Arrived - safe and sound

I'm here!!!

Wow what a wild start!  Not wild in the sense of out-of-control, but more that I've never experienced air-travel for that long in a consecutive sequence.  In short, the flight to L.A. was delayed, but I got to meet up with my friend Jeni (also from YWAM) once I got there, around 10pm L.A. time.  We boarded our flight to Brisbane together and sat through 14 hours... I had a much better time than I had anticipated.  The in-flight entertainment, food and service was excellent aboard Quantas.  And I probably managed about 6-7 hours of sleep, on and off throughout.  So we arrived, with sore bums and heavy eyelids.

When we got to Brisbane, around 6:30am Brisbane time, I got a wave of energy and was so excited to finally see Beth on her own turf.  It was so great to reunite and for the three of us to be together again (hasn't happened since YWAM in 2007).  Beth brought us to her home on top of a hill in a suburb called Red Hill - a very cute place that, like most homes here, doesn't have insulation.  I think when we landed it was around 9 degrees Celcius, so by mid-morning, unless you were in the sun, it was quite chilly.

All day we've enjoyed catching up.  Jen and I were pretty determined to stay awake as long as possible so we pressed on through different little car-rides around the city.  We saw Kangaroo Point, Beth's university, Beth's new home (where her fiance Luke is living now) and the supermarket where she shops.  We visited with one of Beth's close friends, Debbie, and enjoyed getting to know her.  For dinner, we made kangaroo stir-fry, complete with Tim-Tams for dessert.  A true Aussie experience!

I've attached some photos, but frankly I'm not going to write too much more cause I need to get to bed.  It's been a great first day and I can't wait to wake up tomorrow to be able to take more in of this beautiful place!  Well, maybe I can wait at least 8 hours... at least...