#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!