down under

G'day from Sydney! We just flew in today (and I'm going to sleep after I finish this post), and I'm loving the city already :) it's big and bustling and has so many cool things to see and do. I wandered over to the Opera House earlier tonight, which was so surreal! Never thought I'd actually be standing in front of it (and I might be able to go watch a free film or two there on Saturday!), so that was pretty neat :)

I can't believe we're already in Australia (although it's funny--I feel like a lot of people thought I was only going to be in Australia, because sometimes I'd feel too lazy to explain that I was going to Fiji, NZ, and Australia, haha), which is the last country/leg of our trip. How crazy is that?? Time has really flown...and now I have just a little more than a month left till I'm back. Wow o.o But I'm so thankful for everything I've gotten to see and do and learn so far--New Zealand is such a beautiful country, and we had such varied experiences there, each of which I loved. We ended our time in NZ by taking a road trip along the Southern Scenic Route (the southern part) of the South Island of NZ, from Dunedin to Te Anau (if you have any idea what that means). We were originally supposed to go on a trek in the Southern Alps, but we were prevented by some bad weather, boo :( but we still got to see lots of pretty beaches and wildlife (penguins and seals! :D) during our last few days.
However, I'm glad to be done with free travel, honestly--it's so hard doing so much as the group leader for the week (we rotate group roles, and I happened to be group leader for our free travel, but I think I needed to be, for the sake of our group), and it was exhausting. I really miss you guys back home, and being in Sydney is nice, since I get to get away from the group for a bit. Praise God for that :) on Sunday, we'll be headed to Adelaide for a week to do some conservation work, and then we'll be driving through the Outback for a whole week! Not sure when I'll next be able to update, so that's the downlow for now. Thanks for reading :) Until next time!