Church->Sand Dunes->Wine Tours->Floods

Hey all. Things are not bad here. I'll get right into it. We took a courtesy bus to the Hillsong Church. There were all of these French coloured women on the bus. They sang French songs on the way. It was really nice, I remember a song mentioning (in French) how Jesus est devant, derriere, autour, dans les main, and dans mon couer. Church was just as amazing. The music was insane and the people were very nice. After, we met up with a girl who I've known for probably twelve years. We had a nice visit, then we took the train to Newcastle. Our reason for going was Port Stephens, which apparently has the biggest sand dunes in the Southern Hemisphere. We took a bus to get there and missed our stop completely. After sitting on the bus for over three hours and circling the island until we returned, we finally found the sand dunes. I don't know how to explain it, but they were amazingly beautiful. So much sand, all white and so soft. We climbed up and walked around. Not long after we saw some storm clouds approaching. We made a run for it. Rain was coming soon. So we hid in a farmer's barn for about twenty minutes, waiting for the rain to let up. We were forced to leave when the farmer returned, but the rain had subsided by then, so we walked out, dry. The next day, we went on a wine tour in Hunter Valley. I just love the look of vineyards, the rows and rows of grapes growing, it's so beautiful. We learned a bit about the growing of grapes, the seasons, and about wine. It did not take me long to realize that I hate dessert wines and port. Seriously disgusting. I don't know why anyone drinks it. There was a breathalyzer at the first winery. Legal driving limit here is 0.050. I am proud to say I was at 0.043. Bretton, on the other hand, was at 0.064. I will have you know that we drank significantly less at the rest of the wineries as we were feeling tipsy before 11:00. We visited some cheese factories as well and a fudge place, which was stingy with its fudge (I only got two samples. What the heck!). In total, we visited five wineries. By the end of the day, I was repulsed by wine and anything containing alcohol. I suppose excess will do that to you. I have not drank since and still have no desire to. The next day, we planned to go to Port Macquarie (pronounced Ma-cori). The bus was in the afternoon, so I found a piano at a University. Everyone was new there, so I got in unnoticed. It was cool to listen to all of the other students practice. Quite impressive actually. Then we caught the bus. I forgot to mention that it was raining the day before. We had heard about flooding in Coff's Harbour. When we were driving, it was pouring! I could see flooding at the side of road, visibility was poor, and the roads were slick. I started getting really worried, it seemed pretty dangerous. But we made it. Still kind of scared, we decided to jump on the first bus we could get past Coff's Harbour, worried that we could stranded. We recently met two girls that were stranded in Coff's Harbour. Their hostel was flooded and there was water up past their knees. Definitely happy that we avoided that, but that meant a 4:00 AM bus. It was not as bad as you would think. We woke up at 3:00. Here's the part the got me scared. This girl, half asleep I think, said, "Oh my gosh, everything is covered in bed bugs." I froze and started shaking. I have heard horror stories about bed bugs and freaked out! We now have confirmed that the girl's accusations were false, but nonetheless, strong words. I am now newly cautious about bed bugs. Now we're in Byron Bay. For those who don't know, Byron Bay is a favorite of every traveler and resident of Australia. Everyone loves it. It is known for it's beach and surf. Well... we are on our fifth day of rain. I don't know about you, but we don't really go to the beach in the rain. There's not much else to do here. We read magazines in the library yesterday, I practiced piano today, we booked some travel stuff, and have been catching up with family. I'm pretty bummed out that this is our experience of Byron, but I still think it's a nice place. Oh well. We're off to Surfer's Paradise tomorrow. If we're lucky, maybe the rain will stop following us. I'm being optimistic. I hear that the snow is melting and that the sun is out sometimes. The rain is still coming down here, but the sun did make a brief appearance. But all is well. We ate meat last night and supper only cost $2.50 each, so we're still well on budget. Anyways, that's all I have to say. I'm going to go put on my rain jacket and tough it out. 'Til next time.