South Bank, Hillsong Church, and an adventure on an Island!

Saturday morning... the perfect day for market shopping! Ally and I decided to make our way down to South Bank, which is this pretty part of Brisbane that has a man-made free beach and lots of different shops!

But before we got there, of course we girls have to have photo-opts! We found this awesome staircase and a secret garden enterance by our house!

Then on the City Cat we took some fun pictures!:] Wind blown hair. Sunglasses. Sailboats. Sailors.

Okay, So... I found something that you can ONLY find in Australia... a Kangaroo leather bracelet! We had the lady explain more about it and how it's kind of a lost art that she picked up! Best part? The one that I purchased was turquoise!...It was meant to be:)

 

HILLSONG CHURCH!

Hillsong Church was amazing! It reminded me of a mini CIY! (Christ in Youth Conference) Music, Message, and People? Amazing! To answer your questions Mr. Marty: The songs do indeed start with the end, they give you money instead of offerings, the congregation gives the message to the Pastor, they hand out empty water bottles, instead of the children leaving, the adults leave... I think I about covered it! ;] 

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Stadbroke Island: Gorgeous!!!

Our family invited us to go with them to Stadbroke Island and we could NOT say no! Lisa was going on about it being beautiful and hello...it's the ocean! So, we woke up..put on our Australian swimsuits, and waited! BUT... one of their little girls felt sick, so they called it off! Lucky for us, they still decided to give us a life to the ferry! :] Little did we know that our Island trip would soon take us on a crazy adventure! 

We got off the bus at Pointe Lookout and found a beach all to ourselves! Photoshoot! If you couldn't tell yet, we are kinda obsessed with pictures! But then, what would a blog be without photos to go with our stories?! We head down to the beach...on this walkway: 

to find THIS:  

Ahhh it was SO beautiful! After we got to the bottom and found that we were the only ones, our photoshoot began! If there was anyone watching, they sure would have gotten a kick out of it! We decided that it reminded of us the Bahamas, we LOVED it! <3

Okay, so after our photoshoot (more pictures on facebook) we were famished! We found this cute little bakery and ordered sandwiches, went to a picnic table that looked out at the ocean, and enjoyed each delicious bite! Funny fact: They always put funny veggies on their sandwiches--like carrots and beats! 

After that I had my first taste of Gelato! :] And now for the punch line.... WE LOST ALLY'S CAMERA! Frantically, we searched every where! We asked everyone and headed to the police station! We took this AMAZING walkway around a cliff and it was so breath taking! We ended up at the main beach where we finally watched surfers and played in the clear blue waters! My new prayer while over here: God, instead of making the ocean taste like salt.. Is there any way it could taste like pepper? AMEN!

When we reached the ferry to get back, we finally got a call... some amazing person had turned in her camera to the station! Bad thing? We are vehicle unit-less and no more buses. So, we had to wait two hours for them to bring it to us...making us catch the last ferry, missing dinner, and taking a train! But lesson learned...NEVER take your eye off the camera and that there are bigger things in life that you could lose! 

Another blessing? God gave us the most gorgeous sunset to watch while we were waiting! Although the pictures don't capture the true picture, it's close! We were watching the sunset through a smoky-hazy lense, which made the reds, oranges, pinks, and purples highlight the sun! Enjoy:]

Big lessons: 1) A cute old man told us "The world is too big to travel all at once, spend your life traveling!"
2) If Heaven is supposed to be more beautiful than anything here on earth...I can't wait to see! The deepest turquoise water, the luscious green trees, the gorgeous swirl of colors in the sunset! All looks like finger paint to him! He definitely is THE best artist!!!