August 5th

Today we went into the city where Jon and the girls took me up City Hall clock tower so I could see the view and the bell rang 12noon while we were up there – it was really loud! They then took me to Roma Street Parklands - which are lovely. Beautiful flowers and ingeniously designed waterways and garden areas.

Late afternoon we went up to the apartment where we will be staying for the rest of our time here. Once the couple, who are travelling for several weeks, had left we went back to collect our things. We are so grateful for this provision which will save us some money (God is so good!) but I am now completely exhausted. Jon has some preparation to do as he is leading the service tomorrow, I still have to read through my children's talk, and we are giving our testimony! The fun never ends!

August 3rd

Jon took the girls into the city today to visit the City Hall and go up the bell tower and then on to Roma Street Parklands – a large inner-city park that has been transformed from being railway sidings in the past ten years. It has been landscaped very cleverly and is quite beautiful. The girls loved the play park and the water features.

While they were out I went to Gold and Silver – a group for the older people in the church that happens once a month. Most of the people there seemed not to know who I was – or had forgotten, rather ironic seeing as the mornings focus was on memory training. I shared a little more of my story with them – I did try and speak slowly but it would have been better if I had been able to use a microphone.

In the afternoon I went with Ian to a local Baptist pastors' meeting. Very interesting to hear about what the issues are that they are dealing with.

When I got back everyone was still out so I went up to visit the flat we are going to house-sit from the weekend. Hopefully it will be a lot quieter than where we are now.

Jon went along to Home Group this evening with Ian and his son. They met in the house of a man from Papua New Guinea and he was there with his son and a lady from India. The home group went well, it was interesting to see how open people were even though Jon was a new person in the group. The discussion did struggle a bit at times with only a few people.