Classic Aussie Buildings and Homes around Orange

Hello My Dear Great Ones,
One of the things that makes a country different and distinct from others is their own unique architectural style of buildings.  Some of these styles date back hundreds of years and gives the country their own unique cultural identity.  Europe is a brilliant example of this.  Germany with their medieval castles, France with their baroque palaces, and England with their gothic churches give these countries their own particular flair.  China, Japan, Hong Kong all have unique old styles as well. Sadly, too often in those places they are being destroyed and replaced by glass and steel buildings that can be seen everywhere in the world.  Call it boring globalism  Although Australia is a relatively young country and has many, many modern structures similar to Alberta there is a unique style to same of the buildings there.  When Celia and I visited our friends out in Orange, fours drive west of Sydney, there were some buildings that I would call uniquely Australian.  Here is what I mean:

A train station, renovated to look like it was 100 years ago.

Some shops and businesses have balconies and pagodas, as a way to protect shoppers from Australian heat and occasional heavy rains.  

Classy bank.  Note the veranda.  Old Australian homes all have verandas.  Chatting with someone on the veranda in the cool evening while sipping an ale is a grand Australian tradition

Lots of balconies and pagodas, allowing for easy access to the outdoors.  With decent weather year round being outside is common for Australians.

Out in rural Australia it gets rather dry and bush fires are common  These fire retardant brick stations are as common as rugby fields in little town Australia.

The following are pictures of quaint old houses found in Orange.   I would describe this unique style of Australian architecture like this: solid like the sheep shearing, kangaroo hunting, dingo chasing, croc wrestling,  rugby loving, sunburnt, rugged, offspring from English convicts, that many Australian men are; mixed with a quaintly designed lattice, a loving nod to the women who had to put up with their dusty, sunburnt, rugged men, coming home after a long day of sheep shearing, dingo chasing, kangaroo hunting, crocodile wrestling, rugby loving, and washing it all down with a pint or two of beer.  So in other words these houses I would describe as Australian Solid Quaint.
  

Ok have a great week everyone!  Once I get near some decent wifi, like next week in Hong Kong, I will regale you with awesome Australian nature, animals, and the Great Barrier Reef.  Stay tuned!

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

Kangaroos

Hello My Dear Great Ones,

A trip to Australia would not be complete without seeing some kangaroos.  My first sighting of a kangaroo was not so good.  It was quite dead on the side of a road.  Over 20 000 are killed by cars or trucks every year and their corpses litter the highways of Australia much like gophers do on Alberta roads during the summer.  Yuck. But before you get too sad there are 25 million kangaroos in Australia, a million more than the human population.  And they are everywhere.   They kind of remind me of deer, yet when they stand on their haunches and then start hopping it is for me, a non Australian, quite amazing.  Here are a few pictures and videos that Celia and I took of Australia's icon, found on its coat of arms and on some of its money too:

Celia and I went to an animal sanctuary.  Here the kangaroos were rather docile and easy to see.  In the wild it is much harder.

Here is a mother with a rather large Joey.

Kangaroos hang out in groups called mobs, troops, or courts.

Two kangaroos on the move.

In rural Australia many cars are equipped with "roo bars."  Good for the safety of the car and passengers, but not good for the kangaroos.

I ate some kangaroo steak during my travels.  It was actually quite good.  Very lean and tasty.

Have a great week everyone!  

God bless you!

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

Phenomenal

Hello My Dear Great Ones,

Last week from Tuesday night to Friday Celia and I went to the most phenomenal Christian conference in the World.  Hillsongs Conference in Sydney, Australia.  It is run by the phenomenal Hillsongs Church. Phenomenal because....well let the numbers speak for itself.

As of 2016, the church has 27 affiliated churches, a weekly attendance of 100,000 (37,000 in Australia) and is present in the major cities of 17 countries of the world.^[18] [19] In its network, it counts the following megachurches; Johannesburg (12,000), London (8,000), Kiev (3,000), Tokyo (2,500), Stockholm (2,000).^[20] In 2016, there are two affiliated megachurches in the United States: New York City with 7,000 attendees and Los Angeles with 2,500.^[21]

Wow!

Here are some facts:

Hillsong is affiliated with Australian Christian Churches (the Assemblies of God in Australia), which belongs within the Pentecostal tradition of Christianity. The church's beliefs are Evangelical and Pentecostal in that it holds the Bible as the truth and authoritative in matters of faith. They believe that Jesus Christ is God Incarnate, and the only begotten Son of the Father, who reconciled humanity to God through his death and resurrection. The church believes that to live a fruitful Christian life a person should, among other things, seek salvation and the baptism in the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking with other tongues, and that the Holy Spirit enables the use of spiritual gifts, which includes, and is not limited to, speaking in tongues.^[22]

Hillsong's stand on many topical issues in contemporary Christianity is in keeping with mainstream Pentecostalism opposing embryonic stem cell research and abortion on the basis that human life commences at conception.^[23] Hillsong has also declared support for Creationism and Intelligent Design and believes this should be taught in schools.^{[24][25][26][27]} It also believes that homosexuality is contrary to biblical teaching but emphasises that it does not condemn homosexuals.^[28]

Hillsong's prosperity teachings have been criticised by Christian leaders Tim Costello^[29] and George Pell.^[30] Subsequent statements by Tim Costello indicated that he was satisfied with changes made by Brian Houston to Hillsong's teaching in response to criticism,^[31] a change which has been noted by the media.^[32] Hillsong's teachings have been commented on favourably by Peter Costello, Tim Costello's brother, also a Baptist and a former Treasurer of Australia who has defended the church against accusations of unorthodoxy.^[33]

Cool I am on board!

The major things I learned about Hillsong and why I think the church is so successful are:

1. Christ like love. There were people from all over the world at the conference representing literally every Christian denomination in the World.  Good on Hillsongs to not make their church an exclusive club and demand that people join them. They are very welcoming and hospitable.  A big reason for their phenomenal success.  I am sure there were also many unbelievers at the conference, curious to see what all the fuss was about.

2. Rocking worship music. Music is powerful to draw people together.  Hillsongs is famous for its music.  There is a stat that 15% of all worship songs sung in churches around the world on a Sunday are Hillsongs worship songs.  The song "Shout to the Lord," is considered one of the greatest worship songs ever and it propelled the Hillsongs Church into world wide prominence.

3.  Youthful energy.  Hillsongs is filled with heaps of young 20-40 year olds.  Most are energetic, proactive, wonderful people with a strong belief in Jesus Christ.  Their zest and willingness to support, encourage, and welcome newcomers to the church is a huge reason for Hillsongs phenomenal growth. The church is loaded with leaders in all spheres of life: teachers, lawyers, doctors, government officials, entertainers (there was a Justin Bieber sighting at the conference; ) you name it, every profession on earth seems to be represented at Hillsongs.  They are all dynamic, leader types.  Encouragers.  People feel cared for.

4. Charismatic Leadership.  Brian Houston is the Senior Global Pastor and his incredible charisma and leadership skills are astounding.  You want a 5 star example of a LEADER who puts people at ease with his charm and humour, provides a clear idea of the mission of the church, and knows how to inspire people, well Brian Houston is the guy.  His ability to preach in an interesting, informative, captivating, and Biblical solid way is outstanding.

5.  Doing things well.  Outstanding sound system, special effects, use of videos, is all done world class. The production on stage is slick and moves along.  Yet ultimately the Word of God is not lost in all this flash and color.

6.  God's favour.  I believe God is pleased with Hillsongs love for Him.  There is barely any mention about Hillsongs church during a Hillsongs service.  The focus is on worshipping Him and making him known through Scripture, preaching, encouragement, and exhortation.  I appreciate that a lot and I think so do many others.

Finally for me the most interesting session at the Hillsongs conference was when several different people from different walks of life came up and shared their testimony of how God had blessed them.  There was a professional athlete thanking God for healing an injury and giving him patience; a teacher talking about how she and a few others started a breakfast program at their school for their underprivileged kids;
a Christian comedian talking about how his crazy humour brought joy to senior citizens; and a former police commissioner who with God's help cleaned up a corrupt and poorly respected police force back to its rightful place in society.  He did it so well that he was given a standing ovation by the congregation at Hillsongs.  Those people and others showed us that God loves us.

Praise God.

Here are some visuals:

The conference took place at the Sydney Olympic park basketball arena.  Over 30 000 people packed themselves into the arena for the conference.

Celia and I are about to go in.

The biggest church service I ever went to.

Lots of lights and action.

Brian Houston exhorting the flock.

People worshipping God.

Believing in Jesus Christ is wonderful and it was great to be with believers from around the World. Very encouraging and inspiring.

God bless you.  Have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

Three Australian Icons

Hello My Dear Great Ones,

Greetings from Down Under!  I finally am living out a big dream of mine.  Going to Australia has always been on my to do list.  In fact its been on there since a buddy of mine went down under about 30 years ago.  

Going with Celia, who has been to Australia numerous times, and has several friends and relatives here makes the trip much more special.  Staying with some real Aussies and trying to understand their version of English has been interesting to say the least.

Celia and I will spend the first week of our four week stay here in OZ in Sydney, catching the sights and going to the Hillsongs conference.  Then we will be going west to Orange, and then south to Canberra and Melbourne.  Later we head north to The Great Barrier Reef.

Since it is winter here in Australia it is a tad chilly.  Plus 6 in the morning, up to plus 20ish or so, then down to plus 5 at night.  So Alberta SUMMER weather.  Ouch.  The weather is a pleasant respite from the greenhouse that is Hong Kong.  The skies are clear and blue.  Lovely.  Only thing is that sunset is around 4:30 pm and it is dark by 5:00 pm.  That is kind of weird.

Anyway here are three Australian icons that we visited in Sydney:

Manly Beach.  Despite the rather chilly weather, plus 16,  there were seemingly hundreds of surfers riding the waves. 

From Manly beach you can take a ferry to downtown Sydney where two great Australian icons are located.  The Sydney Opera House (Built in 1973) and the Sydney Harbour Bridge(built in 1932 and still well used.)

The "sails," of the Opera House are thousands of white panels stuck together.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was built in 1932 as a way to stimulate the economy during the Depression.  It is well used.  Busses, trains, cars people are on it constantly.  You can climb to the top on a guided tour.  It will cost you a few hundred dollars Australian (crazy)  to do this, but there are hundreds of people every day doing this. 

Here is Celia and I enjoying our time Down Under.

God Bless you!  Have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk