Australia: Great Barrier Reef, Sydney, David Bussau

On February 5-6, we trekked north from the Sunshine Coast to the second southernmost coral island of the Great Barrier Reef, Lady Musgrave Island.  

Our boat to Lady Musgrave Island left from one of the few cities in the world that has a number for a name, 1770 (the year Captain James Cook 'found' Australia).  

There is no possible way to accurately explain the ride over to Lady Musgrave Island.  10 of the previous 11 days the tour had been cancelled due to rough seas.  We were lucky that our tour was not cancelled as the 'final call' came in the hour prior to departure.  In other words, the seas were about as rough as they can be to allow this boat to head over to the island.  

We had read on tripadvisor.com about the rough seas....but reading about it and preparing for it mentally versus actually experiencing it was totally different.  When the staff spends a lot of time during the safety check going over what to do when sea sickness occurs, you know vomit is common occurrence on this boat!  The staff brought cold towels to drape around people's necks when they started getting sick.  AJ definitely felt the effects of the sea (as did Rachel and H)

I have no pictures from the 'huge wave' part of the trip as I was clinging for dear life like everyone else.  I have a very strong stomach and even I was 'feeling' it.  It was like a 60 minute roller coaster going up the waves and crashing down, up and down, up and down, turn into the wave and up and down.  

Rachel often gets carsick, and it helps her to roll down the window to feel the breeze.  So, she decided to sit on the upper deck of the boat to feel the breeze. MISTAKE!  Even though there was a cover overhead, she was absolutely SOAKED, freezing and miserable during the trip over.  She couldn't move from the spot due to the violent rise and fall of the boat (plus she was sick).  It didn't help that morning sickness was starting to kick in as well (though we didn't know that was the reason at this point!)  I would conservatively estimate that 3/4 of the customers got sick at some level on the ride over.  

As we approached Lady Musgrave Island, the seas calmed.  

We were extremely lucky to go on this day as 1. it was beautiful and 2. there was hardly anyone on our boat.  These boats hold over 200 people but including our 6 person family there was a total of 28 customers on the boat.  It was almost like having a private tour of the island and later a private snorkeling experience on an amazing reef.

We took a glass bottom boat over to the island and saw turtles on that boat ride as well as a huge number of fish.  The island tour was about 60 minutes.  We learned that coral islands are literally made of coral.  There is an anchor coral down on the sea bottom and then a huge amount of coral continues growing until it reaches the surface.  The surface level coral eventually dies and starts turning to sand.  Then bird droppings bring seeds from the mainland, and eventually trees start growing.  I always have thought of islands = volcanic activity.  But there are hundreds of islands like this in the Great Barrier Reef.

One of the sad sights was this bird getting caught in something that drops from the trees on this island.  The tour guide explained this was part of nature and if they saved all the birds something negative would happen with overpopulation.  So, these birds get caught and die which provides nourishment for other things on the island and keeps the bird population in check.  The guide instructed us to walk on by and let nature run its course....so we did

You can actually camp out on the island but if the seas get rough and the boats can't come out, then you are stuck!  That would be an amazing thing to do.  On the far side of the island we had one of our favorite family photos from the trip...

This animal is a sea cucumber.  Natives in the this part of the world squeeze the white stuff out of sea cucumbers and it acts as kind of a natural super glue.  They would also put that substance on the bottom of their feet to protect against getting cut by the coral.

We headed back to the boat and had lunch before going snorkeling.  Lunch provided another hilarious story.  There was one lady who was SO sick on the ride over.  She literally looked like death warmed over, even an hour after arriving.  Her husband or boyfriend got her this huge plate of food with two crawdads positioned to be looking at her with their beady little eyes when he put the plate down.  We have laughed so many times over this story, but it is probably something where you had to be there to appreciate how funny it was.

I have been snorkeling many places in my life, but this place by far was the best....

Family snorkeling pictures....look at AJ :)

AJ in the captains chair....

The return trip to the mainland was much better as the boat was riding with the tide.  Despite the rough start to the day, we absolutely loved our time on the Great Barrier Reef at Lady Musgrave Island.

As we were driving away from 1770, we saw wild kangaroos off to the side of the road....

Silly picture with AJ's kangaroo and the real kangaroo in the background....

We drove back to our place on Coolum Beach for one more night, snapped this photo of AJ's playground on the beach and then headed south on our journey back to Sydney.

We stayed overnight in Nelson Bay which is a beautiful area....and AJ loved the playgrounds there as well ;)

David Bussau

I'm going to copy in this post what I wrote about David Bussau in one of the New Zealand posts (http://tsfga.blogspot.com/2013/08/new-zealand-wellington-kaikoura.html)....

"As a part of their home school assignments, the kids read books about Christian missionaries who did great things in the name of Jesus Christ in this world.  The one we read in New Zealand was about a man named David Bussau who grew up in a broken family in Wellington, spent most of his childhood in an orphanage, but ultimately found success in business. 

From that success, he was one of the first people to empower the poor through micro finance loans.  He started Opportunity International and his ideas have now been widely adopted by many organizations helping literally millions of poor people around the world rise out of poverty in a self sustaining, developmental, empowering way (compared to the failed model of consistent 'handouts' which leads to dependence and more poverty).  He can best be described as a social entrepreneur, and he clearly loves Jesus Christ. 

This book about David Bussau became a very interesting part of our journey later on as we traveled to Australia.  We happened to be in Wellington while we were reading about his younger years.  We spent some time that evening driving to the areas mentioned in the book so the kids could see that Jesus can use anyone from any background to do amazing things in this world if we will just follow His lead."

I remember being in New Zealand and the girls finished the book about David Bussau and said "It says here that he lives in Sydney, Australia now....that's where we are headed next so let's meet him!"  And I explained to them something like "Well, kids, Sydney has over 4 million people and this man is going to be very hard to find and is probably very busy."  And they said "Yes, Daddy, but if we just pray about it then God will make it happen."   Out of the mouths of babes.....And so, we asked God to help us to meet David Bussau.

Our first Sunday in Australia we attended Hillsong Church.  After the service, we were speaking with a woman named Nicole Partridge who was one of the concierge team members.  While speaking with her, I got a very strong internal feeling to ask this woman about David Bussua.  So, I asked "I know this may seem a bit odd, but do you know David Bussau?"

And she replied "As a matter of fact, I do.  In fact, I used to work for him!"  So, I told her the story about reading the book in New Zealand and about the girls' prayer; she gave me her email address, asked us to write her, and said that she knew his personal biographer as well.

H wrote this great note to Mr Bussau including pictures of his old stomping grounds in Wellington (and what they look like now), his personal biographer Philippa Tyndale connected with us, and on our last Friday in Australia we spent the afternoon with David and Carol Bussau.

Carol and David are just about the most down to earth, wonderful people you will ever meet.  You would never know this man and woman have helped literally millions of people rise out of poverty, helped set up organizations to get clean drinking water to millions of people in need, and are now partnering with organizations to end the child sex slave trade (which is rampant and horrific in a number of places in the world).

There is no ego, no 'look at what we have done'....just a calm sense of purpose and love for Jesus Christ.  I hope one day some young people look at me and Rachel and say the same kind of thing....that we lived our lives for Jesus Christ and gave ALL glory to Him because He deserves every bit of it.  This afternoon was an inspiring afternoon not only due to the answered prayer in meeting the Bussaus but also in the wisdom they imparted to us that day.

AJ had a blast in this park because there was a fountain that he figured out how to squirt other kids with!

Philippa Tyndale wrote David Bussau's biography "Don't Look Back" (link opens in separate window).   She was with us that Friday afternoon, brought a signed copy of the book, but then accidentally took it home with her!

Philippa Tyndale and her husband Andrew Tyndale

So, the next day she invited us over to her home to pick up the book, meet her husband Andrew (who calls himself the 'non-evil investment banker'), and enjoy the afternoon at their home.  And what a home it was!  Without a doubt, it has the most unusual entrance I think I will ever see.  You park your car up on a hill and then this elevator takes you down to the house...

....which sits on one of the bays in Sydney...

and is absolutely stunning.  S enjoyed the pool and we enjoyed the company.

Andrew and Philippa are dear friends of the Bussaus.  One thing Andrew talked to me about was David's philosophy about money.  Basically he believe in tithing but also said everyone has an 'enough money' level where things are taken care of.  For some people that amount of money is quite small; for some people it is large.  But when you get to that point, 100% of what you make above that level should go to work for Jesus Christ.  That is how he has lived his life.  That is how Andrew and Philippa are living their life and that is how Rachel and I will be living our lives.  It is a philosophy that totally makes sense especially after seeing the things we have seen on this trip.

Finally, David said something to me that Friday afternoon which I have remembered since that day.  I was talking to him about not being sure what I was supposed to do with the rest of my life but I was certain I wasn't made to sit back and be as comfortable as possible.  And he said his experience was that Jesus tends to put us in really uncomfortable situations and that is where we grow the most.  So, be prepared to be uncomfortable and embrace the opportunity.  Good advice indeed!

Our final 2 nights in Australia found us back at Thierry and Sophie's house.  They took us to a party with a bunch of their church friends on one night.

and the next afternoon / evening we attended their church.

Their pastor, Jo Wilton, is an amazing woman who not only preaches with passion but is an entrepreneur, musician, wife, and mom.  Pictured below: Jo Wilton, Rachel, and Rachel Wilton...

One thing Jo spoke about that evening stayed with me the rest of the trip....she said "when the Holy Spirit is present, there can be no fear or darkness.  It is like light in darkness....the light will overcome."  We lived that in dangerous places in Africa a few months later.  We never once felt fearful on this trip and I think that is because the Holy Spirit was with us and our actions were 100% aligned with God's Will.  I felt His protection as we were on this trip and the peace that came with it.

We realized after we left Australia that this is the only picture we took with our entire family as well as the entire Blanc family.  Sophie has stayed in touch with us as we have continued our travels and has been a real blessing.  In fact, one of the books she recommended and that we read while in Australia had a significant impact on all of us.  We highly recommend it as well:

I Dared To Call Him Father by Bilquis Sheikh (link opens in separate window)

Just across the parking lot from this church is an amazing indoor putt putt golf place that was created by two Christians who have continued to follow our trip as well.  We had a wonderful evening of fun, food, and fellowship with our newfound friends on our last night in Australia.

The next morning S lost a tooth and we secretly bought a pregnancy test on our way to the airport.  Not to ruin the surprise....but it was positive ;)

The amazing people we met in New Zealand and Australia helped motivate us to start this blog in February.  It was a way for us to stay connected with them as well as friends and family back in the States.  I'm so thankful we started the blog not only for those reasons but as a way to document this trip for our own kids....and maybe someday down the road for our grandkids.

We flew out of Sydney on February 11 for Fiji.....(see next post!)

Other Favorite Pictures