On Thursday, I made my first visit to UTS (University of Technology, Sydney – the comma is part of the official name) for 1:15 Mass and 2:00 Mere Catholicism with Sr. Mary Barbara since this was the first week of events for them. Mere Catholicism and a forum like the Veritas Seminar Series they have at USyd alternate each Thursday. The chaplaincy offerings at UTS also include bible studies on Tuesday and Thursday mornings with Sr. Mary Barbara that are affectionately (thought not officially) known as “Nuns and Roses.” The Sydney chaplaincy only recently became responsible for UTS, so the offerings there are significantly more limited than they are at USyd. What they really need is another staff member to devote him/herself to UTS. This is sort of the capacity that Sr. Mary Barbara is filling this semester, but as she does not work at the chaplaincy full time (both sisters only work 2 days per week because they are also full time Masters students at Notre Dame), she can only do so much. As usual, Fr. Dom was able to create an amazingly prayerful atmosphere in “Multi-Faith Room I” at the UTS student centre. Sr. Mary Barbara’s inaugural session of Mere Catholicism also went quite well. We had a talkative group and started out lightly with a discussion of the meaning of life. I think the sessions will prove quite fruitful. Before we walked back to the chaplaincy, Sr. Mary Barbara and I took a field trip to the UTS school supply store, which is located dangerously close to Multi-Faith Room I. For those of you who have encountered me in such environments, add another person who is just as fascinated by pens, notebooks, etc. as I am, put us in a foreign country to add the luster of unfamiliarity, and you will have an idea of what this was like. One thing they have in Australia that they don’t have in America (to my knowledge) are notebooks with staple binding rather than spirals. I think they are pretty neat. I found some at UTS made out of recycled paper with Australian animals on the covers. Did I buy them? Yup. Another project of mine was using the chaplaincy Facebook account to friend-request all of the people who have provided their information at various events so that they can be exposed to publicity for other events, etc. This was one of those not very glorious tasks that neither Rita or Beth have time to do that needed to get done. The chaplaincy Facebook person’s number of “friends” is growing rapidly now!
Friday was another day of sightseeing for me. In the morning, I went to the Hyde Park barracks museum and learned about Australia’s origins as a convict colony. Some of the conditions that convicts (and later female Irish orphans!!) were subjected to were not good at all. Luckily, the country has gotten past this. One thing I didn’t know was that Great Britain employed huge prison ships called hulks in many of its colonies and at home, where prisoners were subjected to disgusting on board living conditions that were sometimes worse than the labor they were made to do during the daytime. Then, I explored Macquarie Street, where a lot of important buildings are located: the old Mint, the first hospital (still in operation), the New South Wales Parliament House, and the State Library. Macquarie street is named for Governor Macquarie, who was the governor of Australia in the early 19th century and effected a lot of reform and rebuilding. I went a delightful (and free) exhibit about his life in the State Library, which was quite informative. I had been wondering what his story was since half the things in this city seem to be named after him. After that, I spent some time at the cathedral and went to 1:10 Mass. After that, I got some lunch and walked to Darling Harbour where I did some shopping and paid a visit to Sydney Wildlife World, a rather touristy indoor zoo. Despite my usual distaste for such places, it was a great opportunity to see allll of Australia’s unique animals. I saw koalas, kangaroos, pythons, bull ants, wombats, crocodiles, various possum, these pointy nosed hedgehogs whose names I can’t remember, giant cockroaches and spiders, and so much more. In the end, I was absolutely fascinated by the kangaroos. Sure, they can hop on their hind legs with their front legs up in the air, but they can also walk on all fours. And when they walk on all fours, they lean mostly on their front legs and sort of swing the back ones behind them – the opposite of hopping. I spent quite a while just watching them move. I had a nice conversation with their keeper, who told me that there are actually three times as many kangaroos in Australia as people!
On Saturday, I spent the day in a town called Flemington (about half an hour outside the city) visiting with the team from Catholic Youth Services (CYS), which is the official youth ministry service for the diocese. Members of the CYS team do one year of service during which they live in community at St. Dominic’s parish in Flemington and do retreats for diocesan parishes and generally support/staff other youth events in the diocese. Without extra events, they generally do about 3 full day retreats per week, so it’s a very busy life. Unlike other programs like this that I have seen, they all both live and work together as a team, which is a good support system/source of stability. This has its upsides and downsides, as it makes for high highs and low lows. My host was the team leader, Box (no idea what his real name is), and he was a lovely person; I’m so glad I got to meet him. He takes his duties as team leader very seriously, works hard to provide an example to the other team members, and is really committed to serving the youth of this diocese. One of the first things he said to me was, “Right now, I have no plans. I am doing whatever God wants.” I hung out at their house for a while, experienced the tense construction of the community grocery list (they don’t always agree on how best to spend their money/some people do not have good shopping/budgeting skills). Then we went to a shopping center/mall, where two of the girls did the grocery shopping, and I explored with Box and another team member named Tony who was really nice. We went to lots of stores, including my first visit to an Australian Target! I LOVE Target, so this was vary exciting for me. It was pretty great, of course, but not as great as American Targets, unfortunately. Tony and Box decided to indulge in some pretty intense Nerf guns (they’ve been working pretty flat out lately and needed to unwind). When we got back to the house, I encountered a pretty hilarious battle with said Nerf guns and a few pillows along the way. Later, we went to a sale (which I have literally been hearing anticipatory talk about for weeks), at the big Catholic bookstore in the diocese, the Mustard Seed. They had a lot of good prices on good books. This was such a fun and unexpected day, as Box only called to invite me on Friday afternoon (while I was visiting the kangaroos, actually). The CYS team is wonderful, and they are doing a lot of good work. I learned that the lovely Beth from the chaplaincy did a year with CYS a few years ago, and, naturally, they all love her. I was pretty tired when I came home, and I spent much of the evening planning my Sunday trip to the Blue Mountains.
On Sunday, I left the house at 7:15 to catch a 7:30 bus into the city to catch an 8:18am train at central station to a town in the Blue Mountains called Katoomba, which is about 2 hours outside of the city. I did some much needed dozing on the train and still managed to see a fair bit of scenery. The man across the aisle from on the way there was reading Tacitus's Annals. Before that, he looked like he was reading a math solutions manual. He intrigued me. One of the many stops on the way out to Katoomba was called Emu Plains. Only in Australia, right?
So what are the Blue Mountains, and why Katoomba? Well, ever since I got to Australia, people have been asking me if I’ve been to the Blue Mountains, so I decided I should go before I left. Basically, once the huge metropolis surrounding Sydney ends on the western side, this mountain range begins. They are called the Blue Mountains because they are covered most heavily with eucalyptus trees, which supposedly look blue, although I did not share this opinion today. Perhaps it is a lighting thing. Katoomba is the town closest to the biggest tourist-y area of the Blue Mountains. It happens to be in this town because the town is basically on some cliffs that overlook a huge river valley with great views of all the mountains, and especially a rock formation known as the Three Sisters. There’s a little legend associated with the Three Sisters, but I don't have a good handle on it at the moment. The internet is being annoying, so I haven't been able to look it up properly.
When I got to the station in Katoomba, I snatched a map from one of the sightseeing trolley stores and walked out (about 3km) to Echo Point, which is the most popular place for viewing the Three Sisters. Just as I arrived at the visitor's center, it started to rain, so I waited out the rain there and then went and took in the view for a while. I did a little walking down a couple of nearby paths to other observation points as the weather cleared off. Then, there was a rainbow! A perfect one, with the whole arch! That rain could have totally spoiled my day, but as it turned out, it, if anything, made it better. The whole area reminded me a lot of New England, which was lovely, except that I had to keep remembering all those trees were eucalyptus and not spruce! It was great to get out of the city atmosphere for a while.
Next, I walked on the roads parallel to the cliffs to another big observation point where they have some of the other touristy things, like a railroad down the cliffs or a cable car ride across the valley. I walked on a few more paths to see other lookout points and down a steep set of earth stairs to see the cascades at the bottom of Katoomba falls. After this, I explored some more of the surrounding area and the town center. I stopped at a random corner store and got a delicious rum raisin milkshake, which is a flavor I’d never had before. I took a different way back to town which unfortunately turned out to include walking up an enormous hill. I attempted to visit the Catholic Church in Katoomba, but in the morning, I had gone past it during Mass, and it was looked in the afternoon. Alas. Once I got back to the town centre, I checked out a bunch of shops, including some used book shops (isn't Mr. Pickwick's just the perfect name for a used book store?), which was quite enjoyable. I’m sorry to say I didn’t get anything (sorry, Erik).
I took the train back at 3:35, napped and read, and arrived back in the city at 5:35. I then proceeded to get lost in the train station - the city stations all have underground parts and multiple exits - but finally found my way to St. Benedict’s on Broadway (the parish at Notre Dame) just in time for Mass to start and celebrated the Feast of the Assumption with some beautiful music. After Mass, I made a mad dash to the bus stop, thankfully didn’t miss my bus, and made it home tired but in one piece.
All in all, a great day of exploring and encountering the beauty of this country, and for just the price of a round trip bus ticket!
A programming note for those lovers of my Australian photos – there are currently some quite annoying internet issues plaguing the House of Langrell. My e-mail and a few websites like this one work with only a bit of annoyance, but uploading pictures is basically impossible. So unless something changes, the rest of my pictures will have to wait until I return to American’s beautiful shores. Stay tuned!
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