as of nine thirty this morning, i am back home in langley after eleven days in australia. we left sydney airport at noon, january 14th and landed in vancouver at 7:45AM, january 14th. basically time travel. the flight was shorter on the way home [fourteen hours vs. almost sixteen!] and not only did leanne make it on my flight this time, but we switched seats and got to sit together the whole way home. such a good travel day. [plus who doesn't love an eight-day week!?!]

happy to be home!

ps. i took some iphone photos while i was in australia. they are random, they aren’t the best composed, a lot of them might be silly — but here you go. thought it might be fun. ;)

first view of my trip, 44th and last row, middle seat, looking at a sixteen hour flight from vancouver to sydney. a few moments before this photo i found out leanne couldn’t fly out until the next day. boo!

first photo taken in sydney — i grabbed a shuttle to the city, got my rental car, then drove to our friends ben + karalee’s house. karalee took me to this adorable restaurant right on the beach [felt so california, loved it] — but we had to eat somewhere else due to my stupid allergies. hah!

evening walk with karalee and her friend ashley — made me excited for summer back home. eight thirty sunsets. this view is five minutes walk from their gorgeous house.

luna park, right near milson’s point on the north side of the sydney harbour bridge. i rode that ferris wheel a few days later at roxy + diego’s engagement session.

another view of the beautiful harbour. still walkin’.

day two, wednesday morning run across the sydney harbour bridge. stunning.

running, running.

pretty cool view to run alongside.

still in sydney, still no leanne, killing time in the morning under the harbour bridge in the shade with my bible and journal and iphone.

after i picked up leanne, we went to danks street for coffee and lunch. this is a few blocks from the city campus of hillsong and one of my favourite areas of sydney. so many fun cafes.

thursday morning run, another view.

sydney had incredible coffee. i ordered a “long black” everywhere i went which is two shots of espresso over hot water — but in tinier cups, so it’s a lot stronger. so good.

max brenner’s chocolate shop. didn’t buy chocolate, did buy coffee.

leanne and i browsed on william street in the paddington area — i walked into this boutique and fell in looooove with this shirt. $495 nod.

adorable displays on william street.

i recently upgraded my iphone3Gs to a iphone4 — just a few days before my trip. i mainly did it to have the better camera in australia, for lovely self portraits like this one. flip around camera! hello!

bondi beach! it was overcast that day but still so hot; the UV levels in australia are intense.

mmm, found a cool window reflection back at our favourite breakfast/coffee place on danks street.

great coffee. so so so great.

this is a crappy shot; but i hate taking photos in church — feels so touristy! but this is the hillsong city campus when we visited on sunday morning. phenomenal.

kirribilli markets! we showed up 15 minutes before closing and did some mad shopping — leanne got a dress, i found a skirt and top. wish we had more time there.

i found these two at the kirribilli markets as well. ;) love the backpacks.

monday, we flew to melbourne! we heard nothing but amazing things about the shopping there and our hipster-noses managed to sniff out the best shopping soon after landing. this was us browsing on brunswick street.

cute cute cute stores. wish i had my own place to fill!

& great dresses.

as i mentioned before, we stayed with amy oliver and her husband nathan and their adorable pug named bear. she’s so so so cute. and loved leanne and i.

more running views: beautiful trail near their place.

an evening out in melbourne: cheap indian food and starbucks in the square.

leanne found a cool wall.

more bear.

on wednesday, we drove four hours to princetown along the great ocean road from melbourne. it was such a gorgeous drive. we took these photos to show you all that we were there.

here’s the 12 apostles! though apparently there’s only six now or something? didn’t count but they’ve fallen over the years.

on the way back to melbourne we skipped the great ocean road [that's tiring to drive twice in one day, shesh] and took the inland highway. it was still pretty though! lots of farm country, hay, hills.

leanne in federation square.

they certainly were great burgers. what i love about australia is they have had a TON of gluten free options. it’s hard to find gluten free bread at canadian restaurants.

cupcake shop across from burger place — didn’t buy cupcakes, bought coffee. [there's a theme here]

mirror self-portrait in the melbourne airport friday afternoon! headed back to sydney.

the last day we had in sydney before leaving to shoot roxy & diego’s wedding was spent in one of australia’s stunning national parks. a new photographer friend of mine, james day, suggested that leanne & i hit up this spot and offered to show us around. so thankful he did! [also: little shout out, james was the sydney photographer who recommended me, all the way from vancouver, to roxy & diego. can't thank him enough for his referral -- check out his blog.]

after a short walk through the trails we came to the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. the view was amazing: photos truly don’t do it justice. however, we have never, ever felt wind so strong in our lives as it was that day. i was worried about leanne getting blown off the edge: the wind literally moved her. very unwise choice of outfits on our part as well, skirts and dresses — but we managed alright and it made for good photos.

this past monday, we flew to melbourne from sydney to stay with a photographer named amy oliver and her husband nathan. amy first emailed me over a year ago introducing herself and offering a place to stay if we ever happened to be in australia… well… don’t offer me a place to stay on the other side of the world, or i will actually come. and bring a friend with me. we had so so so much fun with these two & we are so thankful for their hospitality. in our four days with them in melbourne, we shopped a ton, walked around federation square, ate some great burgers, even met ten new friends at a neighbourhood BBQ last night. we tried kangaroo meat. i liked it.

on wednesday, we woke up early to drive the four hours along the great ocean road from melbourne to torquay to apollo bay to princetown to see the 12 apostles. such a beautiful drive!

ah, our time here has been so beautiful. i will never get tired of travelling to new places and making new friends — i always come home grateful and encouraged. we have one last night in sydney this evening, then it’s the long flight home tomorrow morning to vancouver!

this spring, i was delighted to hear from a couple named roxy & diego who were getting married a few hours outside of sydney, australia. it’s a trip i have always dreamed of taking — and i jumped on the opportunity to fly across the world to capture their engagement session & wedding day. i was actually emailing with roxy on my united kingdom trip; a january in australia seemed so far away — in timeline and in location.

i traveled a ton this fall & winter… i obviously knew australia was coming but it wasn’t something i spent a ton of time thinking about. i had flights booked, accommodation coordinated, i knew the wedding details: boom, that’s all i needed to think about. well, the last week of december, it simply blew my mind that on new years day, i’d catch a sixteen hour flight to sydney and i’d be halfway across the world. australia, a continent that seems [and is!] so far away from my home. now, here i am, three days into my trip, walking around this beautiful city — miles and miles of ocean away from vancouver. incredible.

travel is incredible. not for one moment do i take my life for granted. every single hour my spirit can’t help overflowing with praise for how God has taken every desire of my heart and not only fulfilled, but exceeded them. the more i see of this world, the more i stand in awe of His creativity and goodness.