O Happy Day!

The big news here is that our stuff has finally arrived, three months after we shipped it. In January we entrusted ten boxes to the care of a very British White Van Man, and yesterday it arrived on the back of a very Australian Green Ute. It was almost symbolic. Reid has been really looking forward to the arrival of his Thomas the Tank Engine wooden trains, particularly (for some reason) the engine known as Neville - who is merely one of the periphery characters created to extort more money from parents. When our boxes arrived he tore around the centre loudly announcing that "Neville is here!", causing most people to think that the delivery man's name was Neville. It's been really nice to unpack all of the things that we had given up hope of ever seeing again. I have some CDs, books and - of course - my PlayStation 2 now. I shall never be unhappy again. I promise.

Earlier this week it was decided that the third year students should spend some time building up our relationships with one another. This may have been prompted by a recent Wednesday evening where I had too much Splashe Cola and called everyone 'Losers' whilst running around the community in some Union Jack boxer shorts. Ali decided we should go on a camping trip at Whylandra Crossing, a local beauty spot. Because we have kids Ruth and I were allowed to opt out of staying the night. It's one of the few occasions where having children has been a good thing. We had a great time though and we even found the time to awaken an ancient evil, as tends to happen whenever students go on a camping trip in a forsaken forest. It's a shame that all my peers were brutally slaughtered during the night, but that's the price you pay for awakening an ancient evil. I bet they wished that they had kids.


Ruth and the boys (and the girl) took a trip to the Western Plains Zoo in the week. It's more like a safari park - an amazing place. They saw some truly amazing animals from around the world, but the only thing that Reid could get excited about was the peacock. A peacock. And it didn't even show it's colours at him. He's easily pleased, except by his mum and dad.

As part of our new bonding agreement the girls spent an evening smearing green leaf tea and banana on their face in the name of beauty. The lads went to the cinema to see 300. I can't in all honesty recommend it, but I got to use my new student card and had a big bag of M&Ms so the evening wasn't a total waste of time. Spiderman 3 is on the way though, so I really, really will never be unhappy again. I really do promise.

I mentioned the beautiful nights in my last post and I've really continued to be struck by them. I don't know if it's just the fact that it's so different to the UK but I really think Australia is so beautiful. I guess it's a case of familiarity breeding contempt, because when Laurie showed photos of random Sussex fields the Aussies gasped like they were peering through the gates of heaven. It's made me appreciate Paul's words at the beginning of Romans as to how God hasn't left Himself without a witness, but that the whole of creation bears His fingerprints. I'd lost sight of that, but an encounter with a differently beautiful aspect of creation has renewed my conviction that God can be seen out there, and you don't even have to look that hard - it's a bit like trying to find an elephant that's hiding in plain sight.