Wednesday, May 21, 2008

give me a home among the gum trees

may 6, 2008
8:15 PM
camp elim

today was quite the day for driving-our lack of activity was quite the contrast to our miles of hiking and sore muscles of yesterday. a breakfast of porridge, bacon and cereal started the day off well, in spite of whinging from a few members of the group.

driving today included the learning and singing of several songs: home among the gum trees (with motions!), come to australia, and of course, waltzing matilda. we drove for about 2 hours before for stopping for toilets.
"wakey wakey. time to wake up everyone. we have reached the toilets. if you didn't know, they're free-so you might as well use the toilets." -carl
1/2 hours more driving until we reached newcastle where we stopped at the beach for lunch. we had lunch provided from camp fletcher-our last delicous meal from them of crispy chicken sandwiches on white bread, fruit, bottled water and biscuits. the view from our bench was lovely-i especially liked watching the surfers catch some of the waves. when amy, jodi and i were finished eating, carl came over and squeezed himself onto our bench next to me. i think any inhibitions this bloke may have had with our group have completely disappeared. his teasing was in full force today. the ride to our camp was also entertaining as carl's middle name was attempted to be guessed. "roger. roger." =)

camp elim was a welcome sight after over five hours of driving. after being shown to our rooms, we got to canoe on a beautiful salt water lake. at first, jodi, amy and i tried to climb into one canoe, but i ended up taking my own canoe which turned out to be quite fun...as was our attempts to huddle our canoes and take a photo.

"you want to wet me-i'm not coming over there! you have wet in your eyes!" -carl

on the other side of the camp and across the road was the beach. its hard to believe i'm on the other side of the pacific ocean-but here i am!
warm water
squishy brown sugar sand
feet pictures
dolphins swimming closer than i've ever seen before
sunset on the beach
group pictures
these all served as reminders of why the beach is my favorite place on earth.

dinner was delicious-tender steaks with gravy, peas and carrots, scalloped potatoes, bead and butter, with ice cream sundaes with all the toppings for dessert. swapping stories over dinner with jim, chris, jodi and amy made the meal even better!

our last activity of the evening was viewing "indescribable." this film seemed to confirm all of the wonder i've been feeling the past few days as i've seen new parts of God's creation. even just driving through the rainforest on our way today made me thank my creator for what he has given us-much less the incredible sky against the ocean's waters that we saw tonight.

time for bed! jodi and i are planning to get up for the sunrise on the beach in the morning which according to carl's best guess is around 5:30.














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