Blue Mts ... then home to Armidale!

The Incredible Journey!

We are in Australia now … and it is so green and has flowers and birds and grass and lots of fruit that I like to eat.
The shops have millions of things in and it is like sight seeing, walking up and down the aisles!

We left Ongwediva on 21 November. Mum was up late each night, packing. Dad was shifting heavy boxes and things to Johannes’ house, our neighbour, whose Mum let us rent their garage. (That was really good cos, after we left, some burglars broke in to the container in our garden that belonged to the owners of the house. They had thought our stuff was in there but God had protected it.)
We drove and drove and drove for 8 hours till we got to Windhoek where we stayed with the Gillhams, who are also CMS missionaries. It was so good to be with them all.

On 24 November Simon took us to the airport but we found that the tickets we had were not valid somehow so Dad had to buy new tickets and the plane was about to take off and his credit card would not work. Then it did, but the customs’ man would not let us leave cos we did not have a valid visa. Dad told him we had applied for a renewal but he was still not happy. There was a late call for the flight and Mum looked a bit stressed and the man eventually stamped the passports so we ran to the plane.

At the airport in Johannesburg we were met by Mum’s friends, the Bartletts. They were about to fly to New Zealand. We ate at the airport and that was amazing – there were so many restaurants.

Then we were picked up at the airport by Uncle Uli, who is married to Aunty Alison – Dad’s Sister. Then we went to their house and saw Granny and Grandad again. They have a pool and 3 dogs and lots of flowers and also grass. We don’t have grass in our house in Namibia – just sand.

It was my birthday on 29 November so Granny took us ice skating. Well, she watched while we skated! Then we had an ice cream and it had a sparkler on. Aunty Alison took us to a bird park and some birds did a show for us. We also visited friends of Mum and Dad’s at the weekend. It was all wonderful.

Étienne got sick a few days before we flew to Australia (2nd Dec). He got a bit better … but then I got a temperature an hour before Aunty Alison was to take us to the airport. We flew to Dubai but I was not hungry and cried a lot. In Dubai we landed at 5am and then had to wait till 12 for the next plane but Mum and Dad found somewhere for me to sleep and I felt better after that, though they had not slept since South Africa and were tired.

The trip to Sydney was very looooong. We watched movies, which was cool, and Étienne played computer games … but Mum and Dad still did not really sleep as we were lying on them. And then it was all bumpy in the plane and only Dad could eat breakfast!

We got to Sydney on the morning of 4th. Aunty Judy, picked us up and took us to her house. We had a lovely time there but Mum and Dad were sort of funny and I think they fell asleep in the middle of talking sometimes! Then we went to our godparents, Uncle David and Aunty Jenny. We saw a cockatoo and a lorikeet and a kookaburra on their balcony! When we first got there I heard noise and asked if it was raining but they said it was just the traffic on the nearby road. We don’t have traffic jams in Namibia, but Sydney has a LOT!

For Étienne’s birthday, Aunty Jenny and Uncle David took us into the city. We went by car, then bus, then train and then by monorail! First, we went to the museum and saw heaps of things. I loved the butterflies. Étienne loved all the dinosaurs. Then we went to the Imax, a giant sort of cinema. We watched a 3D movie about 3 young flies, which stowed away on Apollo 11. Sometimes the rocket seemed on my lap and I could almost touch the flies.

But we kept falling asleep at the wrong times and it took us ages till our bodies were tired at bedtime.

On 12 December we will be travelling on a train up to Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, for a missionary conference. Dad says most of our friends from when we were at St Andrew’s Hall will be there. I am older so they will be older, too.

Then, on 15 December, we will go back to Sydney by train and then fly to Armidale. I don’t remember it but maybe I will when I go back. I was born there. We will stay there for Christmas, then we will fly to Brisbane in the first week of 2009, for Summer school. There will be lots of children to play with there, too. And people who have been praying for us.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us whilst we have been travelling, and to everyone who shared their home with us along the way.

Now our Dad is taking us to the park to play! Bye :-)

Sydney, via Dubai