Life is slow …

May 6, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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… but internet speeds at Rottnest are slower.

To be fair, it’s really the Optus wireless broadband that’s slow here. Everything takes forever to load so I won’t be updating this blog until I can get faster internet access.

We’ve been at Rotto for a few days so far.

I’ve read Mad Church Disease by Anne Jackson and large chunks of the impressively large book Shantaram. I’ll tell you more about them later.

Next month is officially winter but the weather has been amazing. I’ve been in shorts and t-shirt the whole time, apart from when I’ve been swimming in the crystal clear water of the sandy white beaches.

I love relaxing at Rottnest so I’d better just publish this post so that I can get back to reading, swimming, laying about, spending time with family and all those other things that make Rotto the best place to be.



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Farewell Rotto

May 14, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
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lighthousesunset.jpgThe sun has set on another Rottnest holiday.

We took the 2:00 p.m. ferry from Rottnest back to Fremantle on Monday. I had woken up on Monday morning in pretty bad shape. It was a particularly nasty gastro bug which had me feeling the worst I’ve felt in a very long time.

The thought of an ocean crossing, even a short one, didn’t thrill me at all. I managed to shuffle down to the jetty and pour myself onto the ferry.

Thankfully I woke up yesterday feeling a lot better and even better still today.

What a week it was. There were so many mixed emotions throughout the week as good times mixed with sad news.

One of the highlights of the week was a cycling trip to the western tip of the island with Emily and James. It’s a fairly hilly trip but they didn’t complain once. I’m so proud of them. It wasn’t just about cycling, it was about sticking at something hard so that they could enjoy the sense of satifaction that waited for them at the end.

So now I’m back at work and looking forward to Compassion Day tomorrow. I really hope and pray that people across Australia rise to the challenge and sponsor hundreds of children, releasing them from poverty and giving them hope for tomorrow.

I’ve got a lot of stuff to tell you about Compassion tomorrow and I’m certainly looking forward to letting you hear a couple of special reports I’ve put together for the day.

If you want to see a brief video introduction to Compassion Day go to the Compassion Day website. (See if you can spot my short appearance.)



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We apologise for the break in transmission

May 7, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
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Rottnest.jpgI’ve been on Rottnest Island for the past few days and tonight I head for the Gold Coast for a day’s conferencing.

I’ll be back over at Rotto on Friday to spend the weekend.

If you’re looking for some good reading while I’m away you’ll find plenty of interesting stuff in the Blog List in my sidebar.

Check out a few of my favourite blogs and let me know what you think.



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A Busy Week Relaxing

May 2, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
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Rotto.jpgIn a few days time I’ll be letting the stress melt away as we spend some family time at Rottnest.

I’ve been looking forward to our Rotto week for the past year, since we were last there, but this time it’ll be different.

Half way through the week I’ll be heading off for dinner … on the Gold Coast.

We’ll travel to Rottnest on Monday, I’ll head back to the mainland on Wednesday afternoon and find some way to get to Perth Airport so I can take a five hour flight to Brisbane before an hour’s drive to the Gold Coast. By that time it’ll be past midnight and I’ll be ready to drop.

After a few hours sleep I’ll be up and ready for a day at the Christian Media Australia Conference. In the evening there’ll be a dinner where Compassion Australia will have opportunity to communicate with the conference delegates about our recent trip to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was such a significant trip that I wanted to have the opportunity to be there for the dinner. If I can help communicate the desperate need we witnessed to others working in the media, we may have the opportunity to get the message out even further and start making a difference for those who are suffering.

After what I hope will be a good night’s sleep on the Thursday, I’ll do the trip in reverse, arriving in Perth around 1:30 Friday afternoon. I’ll then have to find my way to Fremantle again to take the ferry back to Rottnest to spend a few more days unwinding before we head back to the real world.

So far the plan should work as long as I can find a way to get between Fremantle and the airport and from the airport back to Fremantle.



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