How To Live Longer...

“If you want to live longer, you should—in addition to the obvious: eating less and losing weight—move to the country, not take work home, do what you enjoy and feel good about yourself, get a pet, learn to relax, live in the moment, laugh, listen to music, sleep 6 to 7 hours a night; be blessed with long-lived parents and grandparents (35 percent of your longevity is due to genetic factors); be married, hug, hold hands, have sex regularly, have a lot of children, get along with your mother, accept your children, nurture your grandchildren; be well-educated, stimulate your brain, learn new things; be optimistic, channel your anger in a positive way, not always have to be right; not smoke; use less salt; have chocolate occasionally, eat a Mediterranean diet of fruit, vegetables, olive oil, fish, and poultry, drink green tea and moderate amounts of red wine; exercise; have goals, take risks; confide in a friend, not be afraid to seek psychological counseling; be a volunteer, have a role in the community; attend church, find God.”

—from The Thing About Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead by David Shields

Well after about a 9 month sabbatical, blogging could start again soon! My wandering will begin again May 13.

6 months? What the heck were you doing for 6 months?

This was the guy in customs' reaction to Caleb when he asked him how long he had been traveling for. I'm sure we'll be answering the question a few more times.

Caleb and I said bye to Cameron and Caitlin yesterday as we parted ways at the Sydney airport for our respective flights back to the US of A.

For his first American indulgence, Caleb went for the snickers. Yes they have snickers in Australia, but they're like $4.

I chose a mocha frappuccino....can't beat it!

Some of my first thoughts/signs of culture shock:

1.Our money is all the same color and so boring. In Australia every bill is a different color.

2.Call me shallow, but Americans dress so much better than Australians

3.Menu prices don't include tax! In Australia, the price you see is what you get.

4.I don't have to use a converter to plug stuff in! It's great!

5.I guess I have to go back to taking showers regularly again?

While I'm glad to be back home, the last 6 months in Australia have been the time of my life. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing when we got there and it's amazing to look back and think about the lives we developed in our time on the other side of the world. On the way home Caleb and I talked about how much we have learned about God, life and about ourselves. I'll put together some kind of a list and get it up here soon.

I really have no idea how many people have been reading this, but I hope you've enjoyed our journey if you have been.

Here we were 6 months ago with no idea what was ahead of us. David, Sherb and Taylor it would not have been the same without you!

Last night as we pulled back into the Charlotte airport.

I'll get 1 or 2 more posts up as I'm going through pictures and then probably take a blogging sabbatical for a little while. Thanks for reading.

From Burlington, North Carolina USA

Ned

Finishing up on Good Terms

Entertainment in Sydney? Throughout our time in Australia we've talked to several people who 'busk' (sit on the street playing music and have a hat out for donations). And every person we talk to says you'd be surprised how much money they make. Well here we are in our last few days here so Caleb decided to try it out. Last night he sat on the corner with his harmonica as Cameron, Caitlin and I sat across the street and watched, listening to ding of coins on the ground as people walked by and threw money in. Just as people had told us, you'd be surprised how much money he made.
Dan and Pedr drove from Newcastle yesterday to hang out for the day and we said bye to them and the Joker (Chris and Trenton's old car, now Pedr's)last night...Until we see them in America.

WE SOLD PORTUGAL!!! That's right, God has his plans in line even when we didn't. On our LAST day in Collaroy we had a couple call us and come look at the car one night and the next morning came back with money in hand. We could not have planned it better ourselves. It was so nice to have a car up until the very end of our trip and still be able to sell it and get our money back!

Full Circle

In the last week, rounding up our time here, Caleb and I have come a full circle from the start of our time in Australia. We realized this as we pulled into Newcastle where it all began. Our first month was spent in Newcastle without a car walking everywhere. The other day as we were driving around and things that used to take an hour to get to were now only 5 minutes apart, it was clear how much we have adjusted to life here.

Over the last few weeks, I've taken a couple of pictures trying to sum up what living out of a car (some would refer to us as Rubber Tramps) is like.

YES we celebrated 4th of July with a feast, including oysters.

The full spread

We know we've found a great spot to sleep when we wake up to a view like this

You brush your teeth in a bathroom sink, we use public water fountains

You have a living room, we have park benches

Props to McDonalds marketing department for their free wireless. Although it is usually terrible and super slow, they earn SO much business from having this. The other fast food restaurants would gain so much if they had wireless.

Good morning from the Portugal bear cave

You have a kitchen, we have our stove and pots and pans

Pb&J, it's hard to beat. But if you're trying to beat it, try peanut butter and nutella! It's like reese's on a sandwich.

The other night we watched Into The Wild and laughed about how much we could relate to. One scene of Alex brushing his teeth and shaving in a trashed public bathroom was all too familiar.

We're hanging out around Sydney's northern beaches for now. Our friend Pedro is here so we've enjoyed seeing him and we're trying to sell the car in Sydney. Yesterday we walked around the city and put up flyers in every hostel we could find. We also headed out to Sydney's Olympic park for part of the Hillsong Conference last night. We heard from Judah Smith of The City Church in Seattle about knowing that Jesus is there in the midst of every storm in our lives. I think there were roughly 21,000 people at the Acer Arena to hear him. It was SO cool to be apart of the worship with that many people.

Eleven days and counting...

Webisode 4

Caleb's webisode 4 from our week with Jamie. Check it out!

Also Portugal is For Sale so if you know anyone on the east coast of Australia looking for a sick wagon that can conquer anything...you know where to send them. 04-1307-6538

Where has the time gone?

Sailing in the Whitsundays was a blast. We saw some gorgeous places and enjoyed a few days on our boat, The Matador. It was a blast to reunite with everyone.

Walking out to Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach

Under sail. The Matador is a Maxi Racing boat and is undefeated in 62 races!

Hill Inlet

Our crew.

Cameron and Devin working hard to raise the sail as we watched carefully.

Hill Inlet and Whitehaven beach in the background.

Caleb and I looked at a Calendar last night to realize we only have 2.5 weeks left on this side of the world! It's hard to believe time is flying by so quickly. If anyone is in need of 2 hard working, intelligent men, we would be glad to hear from you. We're on our way south to Sydney for the next week or two and Portugal is officially up for sale!