Katie is back from visiting the Pope!

Katie arrived back at midnight on Monday 21st July very very pleased to see us. She fell into my arms crying, and I thought it was because she was pleased to see me. Well it was that, but also she had had all her bags searched at customs because they randomly decided she should be the one to have everything checked seeing as how they had stayed overnight at the racecourse! Of all the kids to pick they had to pick her! Then they just left her to repack all her gear herself which was an effort to fit in the bags in the first place.

We sat up talking until 2.30am then all went to bed. We let her stay home from school the next day and Al and I took her out for a late lunch and then I cooked her steak for tea. She said she so didn't want to see any chicken for a week or two. It seemed every meal was chicken in one form or another. All lovely meals she said but chicken in just about every way you can imagine.

She took lots of photos, and many of them at the zoo of all the animals, so no surprises there.







Katie at the steps to the Sydney Opera House in her NZ pilgrim WYD Hoody.













Katie's bedroom for the night at the racecourse before everyone else arrived. Another girl shared she space in her shelter with her.










The racecourse filling up with pilgrims!












She enjoyed the whole experience, although was not in a hurry to repeat it any time soon. She said the crowds were exhausting and the walking difficult in such a large group amongst so many people and very hot in the process.

The highlight for her was Mercy day at Monte St Angelo College, where students from Mercy Colleges from all over the world celebrated Mercy Day. Also, the gathering of all 4000 of the New Zealand Pilgrims with the NZ Bishops was a highlight.

She enjoyed the vigil at the racecourse, and was fortunate enough to not have to walk the 15kms across the bridge and through the city carrying her overnight gear. The leader of the group selected 8 girls that would benefit more from not having to walk to catch the train as far as they could at 6.30am and walk the last hour and start to set up their campsite in their assigned block of the grounds. They did this and sat and waited and slept most of the day until the others arrived from their walk. They were not far from the stage and the large screen was even closer to them.

They had a half day shopping before catching their flight home on Monday 21st and she bought herself a jacket and some lunch! At the airport she picked up a gift for each of us, I got chocolate Macadamias, and she bought herself a bottle of perfume duty free. She came back with $30 Australian, so I took that and will use it myself later this year.

The next World Youth Day is in Madrid in Spain in 2011 and she is not keen at this stage to attend, but who knows, she will be 19 by then and her thoughts may have changed.



The big screen beside the stage gave her a better view of Pope Benedict XVI. She found him so calm and loved listening to him speak. She especially loved the way he 'twinkled' his fingers to them all, so in touch with his audience.

We are very grateful to all those that supported Katie's fundraising efforts to get her to Sydney. It was a long 2 years in the making and it all came together in the end. Thank you all.

Katie's sleeping at Randwick Racecourse!

Katie is amongst 150,000 pilgrims sleeping under the stars at Randwick Racecourse at World Youth Day in Sydney tonight. Wow how amazing is that?!

She is just about ready to try and get some sleep, they have finished the official vigil and the atmosphere is settling (as much as it can with the joyful south Americans exerting their musical abilities to the max. Katie said they are amazing people, so alive and happy)

Only 2 nights to go and she will be home and she is looking forward to her own bed after 10 nights on an airbed in a sleeping bag with limited showering and sleep!

I hope she has lots of photos to share with the blog on her return!

No photos just an update!

So excited by all the happenings of World Youth Day yesterday, Katie texted me 30 times and rang me while she ate lunch and spoke to me for 10 minutes! I didn't dare mention the cost of these contacts merely relished the fact that she felt she just HAD to share every moment with me.

She found the whole experience travelling on the train quite exciting, and the visit to the convention centre for the vocations expo interesting. They sat under the shade of a tree eating their lunch and she said it was very hot. It was from here she phoned me on her cell phone.

As far as their meals go, they are all provided as part of the package. There are food stalls set up for pilgrims everywhere. One person from each group of 6 takes their 6 coupons to a stall and comes back with their meal boxes. The whole idea of them having 150,000+ prepared meals ready for pickup and distribution at these stands blows me away! Their breakfasts are delivered to their accommodation venue.

Last night of course was the opening mass and she must have texted me 15 times during this, exclaiming how many people were there, how pretty the lights were in the harbour, how many different countries flags were waving and how amazing the singing was. Then she told me how every single one of them received communion. I asked how they could possibly cater to all those people, and she said "there were Priests everywhere"!

I finally texted her a good night at 11.30pm our time so I could go to bed, of course they are 2 hours behind us so she was still pumping.

Today she has only texted me once so far, they have had a very full on involved day and obviously no time to text, either that or she has blisters on her thumbs!

Mundane Monday

Well Katie is texting me each day telling me what she is up to.

Sunday they went on a sightseeing tour and visited the Sydney Opera House. She said it was awesome. Then they headed to Taronga Zoo for the afternoon which she really enjoyed. Her friend Rosemary met up with her there and walked around the zoo with Katie and the others in her small group. Rosemary is a very good school friend of Katie's who shifted to live in Australia at the end of last year and Katie misses her terribly. It was so nice of her to make the effort to meet up with her.

This morning they were up very early packing up their gear for they shift to stay at Mercy College in Chatswood for the next 7 nights. Katie said she managed to get a very very quick shower. That is the thing she will be missing the most on this trip!

They bussed to Monte St Angelo College for the day for Mercy Day celebrations until 9pm tonight. Then off to Mercy College to unpack, set up their beds and sleep!

Tomorrow is the opening day of the World Youth Day calendar, with a mass and lots of celebratory festivities.

Today I am doing invoicing for the business and is one of those jobs I put off then it gets to the stage where it has to be done and I jam it all into one day. Such is life when you own and business, run a household and work part time!

Toby is at work with Al today. Al is building a Mazda RX7 Batman rally car for a customer from scratch (well he started with the street car body and then gutted it and has put a roll cage in etc) and Toby is right in the thick of it helping. Along with the building of a Mazda RX8 circuit car for another customer out of 2 damaged bodies he bought. Whatever spins your wheels, (pardon the pun) but is a very exciting part of our business which Al really enjoys.



















Above: The rally car in progress



















The two 'broken' cars that will be used to make up one circuit car. Watch this space!


















Katie just texted to say it is really hot there today, sunny and 21 degrees and they are stuck in school uniform, but thankfully this is the only other day they have to wear it in an official capacity.

Katie has flown away

Today Katie has gone to Sydney on her pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2008!

We spent all day yesterday packing and and packing and packing, ever so mindful of the weight limits for her luggage but to be realistic when you are taking 7kg of sleeping gear it is very difficult to get your entire luggage to weigh under 20kg! Of course the extra bag to take this gear in also weighs so you are behind the eight ball before you even start!

"Kathmandu" has had a sale these past few weeks and luckily for us had 3 x packing cells for $20 and I bought 6 of them. (among lots of other things including a sleeping bag for $100 down from $240- their sales rock!) My reasons for buying the packing cells were it was fantastic to have one just for socks, one for knickers, one for t-shirts and one for her trackpants, one for the 2 microfibre towels they have for the week, one for shoes and one for all the flippin chargers she needs for the phone, the ipod and the battery charger for the camera! All these individual cells make for a very tidy suitcase and easier for her to fossick each day.





















This is Katie and Abbie, they are in the same small group with Mr Shaw as their leader for the 10 days.



















This is Toby, Katie and Thomas at the airport before she left.

This is the whole group from her school, of course there is an overlap in the photo but Katie is in the photo on the right behind the girl third from the right in the front row, between her and the girl with the auburn hair.

They had to travel in School Uniform, as they are traveling as "Villa Maria College" Pilgrims so that was fair enough, and they are also attending Mercy Day on Monday before the official WYD events start on Tuesday, so need to wear their uniform for that.

Poor Chick (my pet name for Katie) she had soooo much to take in as we packed, showing her where everything was to make it so much easier for her when the time come to get to everything that she has just texted me from the venue of their first nights sleeping quarters to say "where is the key to the padlock on my suitcase mum?" Of course it is hanging round her neck on the cord her cellphone is attached to, but the poor kid obviously forgot!

Anyway we were at the airport at 1pm and her plane left at 4.30 (delayed half an hour). She was rather apprehensive, 10 days away in another country in such huge crowds, really pushing Katie out of her comfort zone. She has had an upset tummy for a few days and it is all nerves!

Well as the plane taxied to the terminal in Sydney I got a text saying "I'm here Mum please let me know my phone is working over here!" Of course I was just as relieved as her to know the roaming on her phone is working just fine.

They were picked up by bus and taken on a tour of the city, seeing the opera house and harbour bridge on their way to Olympic Stadium to spend the next 2 nights before heading up to Chatswood to stay at Mercy College in their school hall for the following 7 nights.

I just got a text from her to say they were all walking to McDonalds to get some tea (go the big Golden Arches!) and then off to an Aussie Rules football game!

I am so pleased she is settled and going with the flow, I can relax in comfort now knowing my girl is finding her own way and really can cope without her Mum!

Preparation for World Youth Day

The kids are on school holidays last week and next week. I worked last week so Katie was at home with the boys. I did have Wednesday off and took them for hair cuts and Thomas conned the hairdresser into having the front of his hair blonded. Watch out for that boy with the ladies in a few years time! He is very convincing. Mind you she liked that he knew what he wanted and took care about how he looked. Toby never got his hair cut, I never made an appointment for him and seeing as how his brother got away with having blonde foils he has asked for the same at his appointment next week. Just as well I work to pay for these extravagances!

Last night Katie and I attended Mass at the Christchurch Catholic Cathedral.

Before heading to Sydney for World Youth Day many international pilgrims arrived in Christchurch to take part in Days of the Diocese for a week before heading to Sydney this weekend. Last night was a mass for all overseas pilgrims and Christchurch Pilgrims. Wow, it was packed to overflowing with over 1000 people present. I told Katie it was just a taste of what was to come for her in Sydney next week but times the number of people present by 25!

The Bishop - Barry Jones - lead the service with many priests in attendance, many of them from other countries who had travelled here with their pilgrim groups. It was lovely to see all the other cultures and all wearing some form of WYD branded clothing from their own country to distinguish them from other groups.























































You can click on the above photos to get a closer enlarged view.