From March 30 to April 1, 2018, we left our holy week a pretty good etching in our heart as we contemplated our spiritual life being bewildered by the presence of verdure of nature and loved by the people far away from us.
My husband had a far distant relative in Girgari, Victoria, so we thought it is the perfect chance to visit them this long day off. We were so happy we got a positive response from them. And so, everybody was so excited that we packed our things days before we left. But mostly, we finalized it at the last minute. Checking the shed. Locking the doors. Making sure everything was safe. Leaving food for our hens. After keep coming in and out from the house to check we got everything we need, still we forgot the most important thing... my DSLR camera battery. I left it charging overnight. Very dangerous. Now, it was charging the whole weekend.
Start the road trip...
GIRGARI, VICTORIA
As much as we want to avoid the traffic of the city, we drove through the forest and curvy and turned roads along the outskirts suburbs that caused Hannah, my daughter to chuck up. Mommy, as I was staying calm, told my husband to pull over so I could tidy her up and change her clothes. We felt it was a mistake to go that route, but we just kept going. We were in the middle of this nowhere and no coverage signal. Finally, we hit the freeway to take us to our destination. We made a few minutes stop in Wandong.
"Wandong-Heathcote Junction is a small township with a population of about 1,800. It is located on the Hume Freeway less than one hour from Melbourne, situated on the Great Dividing Range and adjacent to the Mount Disappointment State Forest. Formally the township was part of one of Victoria's oldest inland shires, the Shire of Kilmore. The township is now located in the Shire of Mitchell." http://www.wandong.vic.au/
We had our first egg hunting at the children's playground at Davern Reserve, located in Dry Creek Crescent. We had a minute of reflection on the Australian soldiers memorial there while Hannah and Sebastian were busy collecting their chocolate eggs.
It is a matter of time to get to Girgari, Victoria. We knew we were almost there when everywhere you see is flat pasture land with cows and sheep because the main industry here is dairying owned by families. However, we were still confused because Google directed us to the wrong direction maybe because we didn't have the complete address and no signal. We had to call his uncle again to tell us the right direction and yes, we just had to go back to the main road and there we saw the sign and his house is just across the tomato factory.
Delighted to see them, we had a good chat and good food. They were very hospitable. Just I felt cautious that my children break any valuable collection of a figurine.
Here's my trip reflection for the good Friday:
We really need God in our life as our compass or GPS because we can't get to the right direction or path if without his presence. We need that divine hand to take the wheel of our life. When we get to the place He wants us to be, you feel victorious and you know He won't leave you wherever your life takes you.
Moving on the next day...
ECHUCA, Victoria
It is a town located on the banks of the Murray River and Campaspe River in Victoria, Australia. The border town of Moama is adjacent on the northern side of the Murray River in New South Wales. Echuca is the administrative center and largest settlement in the Shire of Campaspe.
Why is it a famous tourist destination here?
The Port of Echuca along the Murray River played a very important part of history in transportation and development of the country. In the 1870s, it was the largest inland port of Australia that transported the shortest distance between Murray River and major city of Melbourne using Steam-driven paddleboats. We want to experience how the people before would arrive in wharf unloading their common cargoes. But, we don't have cargoes when we rode then just our two beautiful children. An hour trip setting our eyes on the scenic view along the river was so memorable on this Boat named Pride of Murray just for 26 dollars each pass.
After cruising and feeling still that you are part of the historic time, we are marveled with the restored original building, horse, and carriages, so we want to heighten our delight to be part of the history by having a unique souvenir family picture at the Port Antique Photographics for 30 dollars each and 5 dollars additional for children.
My favorite part was our lunch under the huge trees in the parks listening to Kookaburra songs, playing at the parks and crossing the border and side trip to New South Wales in Moama, Echuca beach and visiting their Botanical garden and adventure parks. Nothing really makes me so much happier when I see my kids enjoying the trip.
Life's reflection: We always enjoyed what we have at the present - its comfort, its convenience, and its instant. But, we can only appreciate present more when we know how to look back the past. Like remembering the cross. Jesus died for us and that's why we experience joy and freedom spiritually. We shouldn't forget that because of him we were saved.
Easter Sunday is our road trip to Shepparton, Bendigo, Hepburn, and Daylesford.
Looks too many places to visit for one day. But we didn't spend so much time in each place. Our kids are our top priority that we make sure they both have fun and so as we, so we stopped at the children's playground to feed the ducks and chase the birds in the lake.
Victoria is famous for their waterways, lakes, and wildlife as its backdrop to Melbourne's attractions. Now, we were having lake getaways to set up picnics and experience an hour of retreat.
Victoria is also blessed with natural mineral water that they believe has healing power. We stopped in Hepburn to collect some fresh water. After that, we take a walk along the stream flow. It has soothing feeling of hope as we brisk walked around this greenish environment and soaked our feet in the cold lake. Doing these things reconnects with our creator. We can't help it but praise Him, He is truly so amazing and how great He is for creating this wonderful nature.
He just made this for us to make us feel better about ourselves and to assure us He is real and He is God. It is a gift that helps us reduced our stress and super excited to get home.
The dusk was getting closer and we still didn't have a good internet connection. So we just follow the sign that says Melbourne and with God's trust, we have faith that we were on the right road that would take us to the freeway. We had a good stop in Skydancers Garden and took few photos inside their butterfly garden.
We appreciate God's presence and his resurrection when finally after five hours drive, we were home safely.
We have different ways of spending our holy week break no matter what the purpose of your getaway is whether to contemplate or just to pause and relax. No matter what it is. What important is you had a great time and you were reenergized and excited for the new days ahead.
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