south tour: complete

i've taken hundreds of shots of sunsets. and 2 things i've learned about them that is quite relevant to the place i sit as i contemplate on the last 10 weeks of this 'ship life' i've lived...

one, as much as i don't want to rely on post-editing photos, one things' for sure... that I will never, ever be able to capture the translucent rays, the unexplainable colours & intricate clouds as I would see them with my naked eye. its just... impossible. and i think God made it that way at times... that as much as i capture moments, and write about my experiences, and tell story after story, its just kept... a mystery. between me and God. and as much as i find joy in sharing with all of you about this adventure, i know that i've only scratched the surface and i won't ever be able to share the full extent of the things i've grown and gained because of the greater purpose that i've carried inside of me.

and lesson two of capturing sunsets... just when you think its the best, it only gets better. for this sunset shot, i probably took 20 shots before and probably 20 shots after this one ... just when i thought it was the most beautiful and vibrant, in a matter of minutes, the colours of the sky only got crazier & deeper... if only i wait, will i see. i am so grateful for what i've been through and what God has done through this tour, but I know He is so faithful and FAR from done... i am soo excited! we still got North Tour and PNG ahead! ... if only i wait, will i see...

so there you go... sunsets.

port 8: eden, new south wales

Eden, New South Wales... When we were usually docked in a city for a week, we were only in Eden for 2 days. When we usually did tours from 9 to 4 p.m, we did 1 day of tours from 12-8 p.m. When we usually had about 10 or more people on the PR team, we were down to 5 original PR team members (but its okay... just put a nice ywam shirt on the deck hand guys and engineers, and no one will ever know... wink wink) ... so as you can see- we were winding down and this our last port for the South Tour before our break....

It was an amazing ending in this lovely scenic small town of 3,500 or so. We had close to 200 people visit and hear about PNG in the first few hours. We had a tour almost every quarter of an hour and we had heaps and heaps of people come and donate spectacles & sunnies. i've said it before, but small towns are the best for this and we were once again, the 'big deal' of the day. theres a true genuine spirit that comes out of these communities ... and major potential for the youth that just want to do something big with their lives.

.. and that... was the LAST port of the south tour...

port 7: hobart, tasmania

Hobart, Tasmania... i'll be honest. all i really knew about this island thats located at the very bottom of Australia was that it was this mysterious place where we send our visas to get get processed... to my surprise, we docked, and this city jumped right on top of my favourite cities i've ever been to. tough call... buts its true. its absolutely beautiful, fresh, compact & cultured.... an outdoorsey nature scene and city feel and everyone is pretty friendly. our friends from new zealand compared it to their home and i agree. but there we were... in tassie... still in australia. i found this to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to go to tassie. but then again- this whole ship tour is a lifetime opportunity! 3 years in australia... and its only now i'm getting to REALLY see it... far out....

this ones' got her sea legs

Every sail is different... and its uncontrollable. when youre out there... youre out there. and there's nothing you can do... and so, when we head out to the open sea, i do in some sense, have no choice but to entrust my life with the captain and the rest of the trained professionals on board (and of course, the Big Guy thats with us) .... But here are some photos from the sail to portland, victoria to hobart, tasmania. if you are geographically aware, that means we sailed across the Bass Strait which is notoriously the roughest waters in australia... so we mentally and physically prepared ourselves for the 2 and half day sail and this is what it looked like. it wasn't as bad as we thought though (if it was, i wouldn't have been able to take any photos!) the worst it got was about 5 meter waves and a lot of rocking, but i wouldn't neccesarily call it the 'smoothest sail'... i try to be careful sharing this cause theres still a number of sails ahead of me... but i'll share with you that i didn't chuck up once in the last 2 months and i think its safe to say that i got my 'sea legs' which.... am quite happy about. :)

port 6: portland, victoria

I dont know about everyone else, but i absolutely loved being docked in smaller towns... Portland, Victoria for example... you would think you wouldn't get that many people coming to visit the ship but its actually quite the opposite. when a YWAM medical ship rolls in a smaller community, we pretty much dominate the town, cruising around in our vans and we basically become the 'bid deal' of the week. the genuine responses from the locals and the hundreds of spectacles and toothbrushes that were dropped off was very encouraging. it puts into perspective once again why we are doing what we are doing... its exciting to present something so tangible to people that just want to do something to make a difference ...

Port 5: Adelaide, South Australia

so here we are in adelaide... i've been looking forward to coming to this city for ages and it was quite awesome and artsy and busy... although, i wasn't too impressed with where we were docked. it was out in the boonies and once a tour was done, it was like ghost town. it ended up being alright though. i got to meet these awesome grade 8 students that were more than happy to be there and were so stoked about collecting spectacles for Papua New Guinea! those are the groups that make our day...