Kids bothering you?

Do you having trouble finding space for yourself?

Do the kids keep hanging around and pestering you?

Is peace and quiet hard to find?







Well, this Mum has the solution.

Yanchep a.k.a. Sun City

Where is Sun City?

At Kalbarri we attended the Sun City Centre for church on Sunday. Initially I thought that Kalbarri might be called Sun City. There we discovered the church was an outreach from Geraldton.

The church in Gerladton was known as Sun City and was an Assemblies of God congregation. New Zealanders would have some fun with a church called Sun City given the way they pronounce the "u". I guess locals could easily get caught in the trap to. I digress! Sun City must be Geraldton.

A couple of stops down the line I played golf at Yanchep - at the Sun City Golf Club.

So is Yanchep Sun City or does that nickname belong to Geraldton?

At Yanchep it was a day at a delightful national park. It lacked the dramatic views of parks further north, but had many wildflowers (even this late in the season) and was home to a koala area. I'm not sure whether it was a park, and enclosure or a reserve. Whatever you call it, the koalas couldn't get out and we wandered amongst the trees on a boardwalk that got as about two metres closer to these animals.

While it was a lovely walk on a warm day (sun city?) I am still amazed that people keep calling them koala 'bears'. They are related to the wombat, not the bear. Maybe it is because they look cuddly like a teddy bear or something. My understanding of bears is that they are NOT cuddly. These guys might look cuddly, but the experience of others is that they pee on you when you hold them. Cuddly they may look, cute they may be, but that doesn't sound like something a friend would do.

Oh yes, there was also a golf course there with more kangaroos on the first fairway that we saw at the National Park. This guy wasn't going to move. He was off the fairway (not the cut line in the grass) and I should not have been.

The Pinnacles

Having left Dongara we camped at Cervantes before visiting the Pinnacles the next day. What an amazing spectacle!


In the midst of these rolling sand dunes there are hectares of these rock/limestone/calcite pinnacles. Some stick up a few centimetres, others must be at least 4 or 5 metres tall.



We were free to walk the path or to drive through the area - and chose to do both. The result was too many pictures but some amazing views.

On our arrival at Cervantes I asked about the best time to visit the Pinnacles. The reply was "Anytime!" We chose to go early in the afternoon and spent over two hours there.


There is an excellent new visitor centre (no coffee available there though) with information about the way the pinnacles were formed and the flora and fauna of the area. How were the pinnacles formed? Scientists have a number of theories but no definitive answer. Maybe they are the work of an amazing Creator.

On our journey south we had stopped to check out a number of the coastal settlements.
We enjoyed coffee in one spot and stopped for lunch at another.



Before we had lunch we were worried about one of the locals. It wasn't clear where he wanted to park, and had managed to claim two spots. We did consider the possibility that he was being checked for his blood alcohol reading ("walk along this line"). He wouldn't have passed, but there were no police around at the time.

Guilderton, O Guilderton (with apologies to Glenn Campbell)

An overnight stop on our journey south Guilderton boasts a beach and a river and a golf course.
There is also a caravan park, two shops, and a servo. It looks like a great holiday destination if you want to hang about and do very little.

They have a number of short walking trails to occupy your time, and fishing is another alternative. We took a couple of walks and Beth got carried away with photos of flowers.

Later in the afternoon I took a walk on the short grass.

I discovered that what looks easy was not so. Off the fairway was scrub, and two of the fairways sloped severely. Result was one lost ball that landed on the left of the fairway and disappeared into the scrub on the right. It actually went on the line I intended, one of few that did, and I lost it (the ball that is!).


For a day we hung about and did very little.

Worship Reflections

Geraldton

We had a 'salvo day' as we shared with the congregation at Geraldton. Almost 500 kms north of Perth this city benefits from the harvest of land and sea. Fishing, farming and mining drive the economy of this country port. With the highest number of millionaires per head of any city in Australia it is also home to many who struggle with the challenges of daily life. Here the Salvos operate a thrift shop, a family support service and a daily 'soup kitchen', as well as a range of other activities.

On Sunday we found a family church that welcomed its pastors back from holidays. It was a friendly and personal service involved a great deal of interaction - and drew our attention to God's love for us.

The message was partly a reflection on a changed status. Leaders are prone to become immersed in their role and their responsibility and carry heavily the responsibilities of their position heavily. A break from those tasks gives an opportunity to reflect on that scenario. No matter how hard we work to achieve, or what target we may set it was a helpful reminder that our role is to care for creation, and to love family, friends, neighbors - whether they believe in Jesus or not. Change in individual lives is not something we can manufacture. The task of Christians is to help the individuals concerned, and encourage them in their relationship with God. It is God who brings change, not us.

Once again we shared post worship refreshments. In this congregation we met folks we had first encountered in our first year of ministry in Tasmania, and a couple from Zimbabwe. Amazingly these folks are friends with a couple we knew from Preston who had facilitated the journey of this family. It's a small world after all.


Benedictine Experience

It was a very different form of worship when we visited New Norcia.

Under the guidance of the Benedictine community we shared in the morning worship at the abbey. With a big crowd in attendance (at least in terms of the available seating) there were not enough songsheets to go around. Those familiar with the liturgy clearly knew the required responses, we did not. Little nuisances like this did not stop us from enjoying hearing and singing the Word, and learning from the teaching and the environment. All who participated in worship that day were surrounded by images of the gospel. Notable were the stations of the cross, but there were also images from the life of Christ that have been shaped by the Australian experience and environment. Jesus is Christ for all nations.

Clearly the focal point of the service is the celebration of the mass, the Eucharist, where Christ's sacrifice is remembered. After readings from scripture, singing (led by the cantor) and the reaching of the Word, were were invited to share in a time of Preparation for the Gifts. As I glimpsed the title on the songsheet of my neighbour I thought only of the offering/collection. As the service unfolded I began to understand it as more. The songs and readings were a time of preparation to receive the blood and body of Christ. Although the theology of the Roman Catholic Church on this matter does not sit comfortably with me I came away appreciating the centrality of Christ in their worship.

For all who name Christ as Saviour and Lord we would pray for such centrality in life.