I'll break this trip into two sections because it feels like two separate trips. First and foremost is Hillsong Conference which was Tuesday to Friday, and second is dedicated to the highlights of Sydney. HC was held in the Qudos Arena, which is in the Olympic Park on the edge of town. It was therefore necessary to make two parts to the trip, or else spend endless hours on public transport.
Part 1: The Conference to End All Conferences
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| HC-Qudos Arena, Day 1 |
In my short time attending Hillsong, I have noticed there is nothing these people to halfheartedly, and conference was no exception. I alluded to it in a previous post, but this lineup was stacked with unreal talent.
We had four prominent keynote speakers: Louie Giglio, Earl McClellan (not great-grandpa Earl!), Singapore's sweetheart Joseph Prince, and Bill Johnson, who turned out to be the best surprise in the bunch. There were AM and PM sessions where one of the big four would speak; and then afternoon sessions that would either be filled by "masterclasses" (smaller group sessions about specific topics), or a guest pastor/Brian or Bobbi Houston. And as if that wasn't enough, for each session we would be led in worship by THE Hillsong United and THE Hillsong Worship. They were so excited to be performing that rumor has it Hillsong United cracked the stage during a particularly energetic version of Echoes (oops!). It was absolutely electric from opening to closing!
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| Melbourne City Campus-Last Day |
I have far too many highlights from this conference to begin to list them here, but I will take a moment to highlight how superb of a speaker Bill Johnson is. He is the senior pastor at Bethel Church in California, and up until this point I had never heard him speak before (on the way home from Sydney that changed drastically, pretty sure I had four messages under my belt before leaving NSW). This man held the attention of 30,000 people (mostly under 30 year olds) so well that I swear you could've heard a pin drop in the pauses. Bill kept saying such profound statements, that it would take a solid minute for it to really sink in. Then the thought would be met with a chorus of "so good!", "wow", etc. If you haven't heard him speak before, I highly recommend it!
Words can't explain how it feels to be in an Arena of 30,000 from all parts of the world, all singing to the same amazing God. It was quite literally Heaven on Earth.
Part 2: Sydney- Tourist Time!
Day 1: Harry Potter and the Sydney Opera House
After my week at conference, I was a little worried everything else would fall flat in comparison. But me being the little trooper I am, I persevered! No amount of post-conference blues would keep me from being a full on tourist.
After moving all my things from the AirBnB to the hostel downtown, I scooted over to the Opera House (yes THE Opera House), for a showing of Harry Potter with full orchestra, dreams really do come true people!
The opera house was actually quite cool. I overheard a bit of a tour on the intricacies of how it was built, but between you and me I was too blown away by the architecture to absorb much of it. I did however learn that whenever the Prime Minister comes to visit, he gets to stay in the most expensive house in Australia which sits across the harbor from the Opera House. (Not too shabby!)
After leaving the show, by pure dumb luck I ran into one of my Melbourne pals who was still in town, and we grabbed a quick bite of Thai before going our separate ways. Very jealous that she got to take the train while I had naively opted for the night bus. Turns out that buses are not very comfortable to sleep in, who'da thunk it! But that story is for Tuesday night and we're still on Saturday!
Day 2: Hillsong-Mothership Edition
By Sunday there were only about 3 people left in Sydney from my crew at Hillsong Melbourne. Thankfully though, the cream of the crop was left, all of who were game to mission to Hills Campus. For being based out of Sydney, Hillsong is very far from Sydney. It took about 1H 15M to get there from the city centre. But it was all worth it for the following moment:
So when you get to Hills campus there are several buildings, the one we were waiting in turned out to be the wrong building, thus causing us to be a touch tardy to the service. The auditorium they were using looked very much like a movie theatre, so when we entered we opted to stay in from for the worship and then find our way to our seats. On this particular Sunday, we had the privilege of Louie Giglio guest speaking, and yours truly stood right next to him during worship. At the end of worship, the pastor told everyone to say "hi" to your neighbours, and Louie (obviously dazzled by my singing abilities) turned to me to shake my hand. BEST "turn and greet someone" EVER.
Louie (or Lou as I call him now that we're besties), delivered a predictably outstanding message. Before heading back to the city, I did a little exploring of Hills and discovered roast chicken dinner are available for purchase out front (sold!). Now that's doing church right, they bring the festive special to you!
Day 3: Blue Mountain Trek
The next morning I had to get up nice and early at 6 to catch a tour heading deep into the Blue Mountains with Coast Warriors Tour group. The blue mountains are so named because the large amount of eucalyptus trees that populate the forest. give off eucalyptus oils that reflect the blue sky. Thereby making the mountains appear blue.
I went solo for this one, as by this point all the Melbonites had returned to the mothersland. Luckily though I quickly tacked onto a group of fellow solo travelers and we ended up spending the whole trip in our group. There was Martha (England), Lorraine (Ireland), and James (Northern Ireland). Such a fun group of people. We hit it off so well that after the tour we ended up getting dinner together.
A lot of our team bonding moments came during the hike. Our tour bus stopped a few locations on the way to see kangaroos, and also to see lookouts over the blue mountains. The longest portion of the trip was the stairway on the cliff-side. I'd estimate there to be somewhere in the mid hundreds of steps to the bottom of the cliff. Every time we thought we were done, BOOM another flight. But at the end of the stairway to heaven, was a gorgeous waterfall, and a not-too shabby view.
When we had all gathered enough mental and physical power, we did the hike back up the millions of stairs. That was a true testament to how much more I need to workout. At least Martha and I were at the same fitness level!
At the top of the stairs our tour guide had prepared a delicious BBQ lunch for us, including the option to try a kangaroo filet. Kangaroo's are grossly overpopulated in Australia, so not to worry, this was a sustainable meat source! That being said, I think I'll stick to beef, kangaroo is a bit tough for my tastes.
From there we took the tour bus (Trudy), back to Sydney with one more stop on the way to see the panoramic view of the valley. It was amazing, but a bit dizzying (particularly when Martha noticed the cars at the bottom of the cliff). Thankfully for us, our tour guide was a better driver then them, and we made it back in one piece.
Day 4: Bondi and G'Bye
For the last day I couldn't do a ton, mostly because my muscles had voted and decided we should not exercise that much ever again. But also because I had to catch the night bus back to Sydney, and therefore did not want to wander too far.
So with a train card with still a hefty balance on it, I decided to nip out to Bondi for a bit. It was far too cold to swim, but I've heard it's a pleasant place to walk around. Unfortunately, the aforementioned train card slipped out of my pocket during the first train, leaving me $25 lighter. But determined to not let it ruin my day, I tightened up my laces, slapped on a smile, and hiked the rest of the way to Bondi and then back to the city. My muscles were not very pleased...
Bondi was a nice enough beach, but I think it's just one of those places you need to see in the summer. The arctic wind coming off the ocean has a way of cutting through all the layers of clothing, quicker then I (a proud Canadian, and endurer of the cold), would like to admit.
So unfortunately Bondi turned out to be just a quick walk by the ocean, and then back to the city I went. I suppose that just means I'll have to go back when the weather is more pleasing!
Well Sydney, as much as I enjoyed our time together. Melbourne is still the best city in Australia!
Stay tuned, at the end of August I'll be heading into the outback! Look for the post August 26 :)
The opera house was actually quite cool. I overheard a bit of a tour on the intricacies of how it was built, but between you and me I was too blown away by the architecture to absorb much of it. I did however learn that whenever the Prime Minister comes to visit, he gets to stay in the most expensive house in Australia which sits across the harbor from the Opera House. (Not too shabby!)After leaving the show, by pure dumb luck I ran into one of my Melbourne pals who was still in town, and we grabbed a quick bite of Thai before going our separate ways. Very jealous that she got to take the train while I had naively opted for the night bus. Turns out that buses are not very comfortable to sleep in, who'da thunk it! But that story is for Tuesday night and we're still on Saturday!
Day 2: Hillsong-Mothership Edition
By Sunday there were only about 3 people left in Sydney from my crew at Hillsong Melbourne. Thankfully though, the cream of the crop was left, all of who were game to mission to Hills Campus. For being based out of Sydney, Hillsong is very far from Sydney. It took about 1H 15M to get there from the city centre. But it was all worth it for the following moment:
So when you get to Hills campus there are several buildings, the one we were waiting in turned out to be the wrong building, thus causing us to be a touch tardy to the service. The auditorium they were using looked very much like a movie theatre, so when we entered we opted to stay in from for the worship and then find our way to our seats. On this particular Sunday, we had the privilege of Louie Giglio guest speaking, and yours truly stood right next to him during worship. At the end of worship, the pastor told everyone to say "hi" to your neighbours, and Louie (obviously dazzled by my singing abilities) turned to me to shake my hand. BEST "turn and greet someone" EVER.
Louie (or Lou as I call him now that we're besties), delivered a predictably outstanding message. Before heading back to the city, I did a little exploring of Hills and discovered roast chicken dinner are available for purchase out front (sold!). Now that's doing church right, they bring the festive special to you!
Day 3: Blue Mountain Trek
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| Inside Trudy the Trusty Van |
I went solo for this one, as by this point all the Melbonites had returned to the mothersland. Luckily though I quickly tacked onto a group of fellow solo travelers and we ended up spending the whole trip in our group. There was Martha (England), Lorraine (Ireland), and James (Northern Ireland). Such a fun group of people. We hit it off so well that after the tour we ended up getting dinner together.
A lot of our team bonding moments came during the hike. Our tour bus stopped a few locations on the way to see kangaroos, and also to see lookouts over the blue mountains. The longest portion of the trip was the stairway on the cliff-side. I'd estimate there to be somewhere in the mid hundreds of steps to the bottom of the cliff. Every time we thought we were done, BOOM another flight. But at the end of the stairway to heaven, was a gorgeous waterfall, and a not-too shabby view.When we had all gathered enough mental and physical power, we did the hike back up the millions of stairs. That was a true testament to how much more I need to workout. At least Martha and I were at the same fitness level!
At the top of the stairs our tour guide had prepared a delicious BBQ lunch for us, including the option to try a kangaroo filet. Kangaroo's are grossly overpopulated in Australia, so not to worry, this was a sustainable meat source! That being said, I think I'll stick to beef, kangaroo is a bit tough for my tastes.
From there we took the tour bus (Trudy), back to Sydney with one more stop on the way to see the panoramic view of the valley. It was amazing, but a bit dizzying (particularly when Martha noticed the cars at the bottom of the cliff). Thankfully for us, our tour guide was a better driver then them, and we made it back in one piece.
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| Lincoln Lookout |
Day 4: Bondi and G'Bye
For the last day I couldn't do a ton, mostly because my muscles had voted and decided we should not exercise that much ever again. But also because I had to catch the night bus back to Sydney, and therefore did not want to wander too far.
So with a train card with still a hefty balance on it, I decided to nip out to Bondi for a bit. It was far too cold to swim, but I've heard it's a pleasant place to walk around. Unfortunately, the aforementioned train card slipped out of my pocket during the first train, leaving me $25 lighter. But determined to not let it ruin my day, I tightened up my laces, slapped on a smile, and hiked the rest of the way to Bondi and then back to the city. My muscles were not very pleased...
Bondi was a nice enough beach, but I think it's just one of those places you need to see in the summer. The arctic wind coming off the ocean has a way of cutting through all the layers of clothing, quicker then I (a proud Canadian, and endurer of the cold), would like to admit.
So unfortunately Bondi turned out to be just a quick walk by the ocean, and then back to the city I went. I suppose that just means I'll have to go back when the weather is more pleasing!
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| Bondi Beach |
Well Sydney, as much as I enjoyed our time together. Melbourne is still the best city in Australia!
Stay tuned, at the end of August I'll be heading into the outback! Look for the post August 26 :)
