Fraser Island

This past week was Anzac Day, which is similar to Veterans Day in the US. Because it was a national holiday classes were canceled and I ended up having no class Wednesday-Friday. I spent the holiday week/weekend up in Hervey Bay and on Fraser Island. It was an awesome trip! Hervey Bay is about a 4 hour bus ride from Brisbane and then Fraser Island is a 35 minute ferry ride from the bay.

I went up there with my friend Patrick and we spent 3 days camping on the island with 14 other people from our hostel, which arranged the trip. There were 5 Norwegians, 2 Irish couples, 1 English guy, 1 Israeli girl, 3 German girls and us. It was a great group! We all got along really well and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. It was so interesting to learn about all the different cultures and get to know people from around the world. Everyone has such a different and unique story and it was so fun to hear them all!

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. We set out for the island Thursday morning in 2 large 4x4 vehicles with all our supplies strapped on top. We spent the next three days off-roading in the rainforest and driving on 75 mile beach, right next to the crashing, shark infested waves. It was seriously unreal!

We camping behind sand dunes, swam in the clearest blue lake, ran down sand dunes into another lake, cooked on the beach at sunset, woke up early for sunrise, fought off the wild dingos and just enjoyed the being away from reality. So much beauty! The pictures should speak for themselves! The weather was perfect the entire time. I even learned how to drive a manual 4X4 truck on the opposite side of the car and road while on the beach! Pretty sweet!

(Blue lake is Lake McKenzie, green lake is Lake Wobby, the shipwreck is from 1905, cove area at the beach is the Champagne Pools)

Field Hockey Accident

Got whacked by a field hockey stick on Sunday while playing in a game for my college. Yes, field hockey. "You don't even play field hockey Sara?!" I know, I know...but they needed more players so they wouldn't have to forfeit and since I wasn't doing anything I decided to try it out. Molded a mouth guard, put on a jersey and picked up a stick. It proved to be fun and I was actually doing well until I found myself holding back tears as I looked down at my swollen hand. To make a long story short, I got it checked out and despite the hugeness and the soreness when I touch it, nothing is broken or dislocated. Yeah!

Manly and Moreton Bay

After Mt. Coot-tha, Dan took us to Manly, which is a nice little town bordering the water of Moreton Bay. There are some nice little restaurants and shops in town and a bunch of sailboats and yachts docked in the harbor nearby. It had started to rain some while we were there which wasn't ideal of course, but I still got a good feel for the place. I could imagine going out there on a sunny afternoon to have a picnic and play on the beach. If the tide is really low then you can walk out on this huge sand bar to this tiny island, of which I forget the name. (Helena maybe?) The sandbar would also be a great place to play a game of whiffle ball, sand soccer or any other sport on. The pictures really don't do the place justice. Stupid rain!

On top of Brisbane

Saturday afternoon my friend Dan showed my wing mate Lucy and I some parts of Brisbane and the surrounding areas that we had never seen. We started up at Mt. Coot-tha, which as you can see from the pictures, provides an awesome view of the city. It was neat to see the buildings, the river and the mountains in relation to each other. Hopefully you can see the rainbow in the distance of one of the pictures! It was kinda a rainy day, but it cleared up for us while we were at the lookout point.

Impact-Christ Community Church-Chapel

Before coming to Australia I prayed that the Lord would prepare a place for me to worship Him and fellowship with other believers. That prayer has definitely been answered! I have been getting involved with the college group here on campus, Impact, as well as a church in Brisbane, Christ Community. There is also a chapel service held at Emmanuel every week and that too has been a major blessing. God has definitely been teaching me a lot through His word, as well as speaking through the pastors and leaders of the various groups. It has been really awesome to see how genuine and humble Impact, Christ Community, and chapel are. God is doing great things through the various ministries! I did not expect God to challenge and mature me the way that He is choosing to do so while I'm here in Oz, but it's exciting to experience Him constantly and know that no matter where I am in the world, He is there too!

The pictures are from a bake off that we recently had with a bunch of us from church. I made my mom's M&M cookies and lemon bars. So good! The boys made a caramel tart that looks gross, but was surprisingly good. (Top Picture: Dan, Twitch, Me, Allie) Various other desserts were concocted as well.