Sydney March 2011

Last week we headed off to Sydney to spend time with our friend Anne who is in Sydney with her 2 year old foster daughter, Shana, who is having treatment for Leukaemia at Randwick Children's Hospital. When they are not actually in the hospital they are at the nearby Ronald McDonald House. When Anne was told by the doctor to get straight up there with Shana they forgot to mention that she is up there for at least the next 3 months!! So leaving their 1 yr old and her husband they headed up packing for just a week or so. Needless to say, being on her own is difficult especially so far from anyone she knows. So Shaun & I decided we would go up to spend time with her. We spent most of the day with them on Thursday as well as Saturday evening for a couple of hours, and Sunday morning for about an hour before heading back to Canberra.

We stay up at Wahroonga with our dear friend Pam, who I have known since high school and who was our Matron of Honour at our wedding. Every Saturday, Pam heads down to Redfern where she loves and befriends, and feeds the mostly aboriginal community there. Many are addicts &/or alcoholics, with amazing stories to tell of just surviving. She is really the hands and feet of Jesus each week. We try and get up to support her too, as often as we can, especially helping with the cooking. It is a real joy to get to know the people of this community and we look forward to it each time we come.

On the Friday we decided to do something for ourselves. I was very fortunate to be able to travel to China with my mum about 7 years ago, and got to see the all the Terracotta warriors so far excavated. Sadly, Shaun was unable to travel with us, so when we heard they were coming to Sydney it was a great opportunity for him to see some of them too. We got in when it opened and really enjoyed the display (although it was only small....one of each type of warrior, plus some other artifacts from the time.) 

My husband Shaun has a new friend....not the real thing, but a fake one in the Exhibition store.

These are miniatures, but very detailed. I remember seeing these in China. There are only two sets and they were both here on display. One out at the entrance, the other in the exhibition itself.