Blue Mountains

How did I forget? I totally didn't write about going to the Blue Mountains the other day. My last day with a car, I drove out to Katoomba, the main city in the Blue Mountains (which are an hour outside of Sydney). There is a great lookout there where you can see the "Three Sisters" (some rock formation). As I was driving out there I was skeptical about the mountains being blue, they looked pretty green to me. But as I stood looking out over them, they were pretty blue. The blue haze comes from the Eucalyptus trees. Also while I was there, I got my picture taken with an Aboriginee guy. I can't wait to get the picture back on that one!
Yesterday I walked to church (in the rain) and ran into Jimmy, a friend of Gentry and her roommates, who was in town to visit the city church. So, after church was over I went with him back to Gentry's because today is Hillsong performance day. All the singers and other music people have a concert/show thing as a final test. And tomorrow is my last day in Sydney!!!
I'm kind of bummed that my last week here has had the worst weather ever, though. Seriously it has been nonstop chilly, rainy, and just all around gross! I had hoped it would be a last week of "summer " before going home.
Tomorrow is also the event that stops the nation: The Melbourne Cup. It is like the Kentucky Derby, but such a big deal here. And the fashions on the field are all the news. I had totally wanted to go and get dressed up for this event before I realized how not-so-fun it would be to try to go by myself and then I moved my flight to the 8th, so I'll just watch it on TV and that will have to be just as good. And I'll save my getting dressed up to when I come home!
This may be my last blog, so I just want to say "thanks" to everyone who reads this. It is very flattering to think anyone other than my immediate family reads it! This has been an incredible journey to "see the world". I'm so blessed to have the resources in my life to be able to do something like this and now I'm looking forward to being home and seeing y'all!

November 1-3

So, I'm back in Sydney for my last week. Not much exciting to report. The weather has been surprisingly bad- I was expecting summery days, instead it has been overcast and rainy (but they really need the rain). I guess it will prepare me for going home to winter. With Christmas and summer "just around the corner" here, the city is full of activity. Everywhere I go there is some comotion- a stage being set up, people gathered, noise, something making me want to ask- "what is going on here?" At the David Jones (Australian Neiman Marcus) downtown they've set up their Christmas carol window displays that are so cute. And in Hyde Park, they've set up a stage for some Christmas concert series. So, my last day with the car was Halloween (and my last chance to listen to the radio- which Australia does not have a lot of radio station options, but they do have some country, but anyways) and I heard this spot on the radio about Halloween NOT being an Australian holiday and warning about people trying to "cram it down your throat"- it was funny.
Now I'm hoping to find a few valuable souveniers to bring home to people, but I'm not sure what to get... any requests?