#11: Final Days in Australia

World Youth Day ended with the final Mass on Sunday at Randwick Racecourse. Our flight left early Wednesday morning. We had Monday and Tuesday to spend at the Olympic Stadium with thousands of other pilgrims. I was thankful for these last couple days. Even though I was exhausted and ready to head home, I was able to see a lot of stuff that not all the pilgrims had the opportunity to see.

We tried to get a tour of the cathedral on previous days, but the line to get in was crazy long! Lucky for us, Bishop Conley arranged for us to get into the cathedral with enough time to tour it and hear Mass!

I'd never been in a church as big as this cathedral...

A pathway of prayer dedicated to Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was set up in the front of the church. Each sign like this either had a fact about his life or a quote he once said.




This was the first time Blessed Pier's family allowed his body out of Turin. He died at a very young age, and it was hoped that his body would be a great sign for the youth in attendance of WYD.


"Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Help of Christians" She is the Patroness of Australia. This is one of the most beautiful renderings of our Blessed Mother that I've seen. You can also see the constellation of the Southern Cross in this picture-only able to be seen in the Southern hemisphere.


One of the many buildings at the Olympic complex. This is the one we got to stay in! The picture really doesn't do it justice..cozy? eh, something like that! We only had to sleep here 2 nights.


I took a ferry out to famous "Manly Beach". My first time to ever ride in a ferry or on the ocean!


The view of Sydney from the ferry.


A group of us worked up an appetite and headed to a restaurant on Darling Harbour for dinner.


I've always wanted to eat in a restaurant that overlooks the ocean! I think this counts :)


After dinner we walked by the Aquarium. It was getting late, and we didn't have time to look around the inside, so I just took a picture under Jaws..just to prove I was there!


Rebels, I know! Kate, Elizabeth, and I played the lotto! (actually Kate did and we just helped her scratch the cards) I think she ended up +$3...lucky kids!


We were told by one of the guys to go get ourselves a nightcap for our last night in Sydney. We did one better! Tim Tam Slams!!!


You take the Tim-Tam (cookie), bite off each end, and suck your milk through it like a straw! We did this right in the middle of the olympic stadium. We did get quite a few questionable looks, but it was a lot of fun!


I wonder if I'll ever cross the International Dateline again in my life? Long way from home...


We had a 5 hour layover in Los Angeles on our way back to kansas...just enough time to make it to the beach. A few of us loaded up a taxi van and took the short drive to see the other side of the Pacific Ocean! I didn't waste any time running into the water here!


It was much warmer than the water in Australia, but still a little chilly.


I went pretty far out...enough to get myself soaked! Kate came out with me!


Poor Jason...our trip to the beach caused him to take a trip to the emergency room. Dislocated shoulder..he's ok now and I think we can all laugh about it now!

#10: Pope Benedict at Randwick Racecourse

Candlelight vigil with Pope Benedict on Saturday evening..With my binoculars I could barely see him, but it was neat just being amongst all those people..all for the same reason.



We slept under the stars that night, and yes! it was cold! I had an emergency blanket below me and wrapped around me. I had a hat, gloves, socks, and layers of clothes on in my failing attempts to stay warm!


I ended up staying in the adoration tent with Jesus quite a bit that night. It was warmer, and how often can you spend the night with Jesus?!


First thing Sunday morning, I was just going for a walk. Out of no where they decide to block off the road and no one can get through. I'm usually a patient person ;)...so I decided to wait. I had no idea the Pope was going to drive right in front of me in his pope-mobile! This was the closest I ever got to him. My pictures didn't turn out the best, but I'll always remember it!





The best view I could get of him was on the big screen. I heard there was somewhere between 400,000-600,000 people at this event.


Check out this aerial view I found online! The altar is the red building in the upper left corner of the picture. I had no idea I was part of something so huge!! (I think I was somewhere near the middle of this picture)


Australia has been in a drought for a while. Throughout the week, and at the final Mass we prayed for rain...the clouds were there, but the rain waited till we cleared out of Randwick. Talk about Divine Intervention!

#9: All American Mass

Half way through our pilgrimage we stopped for the All American Mass. It was expected to see 20,000 pilgrims, although I never did hear a final number. There were a lot of us there!


The Archbishop of Chicago was the main celebrant.





I tried to get a picture with Bishop Conley...he was trying to ask me a question though :)
We felt very blessed to have him on this pilgrimage with us. He is a very humble man, but was a great example and leader for all of us.

#8: Pilgrimage Walk..it was a long one.

This picture was taken at about 6am. A few of us pilgrims woke up early on the day of the pilgrimage. The actual pilgrimage was just over 9km walk from Sydney Harbour Bridge to Randwick Stadium for the final Mass to be celebrated with the Pope!



The bridge was actually closed to through traffic...how often do you think they do that?! They will for our Papa!



That's me...crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge!


This was the actual WYD cross. It travels wherever WYD travels...it has been all over the world and is pretty special.


We stopped a prayed a decade of the rosary with these cricket players in front of it. Why they were dressed as cricket players, I have no idea. But, they were nice!

#7: Stations of the Cross

On Friday evening, a very realistic representation of the Stations of the Cross was done throughout Sydney. The first station was said at St. Mary's Cathedral and that was also the site that we, the Kansas pilgrims, were assigned to. There was a very long line to get in, and some of us didn't make it in time. I walked in just in time to see Pope Benedict come out to pray the first station of the cross with us. He was only out for a few minutes, and then he disappeared back into the cathedral for the remainder of the stations. All in all, the stations took 3 hours.


My view of the cathedral from where I was sitting.


There he is! I was actually pretty close to him.




One of the final stations...we were able to watch the other stations on 2 big screens at the cathedral.

#6: Let the WYD activities begin!

Our first time to walk to Barangaroo for a Mass with the Cardinal....it was a very SLOW walk. There were pilgrims from all over the world walking with us, all waving their country's flag high. This is what World Youth Day is all about!


That's right...get excited! He's coming!


Wow, that's a bright sun! But, wait! Do you see him??!


Look! He's really small, but....
(if you click on this picture, you can see him closer..he really is there ;))


It's B16! Benedicto!!!! Every time Pope Benedict was around, the crowd would chant "Benedicto!" to a catchy tune..everyone would join in and it was pretty powerful! He's finally here...amazing. This is what we came here for!

#5: Sydney, Australia...Here we come!!!

Today was our first day to venture into the big city. I had to take the normal touristy shots...