The new year

Christmas Eve 2015 heading out The Heads, Sydney Harbour

After a rocky start I was with Lyn and my son and his family heading out the great harbour of Sydney for NZ and Noumea.  13 days of no driving and no work - just resting, eating and seeing sites like this one (photo on left).  The first time I saw this skyline was in April 1968 as a young lad facing an unknown future. Now, nearly 50 years later, I was seeing it again as I started a holiday on a ship!  The cruise liner was so much bigger than the one I arrived on - 14 floors by lift, let alone what was below us!  I believe rest is very important in our work otherwise you end up unhelpful. 

It was Christmas Eve when we departed.  "How will Santa find us?" was the big question the little ones with us were asking.  But the boat was set up to party! 

Sunset off the Bay of Islands, NZ.



The Christmas Tree was 6 floors high!  

The night sky over the Nyngan district, with promise of rain teasing the 45 night  

I'm now back on land and back to work.  13 days have gone by, with no phone calls and no emails.  I feel refreshed.  Then my phone starts to ring so back in the car and back on the road again. This week we worked with young people and children in the Nyngan and Cobar areas. Catherine and Natasha were going to give a drumming lesson/session.  We ended up in the Uniting Church hall at Nyngan as it was cooler.  Not!  It was 45oC when I got to town at 4:30 pm!! I left the motel at 6 for dinner, and the temp had climbed to 47oC.  According to the weather man, a cool change was promised for the next day but that never came.  High 40s again.

The picture below is of the hall set up for the first drumming session.  75 young people were keen to attend with only 14 drums!  This meant the group would need splitting up, with some doing craft while others learnt drumming.  Then swapping.  We had 53 arrive for the session that day.  The kids had sore hands after drumming for two days(!) but great contact was made with some awesome children and some real princesses.  A good time had by all.

The time with family was great; the trip away was wonderful.  Seeing New Zealand and how green it is.  It was interesting to learn the story of the places we visited - like all have so much more than what they show you. As I travel this great area of Australia, being allowed to share in the back story of places, in the stories that children share, the truth is always close.  Unfortunately most see only the resistant. I was taken by a young man of around 10-11 looking after his sister who is 3. It was so wonderful watching him give his place to her over and over again.  Such love. Such was my first week helping out making connections.