Pilgrim's Progress Part 1

World Youth Day was a unforgettable experience despite the physical discomforts a encountered along the way.

When we arrived in Sydney on the 9th of July, the weather was 8 deg celsius. It took awhile to clear customs. Every bag was personally checked at the the customs section. Sydney airport did not seem equipped to handle the thousands of pilgrims expected to arrive in the next few days. When we finally got out of the airport, it was already dark and pretty cold. We managed to get on an airport shuttle. We checked in, found a reasonably priced Thai eatery to have dinner. In Australia, each meal is about AUD$10. .Tired from the flight we trudged back to our 6 bed heater-less dorm. By Midnight (singapore time 2am) we were fast asleep.

We had to wake up early on 10th July, 6am (singapore time 4am) to get to central station and board the countrylink train to blayney by 645am. Thankfully were only 6 it was easy to move about even with all the luggage. We each had roles. Martin was the IC for location... "find the place and lead us there". He found the way to Central Station quite easily and sooon we were off for Days in the Diocese. The train ride was fairly pleasant. We were able to buy toast for breakfast and slept alot. We arrived at Balyney at 1130am on schedule and was greeted by Jim who drove us to Cowra where we recieved a warm welcome from the parishioners of Cowra. With us in Cowra were Americans and Zambians (not Zimbabweans, terence! haha)


May and I were soon on our way for homestay with our host Rebecca husband Will and 2 adorable boys, Flyn and Elliot. We will never forget our homestay experience! For starters, we were going to live on a really large farm about 1300acres of land which had 1000 sheep (and 1 black sheep! haha). I'm not kidding... we would have no prpblem sleeping at night! just count 1000 sheep.. hehe

Baa


Baa-baa-baa


Baa-baa-baaa x 1000


The farm has a pretty cool name: RainTree Farm. I enjoyed being away from the city. It was quiet and peaceful on the farm. What amazed me about my hosts was how D-I-Y they were and simple too. Rebecca is a potter so the family doesnt buy plates, cups, dishes etc. It's all homemade. Rebecca works in her pottery studio, a shed on the farm close to the house. Will makes his own jam and bakes his own bread. He also brews his own beer. He feeds the sheep every morning and checks on the barley which he'll harvest this December. He also has his own dark room studio on the farm. The couple are having an exhibition of their pottery and photography this September. I am excited for them.

Me at the wheel!






The days in Cowra flew by. Before we knew it, it was time to head for Bathurst to meet other pilgrims in the diocese before heading off to Sydney. But before we left, there was a commissioning Mass celebrated by Fr Owen. We planted a tree too. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone. We felt at home already. We made many friends. It was really cold in Cowra but the people warmed our hearts.

Cowra's parish: St Raphael's


This pilgrim has to get to Sydney.


Terence lost his head


with Fr Owen


Rebecca, Flynn and Elliot



We arrived in Bathurst after a couple of hours on the bus, 13th July. We were ushered into a supersized hall. Pilgrims from the U.S (Maryland and Wisconsin) Sweden, India (200 pilgrims!), Zambia, Mexico (1), Venezuela, Congo, hmmm and about 20 other countries??? We lined up our bags according to country. and this would be the place where we would be sleeping! It was still cold in Bathurst and very crowded. So crowded I was getting a splitting headache. I had to adap to be with all these people in one hall. We only had lunch at 4pm. there was a stall selling sandwiches. by 11pm, I was hungry (the stall had closed), very tired, very cold. It was crowded and noisy. Somehow managed to find a spot and wormed by way into my sleeping bag... Head was throbbing and would throb all the way to Sydney! sigh... this was it... a taste of pilgrimhood.