World Youth Day 2008 - Sydney, Australia

Sounds so quaint and it is boldly written across the entry way on arrival in Sydney though it is not really heard on the street as much as one would expect. When it is heard, it sounds more like this: “G’dye might”! Aussies have a way with words and some are indeed a bit difficult to understand for us Americans. They have a habit of casually (or as has been suggested by such an Aussie ‘lazily’) eliminating letters from words. Melbourne for example is pronounced Melbin. We’re not sure what happened to this “r” nor many other “r’s” that appear in the written form, but they seem to slip away and are often not heard in the spoken form. Seems we are all looking for Crocodile Dundee or Steve Erwin the “Croc Guy” and indeed they are here, but when you meet them, you may well not understand them.

We visited the Queensland City of Cairns. We would like to pronounce it as “Kerns” or some variation, but this “r” too seems to exist just for appearance sake, thus everyone pronounces it “Cans” as in ‘tin cans.’ Another linguistic idiosyncrasy is the use of “Yeah” as the sound one makes when they are thinking of something to say. Similar to our own “Welllllll”. Thus, one hears an elongated string of “Yeaaaaahhhh” before and after a statement. It is all lots of fun as the laid back Aussies take our ribbing about their language in a wonderfully good natured way. But don’t get them started as they too have much to say about their perception of our own butchering the “Mother Tongue”!

Lew & Rita Goody, Fabrizio Fabbri & Bob Faucett

The “We” on the left are the management/marketing team of Unitours, well known International Tour Operators specializing in Religious tourism since 1957 and “We” recently visited Australia in preparation for the Holy Father’s visit here in 2008 as Sydney hosts World Youth Day. Pope Benedict XVI, announced the decision to hold WYD here at the conclusion of the 2005 edition of the event in August in Cologne, Germany .

Given that Unitours has sent thousands of pilgrims to previous World Youth Days in Manila, Paris, Rome, Toronto and Cologne, we pride ourselves on making personal journeys to the newly announced venue of World Youth Day as early as possible to personally “scope things out” for our future pilgrims.

We were hosted by our local Australian partner in Sydney who are travel experts who are experienced in making arrangements for large groups in Sydney arriving from throughout the world.

Telstra Stadium in Olympic Park, Site of WYD Opening

Sydney Olympic Park, Site of Vigil and Closing Mass

NO LONGER THE CLOSING MASS SITE. CLICK HERE FOR UPDATED REPORT

First the big picture. Sydney is an absolutely wonderful city. It is clean, well laid out and as we were told expect, it is absolutely beautiful. The city is on the southeastern coast of the country and thus has water estuaries everywhere with rivers and bays that cut deep into the city and offer miles of waterfront that have all been tastefully developed with long promenades lined with restaurants, shops and arcades. Views of the world renowned Opera House seem to pop up from everywhere and the hills above Sydney provide spectacular seaward views including Sydney Harbor and many bridges that connect various parts of the city. Ethnic areas of Sydney abound including the second largest Italian population outside of Italy . (Of course after the U.S. )

Australia is 7500 miles from Los Angeles , the most common gateway.) Oun non-stop flight to Sydney was 14 hours and the return was 13 hours. By way of comparison, Rome to New York is a bit over 9 hours. Tel Aviv to New York is 11 hours 30 minutes. Having now made the flights, our team agrees that the experience is not nearly what we feared. Qantas, the national airline of Australia is one of the top airlines in the world in terms of comfort, customer service and satisfaction. One departs late in the day, and breakfast is served prior to your morning arrival in Sydney

We have already obtained a contract for air space for our groups on Qantas' non-stop flights from the U.S. to Sydney . Most flights depart from Los Angeles , but economical “feeder” flights from throughout the U.S. on their U.S. partner American Airlines have been negotiated as well. While we wish we had unlimited space on the Qantas flights, they only offer several flights per day and it is the “early birds” of our clients who will snatch these convenient flight seats.

CAIRNS (Say "Cans")

We were delighted to find a good selection of quality hotel rooms in centrally located areas convenient to bus, train and monorail public transport which will make it easy for our groups to attend World Youth Day events and still walk to one of the many “wharf side” recreation areas museum or attractions.

We anticipate having our packages ready for publication early in 2006.

A three hour Qantas flight from Sydney due north takes you into the “state” of Queensland . Here, we find ourselves in the “South Pacific”. The entire area is a World Heritage site. Lush tropical rain forests, miles of breathtaking sand beaches and Cairns is the only gateway to the The Great Barrier Reef. The reef extends for 1300 miles along this coast and in addition to the reef, other world class attractions between Cairns and Port Douglas, about 50 miles to the north make this area one of the richest lures in the world. Let us list just a few.

Cairns itself is a modern, expansive resort town, built entirely to cater to the millions of tourists who annually visit here. Conveniently located restaurants abound. A massive 24 hour public swimming pool in the center of town provides an ambiance never seen in our worldwide travels. Our specially selected hotels will be conveniently located to these restaurants, shops and attractions as well as the waterfront docks used to access the Great Barrier Reef .

The jungle Rain Forest here is typical of those we’ve read about around the world; huge trees soaring towards the sunlight; topped by thin canopies darkening the jungle floor below; brightly colored large and small. We experienced a fascinating option of a narrated narrow gauge train ride beneath the canopy and an enclosed cable car ride skimming the tops of the huge spreading rain forest trees.

The culture of the aboriginal people of this continent are preserved by the Aboriginals themselves who live in this area. The Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park , operated by a local tribe of these indigenous people who share their history with us including customs, tools and legends in their effort to preserve and perpetuate this rich history. For those who visit this center, you will enjoy a demonstration of the spiritual dances of this tribe; learn of the local foods used by their ancestors as

well as the legends and ‘healing power’ of some of these foods. You will also learn of the hunting tools used for food and warfare and receive a demonstration, lesson and opportunity to practice your own skills in throwing both a native boomerang and special spear. Hard hats everyone!!!

A wonderful Botanical Gardens/Zoo located in Port Douglas offers a close up look at a natural rain forest environment as walkways take us just below the rich canopy. Huge enclosed aviaries let us see the spectacular colors of the parrots and parakeets and other birds native to this area with some 80 species found no where else in the world. We see the famous Koalas and a special section takes us close up amongst dozens of Kangaroos Wallabies and we can hand feed them.

www.rainforesthabitat.com.au

The Hartley’s crocodile farm is another wonderful experience! Lectures about this huge reptile remind us of the crocodile man Steve Erwin seen on TV, but this is an “up close and personal” experience. A man-made lagoon provides the habitat for these farmed animals and a boat ride takes us into the nesting and feeding area and one of the farms own “Crocodile Dundees” will lure them boatside with poles baited with fresh meat and causing these huge beasts to literally leap from the water with gaping mouths to grab the meat from the poles with a loud, dull snap!.......burrr!

www.crocodileadventures.com

But then we have the reef! And oh, what a reef it is! Boarding a large powered twin hulled, multi decked vessel around 9:00 am, our comfortable 45 minute ride on the Coral Sea took us to a private pontoon anchored on the edge of the famous outer reef. We were offered a myriad of ways to interact with the reef, most included in the cost. To name a few:

An underwater observation platform offers a dry exposure to watch the tens of thousands of brightly colored fish who swim in this area as well as acres of brilliant coral reef.

We could board a vessel with below water seating and glass observation decks.

Snorkel gear and instruction is provided and platforms let us walk to water’s edge to easily enter a large roped in area to float above this underwater utopia.

Certified or beginner divers are given the opportunity for one or two guided dives in what is the ultimate Great Barrier Reef experience. Easily touch the marine life including giant clams four feet wide that close up when touched by a diver……fascinating!

Finally, a helicopter pad floats nearby and a short boat ride take those who opt for this breathtaking opportunity where we see the reef from a totally different perspective

Our included seafood buffet luncheon on the pontoon caps our day as we take advantage of the showers and changing rooms to return to Cairns with memories of a lifetime!