"Living by faith, day by day," is a motto Becks, She, and I have adopted during our travels in Australia. God has definitely been taking care of us in many ways.
Direction - Many people have offered assistance and have given us directions as to where to walk or drive - and many times we didn't even have to ask for it. We suspect that people can see the "lost" look on our faces. Or the map we're holding up. After a trip to the Sydney Aquarium, we were looking at a map to see what direction we should walk in to reach our next destination. After a few minutes of discussing and pointing at the map, we noticed a man behind us looking at us and the map. He says something like, "You're holding the map the wrong way," corrects it for us, and asks us where we want to go. He pauses slightly (and notices our Asian appearance) and asks, "Do you understand English?" After our assurance to him that we do, he continues on and tells us where to go and we went on our way.
Hillsong - We visited the Hillsong church in Sydney. We planned to catch the shuttle bus they have from the train station, however we weren't sure exactly where the bus would stop. Eventually we spread ourselves out down the length of the street, to cover ground, and so if it came, we could stop it for the other two. Turns out we were waiting there about 30min early, which is why we didn't see the bus, and they eventually had people out with signs directing us. When we got there, God provided us with friendly people to talk to (albeit they were most likely people who are there to seek out the new comers and make them feel welcome), and so we had a good time meeting a couple new people.
Blue Mountains - After a steep and somewhat strenuous hike, we planned to catch a shuttle bus back to our car. However, after looking for the shuttle bus stop, and figuring out when it came, we realized that by the time we would make it back, the parking metre would expire on our car. With no other option, we decided to wait for the bus. A car drove up with 2 women inside, stopped and asked if we needed help (they thought we were lost - but we weren't holding up a map!). They were heading towards where we wanted to go, and they offered us a lift back to the car. We made it just in time before the metre ran out.
Kings Cross - Whenever we mentioned that we were staying in Kings Cross (a suburb of Sydney), people would gasp and give us strange looks. Aparently Kings Cross is the "red light district" of Sydney. But we didn't see anything shady - we didn't even know it was a shady area until people mentioned it. I think the actual shady area was further down the road, farther from the city. God protected us from any strange things that might have happened...
Timing - God's timing is perfect. In returning our car rentals or checking in hotels, we always made it, in the nick of time. One time we were returning a car to downtown Sydney. The car was to be returned at 6PM, and we arrived back in Sydney around 5PM. We thought we would make it to the rental place with time to spare. However, we hit many one way streets, and we weren't able to turn right when we wanted to. When we finally got close to the rental place, we couldn't turn into the street the rental place was on, so we turned at the next street. But that took us into a series of tunnels that kept going and going - and we couldn't turn around. Eventually we got back to the rental place - 2 minutes before 6.
Watermark Hotel - Upon check-in at our hotel in Brisbane, we were informed that the hotel did not receive our reservation for the next three nights. The hotel was all booked up, and didn't have a room for us. They tried to call around to different hotels for us, but none of them had room. Though we spent the night on roll-away cots in their conference room, God did provide a roof over our heads. And we got complimentary breakfast for the next few days. And the next morning, they somehow did find a room for us in the hotel, so we wouldn't have to look for accomdations for the next 2 nights.
Maps - Driving around can be difficult in new cities, especially when the roads twist and turn and the street signs are not always clear (or aren't as we're used to). God took care of us on our mini road trips - we did get lost sometimes, taking wrong turns, or going the wrong direction. But we always were able to turn around somewhere, get back on track, and never did get completely lost in the middle of nowhere.
Becky's Car - Upon arrival in Perth, Becky's friend picked her up and our luggage (we couldn't all fit in her small car), and Becky was going to come back to pick Sheila and I up at the airport. After waiting for about two hours, (when we thought she would come in an hour) Becky arrived. Her car broke down on the way : Another friend of her's picked her up, helped her push the car to the side of the road, and came to get us. The car eventually did get towed, and then got fixed. Yay for friends :)
General Protection - God's taken care of us. Nothing's been stolen, we haven't met any shady characters, and we've all been safe. Though at times we did look like tourists (with the maps) rather than people taking advantage of us, people offered help.
OH - and SHEILA SURVIVED SURFING!!! :D
To read more of our Adventures in Australia, visit
Becky and
Sheila's blogs.
