Evie’s autumn school holidays were combined with her Easter holidays in April, so we had plenty of time for some fun activities. In my experience, the Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter are just as much part of public calendars as ANZAC Day and other official holidays, despite the multicultural nature of Australia. My assumption is that it is because King Charles is the head of state for Australia, and is also the head of the Church of England, and defender of the faith. There is not a state religion in Australia.
For a family adventure, instead of taking a ferry across Sydney Harbour to a beach or a bay, as we had done in the Christmas/summer school holidays, we decided to take a ride on a more local, adorable ferry. The Bundeena ferry leaves from Cronulla in the Sutherland Shire, north of Woonona and known by locals as “The Shire,” and chugs along across Gunnamatta Bay, and the Port Hacking River. It ends up at Bundeena, a quaint touristy town on the edge of the Royal National Park. After lunch in a rustic cafe with fabulous food, we played in the playground and walked to nearby Jibbon Beach. While there, I tried to find the renowned Aboriginal Carvings, but found only what looked like natural markings in the sandstone. Quite possibly I hadn’t ventured far enough along the rocky headland. However, I did find the nudist beach. I decided not to sneak a photo of the one patron I came upon.
Easter showed up early in the school holidays. On the last day of school, Evie’s school held their traditional “Easter Hat” parade, for pupils of all religious backgrounds. Amazing creativity and lots of work went into creating their hats. There were prizes and raffled gift bags, as well as a visit from a dancing Easter Bunny. In the photo, Evie is the second child from the left, as her second grade class paraded around the indoor/outdoor School Hall.
On Easter Sunday I again was the piano player for the Hurstville New Church, where Angela’s family worships and my father had been a pastor. The adults gathered indoors afterwards for morning tea, and the kids had fun with the Easter egg hunt on the church grounds.
Angela’s family had an informal Easter lunch after church, which also served as a birthday party, and a farewell party for me. The many Heldon grandchildren helped decorate the Pavlova that Carolyn had made for me. Pavlova, created in the 1930s in Perth, WA and named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, has a meringue base filled with whipped cream and topped with fruit. It’s my favourite Aussie dessert. There were two Easter egg hunts in Grandma and Grandpa’s (Margaret and Owen Heldon) back yard as more families showed up after lunch.
Before leaving Australia to return to the US, I was able to fit in a few more activities. One was a Home Spa Day with Evie, which consisted of getting our nails done at a salon, a sauna, smoothies, foot soaks, chocolate face masks, makeup, and chair massages by Angela. Another was a final ministerial visit to Canberra, where I was able to make two pastoral visits with older members, that had been hard to schedule. We also had a farewell fish and chips dinner in a park on Wollongong Harbour the night before I left, including Jon and Angela’s new foster dog, Peggy.
The next day, I started my long journey back to Bryn Athyn, PA, USA, via beautiful Fiji. My journey included a dash through the Los Angeles airport, due to a tight connection combined with airport delays because of a partial government shutdown that affected the Transport Security Administration. The mad dash at record-breaking walking speed in inadequate footwear triggered an exacerbation of an old knee injury, unfortunately. But that won’t stop me from continuing on my ministry and travel path! Thank you for checking in on my journey in 2025/2026.