbances' and are really quite loud and angry about it. The neighbours on one side have had the police called on them quite a number of times, one time, the single mum and her 16 year old son had a fist fight in their driveway. Other times the younger son screams like he is being murdered, with loud calls of "Mummmy No!" Needless to say, it's not a great neighbourhood.
As much as having stuff like that going on around, I would hope that the people around notice that the only loud noises that come from our house are laughter and fun(oh and me making stuff out of wood). Hopefully soon I will be able to have some good chats with our neighbours and I would really like to have them ask what is different about Dave (my housemate) and I. I would love to bring them the good news of Jesus and let them know that if they trust in him they will eventually go to a place where there is no more mourning or crying or pain.
If you could pray for myself (that I wouldnt be afraid to talk with them) and my neighbours, that they would come to trust in Jesus, that would be awesome.