Author: Roslyn Taylor

This ministry trip I’ve been struggling to find time for blogging and the other projects I thought I’d get caught up on while in Australia for three months. Story of my life! Between ministry activities, and traveling to visit friends, and dropping everything to go and have fun here and there, I’ve come to almost the end of my trip with not much of a blog to show for it. But I do have a great sense of satisfaction about the work I’ve done, the relationships I’ve enjoyed both new and old, and reconnecting again with my “sunburnt country.”

I’ll start with spirituality in Sydney, which includes ministry of course. Palm Sunday and Easter involved many lovely events and traditions. In the Hurstville New Church, in the southern suburbs, I was able to give the regular piano player (my friend Margaret Heldon) a break on Palm Sunday and the week after Easter. Very fun for me to revive memories of playing the piano for Sunday School in the same church, when my father was the minister there decades ago. The tradition in Hurstville is real Hot Cross Buns – not the sad, sticky version that is available in the USA! – after Holy Supper on Good Friday evening. After celebrating “He is Risen” at the Roseville New Church, on the “north shore” of Sydney Harbour, my dear Baringa (church guest house and church hall) roomie Margaret Ward and I made a rainbow of roast veggies for Easter Dinner with the two ministers’ families i.e. Todd/Jenn/Zach Beiswenger from Hurstville and Howard/Debra/Lance Thompson from Roseville. We dined in the house where I grew up, on the property I still consider “the centre of the (my) Universe.” Just wonderful to celebrate with such dear people in a place so dear to my heart.

Two of the photos in the gallery above show examples of some spirituality/ministry activities in Sydney. One shows some volunteers at the Swedenborg Centre in Roseville, putting together a newsletter. I spent two days a week there, working with the director Joe Vandermeer on a couple of projects. The Swedenborg Association of Australia is based in the Centre, and I had the pleasure of being the “international speaker” for the April meeting. The other photo is of an evening dinner and talk in Hursy, where I was rehearsing and getting much appreciated feedback for my Swedenborg Association talk. I ended up giving two evening talks in Hursy and a testimonial during a church service.

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Sydney has a beautiful harbour, and up and down the coast there are other magnificent bodies of water that soothe the soul. In my travels in Sydney and up the coast to Tumbi Umbi in New South Wales, and down south to Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, I was able to relish a few, though almost always on cloudy or rain-spattered days.

Clockwise starting from top left: Sydney Harbour, “Miriam’s Manly” as we affectionately call this little beach on Sydney Harbour (ask me or Miriam for details!), Hawkesbury River up the coast, Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, George’s River in southern Sydney, Lake Ginninderra in Canberra, and Tuggerah Lake near Tumbi Umbi.

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Donna and Jason’s cutie twins Anna and Eric; al fresco dining with Kerry L in Tumbi Umbi; lunch with school friend Helen and hubby Greg; Kerry L made a perfect Devonshire tea for her visitors; dear friends Ken, Babette and Kerry Horner; Kerry L and adorable granddaughters; lunch with “girls” from high school; official annual reunion of St George Girls’ High School for which I offered the blessing before lunch; two senior citizens trying a selfie (Barrie) in Canberra; al fresco dining again with Owen, Margaret, Rachel and the little cousins visiting/being babysat by their grandparents.

The path in South Australia (SA as Aussies say) also included fun and family and friends, and a funeral.

Since it was the final days of summer, I packed in as many trips to the beach as possible! The church, where I was staying, was a quick train ride away from Brighton Beach, so I spent a few afternoons there. These photos show the lovely shops at Brighton where I bought a much-needed hat, a very comfy Adelaide train, elevating my surgical foot on the rock wall at Brighton, new and traditional architecture for homes overlooking the beach, north view with a life-saver hut to keep us all safe, Brighton Beach looking south, and view from a beachfront cafe where my sister-in-law Soula and I had lunch, with the landmark Brighton jetty behind me.

I was also able to get to the famous, more touristy Glenelg Beach and enjoy an icecream with my friend Michael from the Adelaide Christian New Church.

I stayed overnight with my cousin Christine at her place in “the hills” which encircle Adelaide, enjoying her abundant garden and serene verandah. On the way to Tintinara we stopped to see (and massage) her brother David who was hospitalised with back pain. From the hospital we could catch a glimpse of Lake Albert, a far better view than from the hospital where I work in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! David was released for a few hours the next day to attend his father’s service and life celebration.

Growing up in Sydney, we had learned in school about Coober Pedy, an opal mining town in the outback of South Australia, famous for its underground buildings. Early 20th century miners had dug into the hills to construct homes where they could escape the extreme heat in the summer, and enjoy consistently comfortable temperatures inside year round. I had always wanted to see Coober Pedy, so I made a “bucket list” trip via Greyhound bus, a few days after returning from Tintinara with my brother Stephen and his wife Soula.

It was an 11 hour overnight journey from Adelaide up north to Coober Pedy, transitioning from elegant urban Adelaide to scrub gum country to huge red-earthed sheep stations to sunset over flat countryside with sparse trees. I wasn’t able to get photos of the sheep and kangaroos crossing the road during the night via walking or hopping. But I got one of a phone booth, lit up in the middle of nowhere after midnight at a petrol station, where we were so remote that there was no mobile phone service.

A German couple and I were the only tourists on our very personalised tour for the afternoon. Our excellent guide was Dimitri AKA Jimmy, who had been an opal miner for many years, an active citizen in Coober Pedy, extra in some movies filmed there, and now tour guide extraordinaire. We learned a lot, and ended up having wine and cheese on the Breakaways where a Mad Max movie was filmed, followed by a drink at an underground pub in the underground mall.

L-R, top -bottom: 80% of residents live in dugout homes like this; an impressive underground Orthodox Christian church; our tour group above the plain that was the floor of an inland sea millennia ago which contributed to forming opal; I came across a friendly old-time miner in this opal mine that Dimitri had once worked in; the Dog Fence, which is the longest fence in the world and keeps dingoes away from sheep stations in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia; cocktail hour at the Breakaways with Dimitri; one of many warning signs in the mining areas; a hole AKA mine shaft that Dimitri had dug years ago; relaxing in the underground pub before dinner.