Refreshed and Inspired

We just had a fabulous long weekend in Sydney travelling and fellowshipping with special friends. It had been ten years or so since I was in Sydney and I just couldn't get over how beautiful the city is with it's rugged coastline, extensive harbour, and well established old suburbs. These photos are dedicated to you Tomomi x

Reunion in Sydney!

It was wonderful to see Wendy in Sydney last weekend!!! I shed tears of joy as we worshipped together at Hillsong on Sunday morning after more than two years since seeing each other in Japan. The three of us went for a delicious Italian meal at Bondi Beach the night before where we talked for hours about settling back "home." I can't wait to see Wendy again, hopefully in Auckland next time :)

Muriwai Beach

Wayne and I have been to lots of lots of local beaches this summer! Here are photos we took with a few families at Muriwai Beach, just an hour from the centre of Auckland on the west coast. I was so surprised at how packed the long black-sand beach and the surf was! There's a gannet colony just around the corner too.

Rangitoto

Earlier in the year we took the ferry to climb Rangitoto - my favourite landmark in Auckland. Rangitoto is an uninhabited dormant volcano which looks the same from whichever direction you view it from. The hour climb is a definite half day trip for locals and tourists!

Cave Rafting

I nearly forgot to upload some photos of us Cave Rafting in the Paparoa National Park on the West Coast! Wow it was awesome fun! We took a train ride into the forest, walked with our tubes across a river and up into some limestone caves for about an hour, then rode our tubes down rapids back down the river to our starting point :)

Katrina's 6th Birthday Party

Yesterday I went to Butterfly Creek for my God-daugther Katrina's 6th birthday party. Everyone had great fun visiting the farm animals, walking through the butterfly house, eating chocolate cake, riding the train and playing on the playground :)

Drag Masters

We travelled directly from Northland to the Bombay Hills for an incredible show case of fast and noisy cars at Drag Masters 2007!