Well, it's been fun hasn't it Dan?

Quoting the famous line from our Taigum newsreaders, sums up our epic voyage. "It sure has Mike."

This journey, "around the World in 80 days" has been the trip of a lifetime. Last night we had dinner with old friends in Singapore, Peter and Jeannie Smith and we were telling them that each place we've visited has been special for one reason or another.

Chile was wonderful... seeing old friends and colleagues and to see how well our church there is going. Then Bolivia,... it was so good to see the work Mik and kay have done there and we are so excited about the future of Casa Segura.

USA was great just to catch up with our good friends and missionary colleagues, Pat and Heather. What a joy it was to re-new our very good friendship. Paris was... well Paris is special all on its own. England was a wonderful time of rest and taking in the history and exploring our roots. We have fond memories. We also struck the only hot and fine week they experienced all summer.

Malta was a new experience - so ancient and full of history. Italy, was perhaps the holiday highlight for us. We loved our time in Italy. From the ferry ride to Naples, the Amalfi Coast, Tuscany is magical and Rome, like Paris has its own special-ness.

What a wonderful joy it was to finally meet our children in Uganda and to see the amazing job that David and Kathryn are doing there and the great work done by Phil, Quinton and Erica too.

Onto South Africa and our lovely break on a guest farm with Rod and Jan. How good it was also to re-unite ourselves with Noreen Hallam and to meet her Pastor. A connection and relationship for the future. The animal safaris were very special also.

Singapore... a time to prepare for home and re-adjust our body time clock. We have a good anticipation of home and our normal routine.

Thanks for joining us on our journey. The comments were appreciated too.

God bless

Gary and Judy

First airplane hiccup

After multitudes of airports and connections, we had our first major hiccup yesterday at Hong Kong Airport... we missed our connecting flight to Singapore by just a couple of minutes. After a 13 hour flight from South Africa, we landed and it seemed ages to taxi to the gate and disembark. We thought we'd make it ok until we encountered the queue at the security check. It was at least 50 metres long and then we dashed for our plane, but.... it was gate 62 and security is at gate 1!! Oh dear. The journey to gate 62 required that we walk several corridors, take two lifts and two escalators. Too much!

The plane was still there but the doors had closed and our bags were taken out of the hold (these security conscious days the refuse to allow your bags to travel without you). No great drama really. We convinced Cathay that it was all their fault and they put us on the next flight two and half hours later.

We arrived in Singapore after 24 hours of travel from Africa. We are staying at the apartment of our friends John and Mary Elliott who are in New Zealand. their son David is here (although rarely actually present). We'll take it easy here and enjoy the botanical gardens and one or two other things before flying home to Brisbane Friday night.

Thoughts of Home...

With just 8 days until we’re home, our thoughts are naturally beginning to turn there. Having taken the first six weeks of our trip to wind-down (I would awaken every morning with the thought, “what do I have to do today?), it will be difficult to get back into the way of routine and work.

It has been great to catch up with Rod and Jan Best, our friends and colleagues who now reside in Botswana. They have taken a week out from their busy lives to relax with us at a lovely Farm Guest House in a place called Bela Bela (formerly Warm Baths). It is about a couple hours north of Johannesburg and a very Afrikaans area. All the blokes are called Frikkie, Hansie, Bakkies or something like that. We are beginning to say “yeaaa” instead of yes or yeah.

On Weds we had a truly great day. We travelled about an hour away to a National Reserve and drove all around it for the afternoon. It was very exciting to see Giraffe, Zebra, etc all in their natural habitat. The reserve is in the Waterberg mountain range and so we reached some fairly high altitudes at times.

Yesterday, we drove to a nearby Farm which is a Cheetah and Wild Dog breeding sanctuary. While not out roaming free, it was wonderful to see the animals (all endangered). The Cheetahs are a very special creature and we got to touch and pat one. We also saw a White Rhino – a real big fella, at that sanctuary.

Unfortunately I got sick in the afternoon. First health problem for the journey. Must have eaten something questionable. Thankfully, I awoke this morning better.

Next few days we will just relax and take in a few local sights and enjoy each others company. We fly out Monday to Singapore for a few days before landing in Brisbane on Saturday 13.

T...I...A (this is Africa)

What an amazing continent is Africa. Full of beauty, diversity, pain, joy and nature’s splendour.

Saying farewell to the children at Akaniyuka was painful and emotional, both for us and for them. We had bonded so strongly with them and it is a hard to realise that by coming and leaving that we are adding to their sense of loss, some having only lost their parents in recent months. We prayed for each of the 38 individually (see pic) and it was a special time. We promised to return.

David and Kathryn are doing a wonderful job there and it is a joy for us to see how much they have grown and matured into effective ministries.

Our last two days in Uganda were spent visiting the Queen Elizabeth National Reserve, one of Africa’s largest and natural game reserves. We were blessed to be able to see so many birds and animals in their natural environment. It was a special moment when we came across a large lion with his mate. They were just relaxing about 50 metres from the road and they gave a us a great display. We saw an elephant in the distance and many other critters. On the boat, we ran over some hippos and got to see the African crocs which look quite different from our Aussie variety.

Saturday saw us fly off to South Africa and having to say farewell to Liz our daughter in Jo’Burg as she returns to her family in Brisbane. She had an experience in Uganda that she will never forget and the children loved her.

Our old friend Noreen Hallam, who is the SA director of the YWCA, picked us up and we are staying with her until Rod and Jan Best can get down from Botswana (Monday). We ministered at Petra, Noreen’s church on Sunday and had a great time over lunch with her pastor, Keith and Anna Coster……..kindred spirits.

It has turned very cold here in Jo’Burg and there is snow around on the mountains. We look forward to exploring some of South Africa and we will be especially looking out for some more animals to enjoy. The South Africans are revelling in their huge win over the Australian Wallabies on Saturday – the first rugby game we’ve been able to watch for ages.