Posted on

Marvelous March

Lots of fun things happened in March, starting with Evie’s 6th birthday party, held outdoors at Stuart Park in nearby Wollongong, NSW. She had helped decorate her cake, with its Summer and Winter theme. The games included a variant of the ancient Irish Bobbing for Apples, the ever popular Spanish Pinata, and the Aussie/British Pass The Parcel. Evie’s maternal grandparents were also able to attend – so good to be sharing a granddaughter with my dear friends Margaret and Owen!

The next fun adventure ticked a huge item on my bucket list: going to the Red Centre of Australia and seeing Uluru, the massive rock known previously to European Australians as Ayre’s Rock. There is a train from Adelaide to Alice Springs, the town in the middle of Australia, but I flew. Maybe another time I’ll take the famous Ghan through the centre. In Alice Springs, I stayed with my friends Tim and Chris Kendrick. I’ve known Chris for several years through her involvement with the NCIA Board, and NCIA family camps/retreats. Tim was a fabulous tour guide within Alice and in the surrounding region. For seeing Uluru and Kata Tjuta (another rock formation, previously known as the Olgas) I took an all-day bus tour, from 6am till 1am the next day. Certainly an experience of a lifetime!

Aussie school children all learn a verse from Dorothea Mackellar’s poem “My Country,” or at least did so during my school years. The line about Australia being a country of “ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains” kept on coming back to me. There had been “flooding rains” for many days before I got there, and all night before my bus tour. The Todd River through Alice is normally dry, but was overflowing when I was there. The MacDonnell Ranges, East and West, are the ragged backdrop to Alice Springs, visible everywhere.

Flooding prevented us from going in to a sacred “women’s cave” with its rock art, but allowed kids to swim near the rock where a small post-rain waterfall was mistaken long ago for a spring – hence the name Alice Springs. Below you can see the Todd River flowing through Alice in a spot which is normally dry for the annual boat race on foot, and also another view from Anzac Hill in the centre of town. Highlights of my tour around Alice were the Flying Doctor Service (I got to sit in a cockpit), the School of the Air, Alice Springs’ birthplace the Telegraph Station that connected Adelaide to Darwin and allowed communication with England, the original Ghan locomotive, and some wildlife at the Alice Springs Desert Park. Flies are everywhere, hence the obligatory fly masks!

Because of all the rain, the “Red Centre” was more like the “Green Centre,” which was actually a bit disappointing for me. I had been looking forward to seeing the red soil for which the Centre is famous, and I did see some of it, some with emu tracks on it (see below.) But I also witnessed the unusual blooming of the desert, and waterfalls on Uluru, which about 1% of tourists ever see. But I was not disappointed with the overpowering spiritual aspects of both Uluru and Kata Tjutu. Both are sacred to the indigenous population, and have been for around 30,000 years, or more. The creation stories associated with both of them are embedded in the majesty of the 500-million year old rock formations, such as the snake in one of the photos below. Art is a prominent feature of many sites in Uluru, both the rock art that is thousands of years old, and original art by indigenous people. The artist who painted the one I bought is pictured signing the back of it.

My final fun trip in Marvelous March was a day on Sydney Harbour, taking a ferry to Manly Beach and returning in the sunset.

Leaving Circular Quay, looking back at Sydney CBD
Opera House when leaving Circular Quay
Sydney Harbour Bridge with a traditional ferry
Former prison Fort Denison, now a weather station
I’ve always loved the wake of the Sydney Ferries
Manly Beach on Easter Saturday
The iconic Norfolk Pines along Manly beach
Because of the currents…
…the Surf Life Saving Club is famous
Opera House at sunset

Easter Sunday was the last day in March. Easter is a much bigger deal in Australia than in the USA. All the little schoolkids decorate their Easter hats, get four days off school, and everyone seems to celebrate regardless of religious identity, if any. I went to the Roseville New Church on Sunday, and celebrated with Angela’s family on Easter Monday.

Posted on

More Ministry II

From Perth, I flew to Adelaide, South Australia (refer if needed to the map in the “Wonderful Woonona” post) to engage with the Adelaide Christian New Church. As I’ve mentioned before, my maternal grandfather was the minister there for many years, and my father came into the Swedenborgian/New Church faith community in Adelaide after meeting my mother there. In the surrounding area, I have many relatives as well as church friends.

The small congregation in Adelaide is served by a lay leader, June Johnson. I was able to attend church and a morning tea afterwards with some of the congregation members. Other members I visited at other times during my stay in South Australia. In the circles below, you can see Michael and me at the River Torrens in Adelaide, where we spent some time at the Vietnamese Boat People Monument.

Rev. David and Mandy Millar were my gracious hosts in Adelaide. Somehow I neglected to take an “ussie” with them, so I’ve lifted one from social media. David was experimenting with making home-baked sourdough bread, for which I was happy to be a taste-tester! Their home overlooks the Southern Ocean, with spectacular sunsets, and is also near the Hallett Cove Conservation Park. I love walking the boardwalk there through the amazing glacial rock formations, down to the rocky beach.

David’s ministry involves supervising Logopraxis activities around the world, as part of his work as Director of Spiritual Training at the Australian New Church College. I had studied online with the ANCC for my ministry credentials. We talked about how I use a Logopraxis approach in my work with the Home Church in Bryn Athyn, and how I might get involved with some Logopraxis leadership in the USA.

While in South Australia, I drove almost over to the border with Victoria to have lunch with my cousin Neville on my Dad’s side of the family. He has been touring Australia for years now in his campervan and happened to be in the area. Afterwards I traveled back to towards Adelaide to Tintinara, where many of my Brock relatives, on my Mum’s side, were gathering for the wedding of my cousin’s daughter, Emma. The wedding and reception were both held outside on the Brock family’s farm property, on a 41 C/105 F degree day. The groom ended up being taken to hospital (45 minutes away) with heatstroke during the reception! Fortunately Brad was able to return in time for the wedding brunch the next morning. And of course I spent some time with my brother Stephen and sister-in-law Soula, my friend Suzi, two cousins who weren’t at the wedding, and time at an Adelaide beach as well.

Lunch with Neville
Dinner with Brock rellies
The Huntsman spider that joined us for dinner…
and was humanely captured by my cousin Christine
Emma and Brad’s ceremony…
…and evening reception
The track into cousin Gary’s off-grid property
Gary fixed up vintage race cars during the Covid pandemic
The Tintinara lake is still quite full, due to adequate rainfall
Gary built all the structures on his property, including the large one on the left where he and Brooke live. Usually the huge doors are open but they were closed due to the heat.

Some guests camped at the farm for the wedding
Brock family ready for the wedding
Surf and Life Club activity at Seacliff Beach
Black swans at the River Torrens in Adelaide
The brown look of summer in South Australia

My ministry to the Canberra group continued on a monthly basis, so I returned at the end of March. In addition to the Spiritual Growth programme we had been doing in a total of 4 sessions, and Sunday worship, I squeezed in a shorter version of the “Why Worry?: We Were Told This Would Happen” presentation. It was beginning to feel like a national tour with the presentation, which asks and provides suggestions for the questions that are on many people’s minds. Afterwards I hiked up a large hill with a member of the group. The photo to the left shows Parliament House in the distance. It’s the white triangular structure about one third of the way from the top. We also saw Telstra Tower, an iconic Canberra landmark for which the construction architect was my late cousin, Jeff Brock. I say hello to him every time I see the tower.

Hike with Barrie. He called it a “walk!”
Telstra/Black Mountain Tower
Posted on

More Ministry I

My ministry path in February and March took me north to Brisbane in Queensland, west to Perth in West Australia, south to Adelaide in South Australia, and a bit east to Canberra again. First stop was Brisbane, where I came across a small grove of trees I’ve never seen before: screwpines at Margate beach, in this subtropical city.

Initially I stayed with my friends Maurice and Betty Coutanceau, then spent the weekend with Rev. Ian Arnold, both of whom I’ve known from the New Church in Australia (NCIA) since I was young. I particularly wanted to spend time with Ian, as he is the “senior pastor” in the NCIA and I have much to learn from his vast international ministry experience. Betty is very active with Bible study in their church, and welcomed me into a women’s Bible study group that she leads in their home. Maurice contributes to the music in their church, and is now a luthier. He makes a variety of stringed instruments, and plays them too. Ian included me in his daily walks on a bush track near his home. We saw a mother python brooding over her eggs, and many bush turkeys.

On Sunday Ian and I attended the worship service at the Brisbane New Church. Pictured are the three ministers present: Ian (left), me, and the pastor Rev. Darren Brunne (right). Darren has different worship styles through the month. It was a Worship and Meditation service that Sunday, though attendance was down due to it being summertime. Afterwards, one of the members used a professional coffee machine in the kitchen to make specialty coffees to order. Best “Coffee Hour” I’ve ever attended! After church I was blessed with a catch-up up with Brian and Gaye Heldon over lunch.

The next ministry trip was to Perth, on the west coast in Western Australia. Check the Australia map in the “Wonderful Woonona” post in February for the exact location! I was invited as a visiting minister by a lovely group of New Church people from two branches of the Swedenborgian community. There is not a minister in Perth, so they rely on lay leaders, visiting ministers and a retired minister, sometimes separately and sometimes integrated. The lay leaders of the two groups, David Walker (NCIA) and Mary Smuts (General Church), each hosted me in their homes. While in Perth, I gave two classes, one of which was the “Why Worry?: We Knew This Would Happen” presentation I’d given at the mini-retreat in Sydney in January (see the “Ministry and Music” post from March). I also led a worship service with Communion/Holy Supper. We also got together socially a few times. So good to catch up with old friends and meet new people as well!

There was time for touristy fun as well! I spent some time at Hillary’s Boat Harbour, by day and at sunset. Sarah Walker, of Logopraxis fame, and I chatted over lunch there, after she had taken me along for her morning swim at Sorrento Beach. A first for me: lunch at a restaurant in swimwear! The following evening I had dinner at sunset there, after a walk on Coogee Beach with Mary and Genevieve from the church group.

School swimming carnival at Sorrento Beach
Swimsuit lunch with Sarah
Coogee Beach pier
Genevieve and I at Coogee
Sunset at Hillary’s
Ladies’ sunset dinner at Hillary’s

It was a well-organised visit in Perth, thanks to Mary Smuts’ skill at planning minister visits. Several elderly members were in need of a pastoral visit, but declined because they were too sick. But I did manage to visit with my friend Ros, whom I hadn’t seen in over 30 years. I also managed to spend a little time circle dancing, which I had been introduced to at Gathering Leaves (the international retreat for Swedenborgian/New Church women), watch a windsurfer near there at Safety Beach, and see some friendly cricket in the park. Aussies spend a lot of time on outdoor activities year-round, especially at the 12,000 beaches around the Aussie coastline.

Unlike many other parts of the country, Perth has been going through a dry spell with not as much rain as usual. I’d been seeing a lot of green grass in my travels to this point, which was definitely not how summer looked as I was growing up in Sydney. Here, the grass was mostly brown from the heat and low rainfall. A bushwalk near Mary’s house was quite dry, despite there being enough water to run a fountain in the lake in her neighbourhood, and for bird-of-paradise flowers to bloom.

Posted on

Family Fun in February

Early in February, we had a family outing to the nearby Symbio Wildlife Park to see both Aussie wildlife and some from other countries. We lucked into feeding times for many of them, as you can see from the koalas munching leaves in the tree. The kangaroos however had already had a good feed, and could not be enticed to eat anything from our hands : ( The giant monitor lizards were decidedly active as it was not a very hot day. A friendly, perhaps too friendly, sulfur-crested cockatoo was very interested in sharing our lunch! Often the Tasmanian Devil hides out under cover, but he showed his behind to us as he waited for food. And the fairy penguins, which used to visit the Taylor family farm in Victoria annually from Antarctica, were a new and playful addition to the Park this year.

Our next day trip was to Jamberoo, an over-the-top water park. Evie (my 5 year old granddaughter) and I braved the ski lift up to the top of the park. On the ride up we had stunning views of the surrounds, as well as the “action park.” The wave pool was a big hit, as well as the jump pool (not pictured) where you could slide or jump off (artificial) cliffs into a deep pool.

Continuing on the water theme, I accompanied Evie to her swimming lessons shortly thereafter. Learning to swim, including learning basic lifesaving skills, is highly important in Australia because 80% – 90% of the population live in coastal areas. Going to her lesson brought up so many memories of learning to swim in private lessons as well as in PE class, where we also learned lifesaving. An unusual feature of her swim school is the family of llamas in the enclosure next to the pool. One of them was rather fascinated with my hair, apparently!

February is the beginning of the school year in Australia, situated as it is in the Southern Hemisphere. As the end of summer approached, Evie started Kindergarten: backpack, school uniform and hat, and all. She has a much more interesting walk to school than most, I’d say! Horses, community garden, playground, beach, and finally school.

Near the end of February, we went camping for a weekend with some friends of Jon and Angela’s. The campground at Lake Conjola NSW had tent and caravan (trailer) camping, cabins, and fun activities for the kids. Everyone enjoyed the pool and cafe! The river offered fishing and kayaking, and the nearby beach and lagoon were great for surf and monstrous sand dunes.

My tent was the cute little orange one

Cooking communal brunch…

and enjoying a group pool swim.

Kayaking on the Conjola River

We saw kangaroos in the bush areas…

and in nearby residential areas.

Conjola Beach for the brave ones…

and sand dunes for the daring ones.

My final family outing in February was when I joined Angela’s rellies in taking a visitor from USA on a drive through the stunningly beautiful South Coast of NSW, where I am blessed to be staying in Woonona. Below you can just see the coast road where it juts out over the ocean, and our picnic spot on Austinmer Beach.