Hello Australia!

We have made it to Cairns! Hurrah! Snow in the UK and in Tokyo (where we changed planes) meant there were a few delays, but we have ended up where we wanted to be and pretty much on schedule. As Craig Revel Horwood would say: A-MA-ZING!!!

Obviously, as true Brits, we must now discuss the weather: it was rainy and overcast when we landed at 5.50am but the temperature was already 24 Celsius and very humid. It's 1.43pm now and certainly feels very hot. We are trying to resist using the air conditioning to help us get used to the heat more quickly. There is method in our madness....

We are staying in a lovely guesthouse run by missionaries here in Cairns and are looking forward to a few days R&R before the real fun begins next week! Thanks so much for all your good wishes. We mostly feel numb and keep looking at each other saying things like, "We're in Australia!" and then again, "We're in Australia!" Hopefully we will eventually take it in so that our conversation can move on. Until then, we're in Australia (!) and feeling pretty thankful to be here.

Sweet Sorrow

Goodbyes are not much fun, but they have been tinged with sweetness because so many of you have told us that you love us. Sweet sorrow is an oxymoron and Trudie enjoys a good oxymoron, especially when Shakespeare wrote it. It also perfectly describes the very thin line between total joy and stinging sadness that we feel as we say goodbye and prepare for hellos on the other side of the world.

This morning our church bade us farewell in what can only be described as an overwhelming, but delightful final surge of encouragement and kindness. They prayed with us and sent us out with a true sense of partnership that we will treasure.

There is not much time left. We have exciting jobs to do like preparing the car for a long holiday in the garage (I say 'we' but this one means Duncan!), tidying up after all the packing, a last hoover and closing up the bags. There are also two more goodbyes to be said to much beloved mums, but they are for tomorrow.

Everyone keeps telling us we will have an adventure and now that it is truly about to start, it looks like something close to climbing Mount Everest barefoot...but in the Bible, God says: Whether you turn to the left or to the right, I will be right behind you saying, 'This is the way - walk in it!'

And so we will.

Packing

Duncan is a master at packing. It really is true. We are preparing stuff to be shipped to Papua New Guinea and today he is filling the bread maker with underwear and is delighted by how much you can get in! Who knew... I am just typing the packing lists as he does the real work of actual packing and marvelling at what it must feel like to have good spatial relations. (I really don't!)

I wonder if we will see any of this stuff again...I wonder if we really need it all anyway. The truth is we probably don't, but it is making us feel happier right now!

Somehow things are fitting together and we are getting closer to actually going. We'll probably wish we had brought all sorts of things but most of all I'm glad that I'm taking Duncan, that he is taking me and that God has gone before us both.