Day 4

Wassup homie G’s? We had a very entertaining night last night once again the night activity was a surprise.  We crammed onto the mini-bus and Alex said “I wish these lights would turn off” and then they did! Then he said “I wish this bus was bigger”... but we’re still waiting for that one! We arrived at the destination which didn’t give us any clues to what the activity would be, so we were left in suspense until our groups were individually called up upstairs. Once we were seated it was clear tonight’s activity was going to be karaoke! J Nathan and Cameron were the stars of the night with their hit from Taylor Swift, 'Our Song' and then accompanied by Luke, 'Teenage Dirtbag' and 'Stacey’s Mom'. Pastor Pete blew us away with his outstanding vocal abilities with Queen songs, one of which summed up the night. Arms linked, in good spirits we all sang, “We are the Champions” and we all felt like champions in that moment.

 

During the course of the interesting and disturbing karaoke night, a few brave souls tried some interesting and disturbing food, regarded as Filipino delicacies. Such as pig intestines, chicken gizzards, chicken feet, chicken head and Balut (a 15 day old chicken embryo).  After some gagging, mainly from the audience, we headed back to our new home in the ministry centre were Pastor Pete conducted the debrief session and devotions for the night.  After which we keenly headed to bed ready for an early 5 am rise and shine for the waterfall outing.

We dragged ourselves downstairs at the daunting hour of 5am where some of us held our first “Ultimate Loser Uno” session in which Jessie dominated in becoming the Ultimate Loser; unfortunately the boys didn’t let her forget it all day. We enjoyed our breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs, toast and bananas, giving us the energy we needed, we hopped on the bus... and most of us fell asleep again.

Even though it was a two and half hour bus trip, the scenery of the landscape was breathtaking, however the homes we saw didn’t match up to this standard and the reason why we came to the Philippines once again became obvious.

We finally arrived at Lagoona Falls, it didn’t look spectacular from the outside, but when we hopped on the boats in the channel you could see nature’s true beauty. We were surrounded by enormous cliffs that formed a canopy of jungle. There were several small waterfalls cascading down the cliff sides, we went through treacherous rapids (according to Irene and Jess) and baby rapids (according to Tat and Amy the Out Door Ed’ers).  Although the tour guides did an amazing job getting us through them, one team had to abandon ship and another just stacked it.

We came to the spectacular waterfall and bravely boarded a rickety bamboo raft which only just bared everyone’s weight (we must be being fed too much at the ministry centre!). From there we were pulled, by several Filipino men, straight underneath the incredibly powerful waterfall. It was an experience like no other - better than any rollercoaster!

Overall the last 24 hours have been a blast!

Love Tat, Amy, Jess and Irene!

Ps:

Tat: HI EVERYONE! :D hello to mum, dad, oma and the rest of my family and friends. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jacintha Carberry !!! J sorry that I couldn’t be there for your 16^th. I’m having an absolute blast over here and have had so many memories already!

Irene: Hello everyone at home, thanks for the comments mum! It’s great to hear everyone’s so supportive I’ve had an amazing day and I love you all.  J

Jessie- Hello to Mum the princess, Dad, Mags (totes glad Greta won!), Gabby and my 2^nd family, and everyone else. Having the most AMAZING time missing you all love you and hope everything is well :D P.S. For Dad- Going to Corregidor Tuesday, don’t forget our deal!! Xxx

Amy-Hello Mum, Dad, Josh, Bri, Rowan and Daniel, Nan, grandad and everyone elseJ. I am having an absolute AWESOME time over here, enjoying it so much.  I had an awesome time today at the waterfall. Miss you all lots. Love Amy x