Feeding Kangaroos & cuddling with Koalas!

Today we begin with 7am Mass--our host parish of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Randwick is beautiful! The Church is built in the historic style with columns, high ceilings, beautiful stain glass windows, marble floors and altar. Msgr. Brennan (pastor of St. Martin's) led us in a beautiful way to start the day!

Then we were off to see the Koalas!! The Koala Park was about 30 minutes north of Sydney and an amazing little park with some really neat animals. We all got to hug a Koala (and get some really cute photos--which we will share with you as soon as we return home!), then our bus driver bought us all a small bag of cheerios to feed the kangaroos--Shaughn even tried to imitate their hopping. :-) We saw Dingos, birds of all kinds, wambats and all sorts of neat animals.

Then we stopped for lunch in a small town before heading onto the National Park of Kei-Rung-Trek (I am not sure I spelled this correctly, but as soon as I find out I will correct it). The park was AMAZING! We stopped at a look out point over the Pacific Ocean and our park ranger guide pointed out the direction of LA. (We considered swimming home, but thought the water might be a little cold) Then we saw trees, caves and rock carvings from over 200 years ago when the Aborigional peoples lived there before the government forced them out. We learned bird calls and a traditional Aboriginal dance--don't worry, we will definitely show you this upon our return. I think Max was the best at the dance.

One our return to Sydney the bus driver was avoiding the major highways and stopped by a beach for us--the Pacific Ocean is a real true blue color. The water is freezing, but it's really neat to see the ocean from a different direction.

Once we arrived in Sydney we finally made our pilgrimage to St. Mary's Cathedral! The lines had been so long during the week, that making the stop wasn't possible. Today we got in after just 15 minutes in line. The Cathedral is beautiful and we were able to consecrate our pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Southern Cross (a beautiful image) and pray before the body of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati! This young man led such an inspiring life, one based on the Eucharist and living life to the fullest--we are definitely going to be taking a look at his life more deeply when we all return to YG.

Speaking of YG--we miss you all and think of you and our families very much! We are having a ton of fun, but also can't wait to come home! Speaking of home, we will be returning on Wednesday.

As a head's up to the pilgrims and their families, Mr. Gomez (one of our chaperones) is hosting a reunion party for all pilgrims and their families this Saturday at his family's home at 7pm. I really hope you all can make it, we will be sharing photos, stories and lots of good laughes.

Well, it's off to bed because tomorrow we are off to the zoo, Opera House and a Harbour dinner cruise!

See you soon! God bless.