Last Day in Sydney

Before leaving Sydney I visited the tomb of  Blessed (soon to be sainted) Mary Mackillop in North Sydney. She will be canonised in October in Rome as Australia's first saint, but not before I get there to make sure it all goes properly.

I have spent the last few days catching up with friends in Sydney and getting my quota of Aussie reds up to date. That has gone well and that part of my pre-trip was sponsored by Borrocca.

I also took my mate Mark to the Shrine of MM and he quickly became Sr Mark of the wet. It poured down just as we were leaving. He is not going to like this shot of his novitiate, but I am sure he will get the chance to pay me back when I catch up with him in San Francisco in November.

Mark and I then went and had a great lunch with Fr Brian Yates who had just celebrated his 80th birthday. Brian was my spiritual director in the seminary for four years.

... a little later...at the airport...and I found Fr Troy. Troy is the parish priest from West Wyalong and he will be with me until we finish our study time in Jerusalem in August. I then found the Qantas Club. Troy was pleased to ride on my ticket to the Qantas Club where we both celebrated with a little red. He has drinking problem, or is it his company? Oh well, here we are ready to go and cause kaos in the Middle East. The Qantas Club is a little bonus left over from my Navy days and daze, and on occasions like this I really appreciate it. It will also be an asset as I spend hours in airports over the next six months. Oh yes, you do know I am on the move for six months don't you. I am sure there will be many stories I will not want to tell you because they were so disastrous, but I am only concentrating on the good news (excuse the pun) in my Blog. For the bad news go to CNN. You will here from me in Turkey. Ciao for now. Pace e bene.