Kangaroos, Koalas, and other Australian Adventures

What a wonderful week! I have had a fantastic time with the Henry's and this past week has been packed full of adventures and some of my favorite things. Here are some of the stories:

Koalas, Kangaroos, and Strawberries: On Easter Monday, we headed off to the Koala park to feed Kangaroos and pet Koalas. We went to the Koala Park zoo and saw many animals indigenous to Australia. Going with the girls was particularly special and made the rainy day excursion well worth it. A little wet, but with a few hours left to fill up in the day, we decided to pick fresh strawberries. I love strawberries! Here are some of the highlights:






Shells and Crabs: On Tuesday we went to Shelly Beach to swim and soak up some sun. I could have stayed for hours on the dramatic rocks collecting beautiful sea shells as the waves splashed and crashed. Afterwards, as a special treat, Shana and I bought fresh crabs to eat for lunch. It was wonderful.

Waterfalls, Rainforests, and Camping: On Wednesday Shana and I packed the car and the girls up and headed off to Dorrigo National Park, a rainforest not too far away. Keeping in the good road trip tradition, we stopped wherever the spirit moved us and figured out where we would stay on the way there. We first stopped at Never Never River in the "Promised Land" which we called Neverland and searched for Peter Pan and Tinkerbell in a sunkissed river. Then we headed up the road, stopping at waterfalls along the way and looking for a place to camp. We found a place to pop our tent amongst wonderful mountains and within earshot of an amazing waterfall.

Newell Falls, on the road to Dorrigo

Dangar Falls, near where we camped

Breakfast at the campsite - I'm enjoying the fresh strawberries from Tuesday

Crystal Falls - a 4km round trip journey through rainforest with a 2 year old and a 4 year old...rough, but well worth it

Beaches and breathtaking views: With all of the changes that are going on in my life, I needed a day to myself, so I had Matt drop me off at a lighthouse on his way to work and then I hiked about 15km up the coast. It had it's ups and downs, but I'm so glad that I did it.
Highlights:
-Amazing views of beaches, cliffs, and rocks
-A private swim on a deserted beach
-Hiking up paths where I saw no other humans
-Beautiful birds - Kookuburra, Rainbow Lorikeets, and other fascinating species
-Climbing rocks
-Discovering fish and colorful crabs in tidepools
-Crashing waves over rocks
-1 bus ride with some fascinating small town Australian folk
-Seeing Kangaroos in the wild - one with a Joey in her pouch
-A perfect day of solitude

Lowlights:
-1 giant spider on my face after walking into his web
-1 leech that got a good bite out of my big toe
-1 painful fall onto my tush
-Forgetting the cell phone
-Climbing up and down a mountain, only to find that I circled back to the beech where I swam...then having to turn around and climb the mountain again

Unfortunately my around the world trip is coming to a close, but this was certainly the perfect way to end it. I've enjoyed my time with my good friends and I will be sad to leave them tomorrow. I will spend some time in Sydney on Monday and try to get one more adventure in before heading out on Monday night. I'll be back early Tuesday morning for anyone who is itching to call me. Thanks for sticking with the blog. I'll probably do one more post when I get home and then sign off.

At home in Australia with the Henry's

After:

-3 extra days in South Africa
-22 hours in 3 separate planes
-3 security checks
-1 twenty min bus ride in Dubai after a 3 hour layover
-1 forty five minute stopover in Bangkok
-1 hour with the Australian customs agent
-1 confiscated item in Australian customs (sorry Hattie...that was your present)
-1 fabulous 8 hour conversation
-1 hour of walking around Sydney after 3 hours of broken sleep over 2 days
-1 catnap at the train station
-7 1/2 hours on my first train (I slept, but caught a bit of the beautiful countryside)
I have arrived in Macksville, Australia and I am at home with the Henry's. What a relief.

My stay so far has been wonderful. I love spending time with the kids (Jacinta - almost 5 - and Genevieve - age 2) and talking to Matt and Shana at night. So far I have gone to a Easter parade after making beautiful hats with the kids of flowers, played by the riverside, gone to the coast to see the ocean, walked through the "big banana," watched most of "The Big Lebowski," did osteopathic manipulation on Matt and Shana, tried my hand at a bit of gardening, made Indian Chai tea, and took a night walk under the full moon with Shana. It is wonderful and comfortable.

Me in the airport in Bangkok after 16 hours of travel

Catnap at the train station after walking around Sydney for 1 hour

Jacinta and Genevieve at the bus stop getting ready to watch the Easter parade wearing hats made with love for the occassion

Me and Genevieve in front of the world's largest puzzle near the "Big Banana" (the big banana is definitely anti-climatic)


Muttonbird Island - ahhhh...the ocean. Beautiful

Looking forward to Easter Sunday where I will go to church on the riverside under a tree. Their description reminds me of my favorite Easter service when my dad and I found a Quaker-ish sunrise service on the shore of a small lake. I'll tell you all about it. Until then, enjoy your weekend.

No longer stranded

I'm about to catch a taxi to the airport and take the flight I should have taken on Friday. I'm ready to leave, but at least I got another weekend to enjoy South Africa, meet interesting people, and see the legislative capital.

Hopefully I will have safe travels. I will post more pictures when I get to Australia and catch up on sleep.

Stranded in South Africa

Well, I should be on a plane to Australia right now, but I'm kind of an idiot. I went to the airport to fly to Australia last night and realized a bit late that I would need a visa. That means I get to enjoy this fine city til Monday at least. It hasn't been such a bad trip though. I will head to Pretoria tomorrow so that I can get to the Australian Embassy first thing on Monday and hopefully will get out of here by Tuesday...we shall see.

Here are the highlights from Johannesburg:

Last Sunday I decided to go to Faith Ways Bible Church with Hector, the owner of the Transit Guest Lodge. We arrived at 9:00am to a singing, lively congregation. Many of the songs were in Zulu, but I didn't mind at all. Hector would translate every now and again. The music was so powerful that I was brought to tears at least 2 times. I was quite sick that day, coughing a lot and I had a runny nose. It was pretty terrible actually, but a woman 2 rows in front of me showed up miraculously with some kleenex. I felt very taken care of. Then, a woman preacher got up to do her sermon. She spoke with a passion and made her points with her whole body. She preached half in English and half in Zulu. It was amazing. Her message? How God provides in unexpected ways. Here she is driving a point home.

By noon, the sermon was still going on and I was getting pretty sleepy. Hector whispered, lets go and see the Apartheid museum. I enjoyed the service very much, but was thankful to be done with it after 3 hours.

The Museum was great with lots of videos and interesting exhibits. I learned a lot about the history of South Africa.

After the museum we picked up Hector's wife and sister and headed to Nelson Mandela's house. The street in Soweto is in the Guiness book of world records for being the only house in the world to house 2 nobel peace prize winners; Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Mandela's house has been converted to a museum as he moved 11 days after being released from his 27 years of imprisonment. It was very cool to be in the pressence of greatness.

After a tasty traditional South African meal, my day ended with an interesting cultural experience at Hector's parents house. Hector's brother just got "engaged" having just paid the parents of the bride and they had a party to plan. I sat patiently as I listened to them negotiate the food and decorations. I loved it and was happy for the unexpected opportunity to witness a bit of the culture here.

Yesterday I spent another day going around Johannesburg and saw a bit more. I went to the highest point in Africa, a whole 50 stories above the earth. Here's the button on the plane and the view of Jo'burg from one of the windows.

Another visit to Soweto brought me to the Freedom Charters of South Africa. 10 beautifully written laws stating that all humans should have equal rights, all Apartheid laws should be abolished, and the government should care for the weakest of the society. Again, cool to be in the pressence of greatness.

After all that history, I decided it was time to play with some baby lions, so I went to the lion park. It's a bit like a zoo, but you drive through the lion cages like being on a safari. Actually a bit cheezy. I did get to pet baby lions though, so that's awesome.

I dono't know who the girl is, so don't ask...

Okay that's all from South Africa. I have more to share from my trip to Kruger National Park, but I'm pretty sure that you've had enough for today.

Favorite Zulu (?) word: Wapapa - I'm told that it means extremely forward, but it a humerous way. This was the word Hector used to describe me.

Safari's are fun!

So, South Africa has been awesome so far. Sunday was a perfect day that I want to tell you about, but it will have to wait.

For now I want to share some pictures from my safari. I took off yesterday from Johannesburg to go to Kruger National Park. We did a late afternoon safari yesterday and spent most of today out on the road. It has beautiful, awe-inspiring, and just plane cool. This is a fantastic national park...I'm emailing now, need I say more? The camp sights are fenced off from the park for our safety (which after all that I've seen, I'm grateful to be caged). The pictures tell most of the story...

Me excited to be on "Buddy" our safari truck

Giraffes - so much cooler when they're not at a zoo

Monkey at the camp sight - I don't know what kind

White Rhinos - one of the "big 5" that you're supposed to see on safaris

Baboons. The little one got up on the mother's back. It was super cute. There is an Impala in the background.

African Elephants - one of the "Big 5"

More African Elephants

It was a really big deal to see this Leopard (another of the "Big 5") and to follow him up the road is exceedingly rare. Our guide has not seen a leopard this close up in this park in 12 years of taking people here. It was the certainly the best part of the day.

The other 2 animals in the big 5 are the buffalo, which we saw, but I don't have a picture of, and lions. I'm hoping that I will see lions in my last couple days here, but if I don't, the trip was still well worth it. You have no idea what it's like to be driving and looking out the window, only to suddenly see a gigantic elephant crossing the road just meters away! Unbelievable.

Okay. Wish you were here to share this with me...especially Fritz and Molly because they would LOVE all the animals :)

Last few hours in Malawi

The computer with my pictures on it is packed away, so you'll have to put up with boring words with no visuals. I thought I'd write before I get to South Africa where I will most likely not have internet access. You will have to wait until I get to Australia to hear about my South African adventure.

The past 6 weeks have been absolutely amazing. I fell in love with each of my patients here and got tearful yesterday when I had to say goodbye to them. They are so strong and beautiful. I am constantly impressed by their ability to smile through their pain and sickness; rarely complaining or begging for pain medications. I will always remember them. I am now done with all of my requirements for medical school and this was the perfect way to end the 4 year journey.

I leave for Johannesburg in an hour and a half where I will spend my last night with my 3 roommates before heading out on a 4-day-Safari to Kruger National Park. I will get to meet 20 or so new people and see all sorts of amazing things. It will be nice to be surrounded by new faces and stories. I'm excited for the adventures to come.

Look forward to stories in about 1 week...

Open Arms

What a good day.  I left the hospital a bit early today to go to Open Arms, an "orphanage" in Blantyre. It really is a fantastic organization.  The children are orphaned for numerous reasons, but many lost their parents to AIDs.  They don't like the term orphanage and prefer the term transition home instead.  They take children from birth on and provide them with a safe environment, with loving/stable "moms," good food, and medical treatment.  The kids transition from nursery to a preschool setting.  At age five, they move into a house where there are a couple other kids and a house mom.  This way they can be raised my a Malawian woman in the Malawian culture.  This is all on the condition that there is no extended family that can take the child.  Open Arms keeps in touch with all of the families of the children and when they reach an age that the family can take them in, they transition them home.  Amazing really.

From the moment that Kim and I entered, we were embraced by small children.  They walked up to us "strangers" and reached up to us, asking to be held.  There is a good number of staff there and the children all seem well loved, but they were anxious to get love from the new people.  One child that was less than 2 hugged me for a full minute and wouldn't let go.  It was amazing!  The kids were unbelievable...all with stories of overcoming terrible circumstances and bad illnesses.  I'm in love with all of them.

Read more about it at http://www.openarmsmalawi.org/

One of the precious children

Kim with some of the kids

Blowing bubbles with the toddlers

I'll leave you with a poem that brought tears to my eyes that was posted in the main office.

What AIDS Can't Do

AIDS is so limited

It cannot cripple

Love

It cannot shatter

Hope

It cannot corrode

Faith

It cannot take away

Peace

It cannot destroy

Confidence

It cannot kill

Friendship

It cannot shut out

Memories

It cannot silence

Courage

It cannot invade

The Soul

It cannot reduce

Eternal Life

It cannot quech

The Spirit

Our greatest enemy is not disease

But despair