The Long Way Home: Part 1- Australia

Singapore space age architecture

Brilliant night skyline

Our China adventure ends on November 30, 2013.

To start our Long Way Home, we  fly into Singapore, 5 hour flight from Shanghai.  Singapore is a small country island.  Clean, efficient, modern... a spectacular last Asian country to visit. We love the diversity in this tiny country.  Singapore has four official languages:  English, Malay, Chinese, Tamil

We prepare to leave Singapore ready for our Indonesian start-of-sabbatical-chill-out-trip, BUT we have to change our plans.  Jeanie, does not have a full sixth months left on her passport, so we are told that Indonesia will not let us in.  Note to self:  do not ignore the warnings that you need a full 6 months on passports, not all countries strictly enforce this, but Indonesia does.

Famous Bells Beach
 movie Point Break filmed here
 Rip Curl Pro Competitions

Empty beaches, quite a change from China!

We are able to continue our travels to Australia, no passport issues, and we add an extra week to travel down under.  We rent a car;  jet-lag and driving on the left side of the road is a challenge.  Plus, we haven't driven in the past year in China!  We are thrilled to drive the Great Ocean Road, just south of Melbourne.

The usually wet weather provides vibrant green surrounding

 First Koala sighting in the wild

Kangaroo sighting along the Great Ocean Road

The Twelve Apostles, how many of the 12 rock structures do you see?

Ken with a few of the Apostles

White sand, huge rocks

Apollo Bay, along the Great Ocean Road

We enjoy three nights in Melbourne.  Excellent city.  Fantastic coffee.  Beautiful gardens.

Artful alleys of Melbourne

St. Paul's Cathedral
1800 architecture

Botanical Gardens

Finally we fly to Sidney and enjoy five more days down under.  The weather is great because it's the start of the Australian summer which lasts from December-March.

Iconic Sydney Opera House

Sydney skyline

Blue Mountains, west of Sydney

The waterfalls of the Blue Mountains, two hours from Sydney

Australia Highlight:  we attend Hillsong
church and Christmas program

Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for His surpassing greatness... Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Psalm 150


Next Up:  New Zealand:  Middle Earth