More in Melbourne...

I'm still slacking about writing regularly. So, here's an update on some of the things that have been going on while I've been in Melbourne. I went on the Skywalk in the Eureka Building, which is the tallest building in Melbourne. The Skywalk is on the 88th floor, and is the highest observation deck in the Southern Hemisphere. The elevator moves so fast, your ears pop on the trip up. One of the attractions on the Skywalk is The Edge. It's a 3 meter by 3 meter glass room that moves out from the side of the building. The floor, ceiling, and all walls are glass, so you see everything...including how far up you are! It was pretty cool though, and the views of Melbourne from the Skywalk were amazing!

I also went on a winery tour with our flatmates, Alison and Leah. It was an all day tour, and visited four wineries in the area. There's a wine region right outside Melbourne, and it's a beautiful area, with rolling hills and fields of vineyards. The four wineries we visited were all nice. At the first, we got a lesson on how to taste wine, including the whole looking at the color, swirling it, smelling it, then finally tasting it. We tasted a lot of wines, and the tour included a really good lunch. The last winery is owned by a french winery, and they make sparkling wine. We got a short tour of the winery, and learned how sparkling wine is made. Sparkling wine is champagne, but only sparking wines from the french region of Champagne can be called Champagne.

Last weekend, Amy and I went to a Craft and Quilt Show. It was huge! I was expecting a craft show like they have at home, where it's people selling their crafts. This was more of a trade show, where you could buy any sort of supply imaginable for sewing, quilting, scrapbooking, cardmaking, and I'm sure countless other crafts. There was also a Quilt show, with some very pretty quilts. The advertisments said there would be Amish style quilts at the show, which we found funny, as there are no Amish in Australia. I don't think I saw any quilts that looked especially Amish though.

Other than that, I've also done a lot of smaller touristy things, and have just been spending time in the city. I've also been planning out the rest of the trip. I've decided to change my return home date, and will now be getting home on September 16th. The means that the next 6 weeks are going to be extremely busy, in order to get everything in before I leave. I'm sure I'll be updating the blog more often in order to recount everything I'll be doing.

Here are the pictures from Melbourne that I've posted so far: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2208270&id=27216207&l=7fb35f74d4

Hillsong Conference!!

Wow, I'm really slacking in writing here! Sorry, it's been a while! The week of July 6-11 I flew to Sydney for the Hillsong Conference. It was amazing!! Probably the best week I've had in Australia. I spent the first day exploring more of Sydney, taking more pictures and stuff. Tuesday night the conference started, with the opening night, and then went until Friday, with Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday being full days with different sessions, electives, and then the evening sessions. At the conference were a lot of great speakers, including Craig Groeschell, Jentezen Franklin, Louie Giglio, and Joel Osteen, as well as the pastors for the Hillsong Church. Also there were Hillsong United and Chris Tomlin. It was at Acer Arena, which is at the Sydney Olympic Park (where the 2000 Sydney Olympics were) and the arena was huge, and it was full. It was amazing to be surrounded by so many people who were all worshipping God. The speakers were awesome, and really challenged me to rely on God for everything. The best part, though, was definitely the music. Hillsong did an amazing job with the music at all the sessions, and Chris Tomlin on the final night was awesome! I would write more, but can't even describe in words how amazing and awesome it was.

There are pictures on facebook, so check those out: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2209907&id=27216207&l=5f399a31df