It’s just on 7:30 in the am, and it is already 25 degrees (that’s about 80f for your crazy North Americans), maybe a little warmer out here in Dural, and it will only go up. Somewhere around 42 they say (107f) which is getting up there.
Were I still home, I think I may have dragged myself out of bed already to turn on the air conditioning, but I am not home.
I get to kick off my new years preaching at our St. Columbs church in Arcadia. Initially, I was a little bummed that I would miss out on some of the New Years festivities because I know that I need to get some kind of sleep if I am going to preach effectively, but on consideration, I was quite happy for the opportunity.
Firstly, it has been my experience that New Years Eve parties are never quite what you hope they will be. The great view of the fireworks also means being cheek to jowl with a million other people crowding any half decent spot of land on the harbour. The chance to meet up with your mates in the city is frustrated by the fact that EVERYONE in Australia is on their mobiles at the same time, so you can never get through and Transport in and out of the city is a debacle!
Secondly, it is good to have a sense of focus as we come into the new year. To remember what it is all about & where we want to go. It’s a time of the year when people start making resolutions. They want to be wiser in the way that they live. They want to be more effective in what they do. With this in mind, it was appropriate (though not intentional when I picked it) that I preach on Psalm 1. It’s a psalm which is all about wisdom. Finding the right council. Here it is.

1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit int he seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

If you want to hear the sermon, you could come back to St. Jude’s on the 22nd when I will be giving it again, or if that is a Geographic Impossibility, I could send you through the full text, otherwise, I will let you ponder over the Psalm yourself, but for this one thought.
As you get ready for the new year, and you resolve to make it better, or smarter, a “growth year”, where are you going to look for wisdom? What is going to be your focus? The focus on now, or the focus on Eternity?

It’s twenty past one in the morning, the dead of night. There is no moon, which suits be just fine, cause it means that the multitude of country stars are that much more visible. I find myself out on the pebbles of the rose garden contemplating. I’m not thinking anything that deep. There is no great profundity to be found here. It is just he cliche of another bloke out late at night trying to fathom the distance between himself and the stars. One of the stars, all of the stars, it boggles the mind!
I love my city life. I like being close to shops. I love being close to all kinds of restaurants, and I adore being close to all of my friendy
Why do these pin pricks of light play such an important role? There are a million light to be found in the city. A thousand differerent colours! standard, halogen, neon, all burning bright and shining 24 hours a day, yet somehow these tiny little dots speak to me in a way that no city can.
It’s distance, it’s time. It is realising that the light that is only a minute flicker in your eye is a gigantic ball of flame, mayby burning still, maybe dead for centuries, millenia… It is as close to infinite as I will ever be able to grasp.
Yet God made it all.
The farthest reaches of space. The greatest and the furthest of stars!
This same God sent his son. Jesus, the name which means saviour. Immanuel, “God with Us”, creator of all that is seen, and all that remains unseen, yet he came down as man.
The life we couldn’t live, the death we deserved to die.
Again, there is no profound thought to be had in this consideration. At such a time, all one can do is boggle. Boggle at the enormity of something that the human mind in unable to fathom. Yet one thing I understand. The God that cast the stars into space. I know that he loves me.
And that is more than enough.

Merry Christmas to all my dear readers!!!
So far my Christmas has been OK. I went to three Church services tonight, at 5pm, 7pm, then 10:30, and I preached at the last one. Thanks to all those who prayed for me during my preparation & stuff. It went pretty well I though, and I was encouraged by some positive feedback afterward, as well as really enjoying the experience myself during the sermon (always a good sign)
I love getting presents from my youth kids & their families at Christmas, not because they give good presents (though they often do), but because it is great to know that the kids have thought of you and want to express their appreciation. I have enough chocolate to make sure I can get out of bed & make it to the 9:30am service at church tomorrow on what is going to be an absolute minimum of sleep.
Speaking of which, I might head in that direction.
Here is another couple of pictures for you to enjoy from NZ.
Tim.>.

The view at 8am on the lake at Glenorchy.

Sipping the amber nectar! We tried a number of beers throughout NZ (in moderation), of which Speights was one of the best.

On and On…. It was a twisty, but lovely road from Wanaka to Cooktown. This was at the top of a very dangerous looking hill!

Once I removed 49 GIG of photos from my computer it was running much better! Of course, now I need to go & sort over 6000 photos… dang… that is going to take a while…
It’s good to be back. I stopped at church on Sunday night, though I was too late for the service. I still got to catch up with Shannyn & Geever for their birthdays, hung out at Burger King with a bunch of kids & played football (American) out on the grass infront of the BK. Good times!
Since then, it is hanging at church doing a little work & hanging at my Brother & Sis-in-Law’s place. Also good times thanks to a wee little one called Charlotte. Ahhh, sweet quality time!
OK, here are a couple of pics from NZ. The parade begins!

I wish I could give you a 360 degree pic of this. This is the view you want when you wake, having parked randomly in the middle of nowhere. Good choice!

The Devil’s Punchbowl in Arthurs Pass. Very cool. I was tired after the half hour walk to this place, which worried me, though it turned out that the fact that I had 3 hours sleep the night before had something to do with it.

All that ice & me with no cocktail to have with it!

Left to right, Steve, Dave, Matt & I. Good times on the ice, though, we should have just worn t-shirts & shorts. Oh well, better safe than sorry…

The wedding went well. My speech went OK, my travel back to Australia was good, but my attempts to get my laptop to work have been a spectactular failure. My pictures wont seem to download properly, my email wont update properly, and it is kicking up a general fit too!
I think I might give up and go to bed! I hope leaving it off for a day will help it out.
TCG.>.

We made it to our flight to Aukland on time, we managed to get a car when we got to Aukland too (Bigger than our first, though only slightly)! We managed to find Christy’s place without a problem, and we managed to make it out of Aukland and up the coast with Tim Dallimore to spend the night celebrating his impending marriage.
North Island so far has been fairly fun. It is very different to South Island, being flatter, more densly populated and (thankfully) having less sandflies.
So the night before last, saw the 4 boys become 5, heading north on a little adventure. We stopped for dinner at a restaurant called the “ship and anchor”, where we learned that “Black and Tan” doesn’t separate well in the antipedes, and that inflatable chickens receive strange looks from waitresses….
We continued North to a place whose name escapes me. We found a comfortable motel that had beds for 5, we found a comfortable bottle of Port that had enough contents for 5 (almost) and we found a comfortable game of “Emperor and Scum” (the official sponsor of “Boys Tour 2005”) to keep us entertained for the night!
The next morning we headed out to Goat Island, famous for their snorkling. We wouldn’t be put off by rain clouds and wind, and continued on. Despite the miserable weather, and small issues with visability underwater, the snorkeling was awesome! I got to see a Stingray that was as big as me, and I watched some colourful fish that would have been about 10kg eating an octopus who was making his (last) feelings known by spurting out all of his ink! It was really a pretty cool time.
We dropped Tim back off home, then headed back out in the direction of the Bay of Islands. I would love to chat more about our Kayaking today (in the end only a day trip) that included paddling right up under the lip of a waterfall, but my time is just about out on this machine.
Look forward to the next, and final installment (God willing) entitled “The reason for the season” as the wedding, and actual purpose for our being here, draws near!!!!

Actually we can, dinner last night was pretty awesome.
Dinner last night was also held in a little shelter, huddled around a portable camping stove. Pasta in a cream sauce with tuna, followed by chicken soup (entree & main course were back to front because we forgot about the soup) with Chocolate & peaches for desert & then a rye whisky and ginger ale as a digestive!
I guess the title should really say “We can’t SEE Mt. Cook”. We arrived in the afternoon, set up the tents, the boys went for a short walk & then the rain set in.
I found the public shelter, so we all swung over there, cooked dinner, had a couple of casual drinks & spent the night playing “Emperor and Scum”. It really was an awesome time!
I’m a little bummed that we couldn’t see Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand. I was also bummed that I missed out on photographing the famous turqoise lakes that surround, but I’m over it. I have many good photos from the last week anyway, and it is OK to give up a couple of photos if it means spending quality time with three mates, a small fire making impliment & duty free liqour!
This evenings blog was brought to you from a public library in Christchurch! Tomorrow it is a flight to Aukland! Things are only going to get more exciting!
TCG.>.

Adventure is a funny word. FOr so many, to feel like they are really adventurous means going somewhere where no one has gone before. THere aren’t too many places like that left, so I figure you might as well settle for doing something that sounds pretty cool to you.
When I was in Scotland, my big goal was to reach the top of a proper mountain. Though frustrated on several occasions, I achieved the goal & it was cool. I was an adventure dude! In NZ the big goal has to reach the summer snow line. I thought it might have been a bit too lofty a goal (no pun intended), but I found myself with the chance just days ago at the top tunnel entrance to Milford Sound.
I pulled aside because the tunnel that runs straight through a mountain was currently running in the opposite direction. As I looked out over the amazing vista (photos to come) I looked out across a valley of broken rocks & spied an amazing waterfall. At the foot of the fall was the holy grail, a big spot, maybe a hundred meters square of beautiful white snow!
OK, my right leg aint in the best working order & my ankle in particular has a reputation for twisting, breaking, dislocating etc. but as I was faced with this opportunity/challenge, I couldn’t allow such doubtful thoughts to creep in.
I was off.
40 minutes to scramble over to the snow. Hard work, up hill, but I made it!
Of course, only one hour ago I had been low enough in elevation that I had been surrounded by steamy ferns and the like, so that meant I was wearing my Teva sandals. Cool sandals, comfy sandals, good for climbing rocks in, NOT so good for standing in snow in.
I got some pictures though… very cool.
36 hours later, I have picked up the boys from the end of their walk (succesful, no injuries, high spirits) driven them to Milford Sound & then we have all driven back to Queenstown enroute to Mt. Cook this afternoon!
I wont say this will be my last post for a week & a half, but I wont make any promises I can’t keep either!
TCG.>.

So I am driving along the two lane highway at 100km an hour. The highway itself has been cut like a scar through the side of the mountain, meaning steep hill on one side & a cliff on the other. As I speed along at pace, the sun, struggling over mountain itself occasionally sneaks through low points on the cliff to my left, so that the light flicks on and off then on and off, just like an old movie reel.
It was then, more than ever, that I was struck by the movie-set feel of New Zealand, and especially the mountain areas of the South Island!
Of course, it had all started when we found a park in the dark, having driven out of Christchurch for a couple of hours. We were up into the mountains &, having little idea about where we should camp, we decided to pull off at the next dirt road and just look for a flat place somewhre. One turn & a short drive up a questionable dirt road later, we had success!
The next morning, we had a small taste of God’s providence. We had managed to find a free site set next to a lake fringed with mountains! The view was amazing!
That day we did a couple of short hikes to see some waterfalls, then drove into Greymouth so that Matt could get some emergency dental work done (No movie would be ready without at least a couple of twists in the plot). we got him fixed up and then powered on to Franz Josef in preparation for our glacier walk the next day.
We ended up going down to Fox Glacier & it was a cracker of a move. Slightly less busy, but just as pretty! we spent 5 hours hiking on the glacier with our guides Matt & Tamra. Sometimes we were on paths through the ice, sometimes they would use their pics to cut stairs into the pinacles that we would climb! It was awesome & I took a heck of a lot of photos while I was there.
Another drive into a mountain pass, and another camp site. It was less successful than our first one. We had to pay for it, the view was only average (which is still amazing by every day standards) we scored a fair bit of rain that night & WAY too many midges, that are little blood sucking buggers!
All was forgotten when we were back on the road & styling our way through the mountains. Another little piece of excitement was wondering whether or not we had enough fuel to actually make it to the next town. Fortunately, the answer was yes. we had some breakfast & pushed on through Wanaka & up down to Queenstown via (surpise surprise) some more amazing mountains!
Matty C went on the shotover boat & Steve, Dave and I waited in town, where we got to sample some of the local beers. Then we drove up to Glen Orchy to stay the night.
So I dropped the boys off this morning. They are trekking for two days, along the Routeburn path, coming out nea Milford. hence I find myself driving along my mountain road, listenin to the best of the Supertones & lost in movie thoughts.
God is a creative God, and I am a lucky man.
This is the life…

I would love to leave some mystical statement that kept everyone guessing (like Craig) but the problem is that everyone knows that I am just heading to NZ. Looks like we will be spending a majority of time off the beaten track, so my ability to leave blogs is going to be somewhat limited. Have no fear though, I’ll give you a proper rundown when I get back!
Be good people….
See you on the 18th, if not before…