Blogs from Victoria, Australia, Oceania

WOW HOW GOOD IS GOD 14 days ago we asked the congregation at Holy Trinity to pray for the families and staff at Msalato. We especially asked them to pray for the 45 children who attended the kindergarten as the daily serve of porridge had been cancelled due to lack of funds. At this time of Pentecost it has been amazing to feel and see the power of prayer and also feel and see the work of the Holy Spirit. The members of the congregation not only supported the fundraising with prayer they also provided financial support and last week they even turned 'Pumpkin into Porridge' by swapping a donation for some butternut pumpkin. Together, the congregation along with some contacts I have in the IT industry have managed to raise sufficient funds that will enable ... read more

For the past 3 weeks i have been working at New Provence on Glenhunlty Road. But the restaurant is closing down, So for the past I have been job hunting again and enjoying my time at the hostel. Yesterday I went to the CBD with Kathryn, walked around Melbourne and went to the Victoria market bought some nice Feta in a block shape one of the best i ate so far in Australia. Today Job hunting again, wrote some new jokes for my comedy tomorrow at the Balaclava hotel again. Cant wait to test it out and make people laugh. This was the last News about 2 weeks ago. I am back on the blog. New website, new style of blogging. The main lessons I learned so far: - Never give up: Always keep on trying ... read more

Today decided to visit the Ballarine Peninsula as I had one day left of the car hire before I left for Adelaide. The drive took about an hour and twenty minutes. Visited both Queenscliff and Portarlington, both very nice little sleepy seaside towns. I had thought about going on the ferry to Mornington Peninsula but by the time I got there it didn't leave enough time as the ferry only goes once an hour and takes about forty minutes and I didn't really have time for that so visited Portarlington instead. The weather was warm and sunny, bliss. Nice way to spend a lazy Sunday.... read more

We woke up to our first sight of sunshine and blue skies in 5 days this morning, we thought we might have slipped through some sort of interdimensial time warp worm hole. The forecast was for another storm front to arrive that night, so we decided to make the most of it and go for a ride. The southern Grampians Regions beckoned. We got dressed, got bikes ready, Gail was at the front gate while Eoin put his gloves on and thats when everything came to a halt. Heidi was upset with the constant rain, cold and not having been started for a few days. Gail returned and the leads were connected, and after Henry jumped Heidi, the ride commenced again. We rode to Heywood, it was so nice riding in sunshine along curvy roads next ... read more

After leaving Warrambool, set my GPS for Halls Gap, decided to take the fastest route as it was going to be a two hour drive. Well it was an incredibly straight road, so I couldn't grumble about that and it obviously ran parallel to the main road but the surface!!!! Was awful in places and at times it went down to one lane of bumpy, rough tarmac. The good thing was I think I was the only person on this road!!! Eventually got to the Grampians and Halls Gap the weather was awful just torrential rain so I decided to head for the Motel in the end and try again tomorrow. Tomorrow came and hurray it was dry, still cloudy and grey but dry. Took the Horsham road up into the mountains to look for Mackenzie ... read more

The areas we have travelled through in the last 4 days have all recorded really high rainfalls, of course, its good to see that we have maintained our "drought breaking" status. No doubt if we publicised the fact, that it is due to our travelling, the farmers and the community would be particulary thankful, perhaps throwing money, or at least inviting us back. This morning, this strange thing in the sky spread light and warmth, it was so nice to see. Making the most of the weather, we walked over to the local botantical gardens. These are one of Victorias most outstanding gardens, set in 4 hectares and commenced in 1881. It was classified by the National Trust in 1990. After another short/sharp downfall, we again ventured out. This time to the Ansett Airways Museum. Did ... read more

The title says it all, I must have picked the absolute worst time to drive the Ocean Road, it has been almost non stop torrential rain, freezing cold a top temp of about 10degrees with a wind chill factor bringing that down to just above freezing. Add to this high winds and heavy seas, do you get the picture, sounds like home doesn't it. The plus side was that I endured it all, the roads to my surprise weren't flooded and I arrived safely in Worranbool unscathed. After leaving Pollo Bay I went to Otway Point, it was raining but not too heavily at this point. The road to the lighthouse was about five or six miles and this area is renowned for koala bears. I saw some people had stopped and were looking up into ... read more

It started raining on Saturday night, just the odd torrential shower or two. Sunday was spent relaxing whilst the showers contined through the night again. Monday morning showed a wonderful full half circle rainbow and brilliant sunshine, so we quickly packed up and were on our way by 9.30am, as the weather predictions were for more showers. Being the optimists that we are, we put our wets on, just in case. A very wise move on our part. From Murray Bridge we headed towards Nhil, and of course, it wouldn't be S.A. without the wind. The first downpour hit us as we were going through Coomandook. We carried on to Coonalpyn and stopped there for morning tea and for Gail to put on a thermal top. It was the best tasting hottest coffee around and really ... read more