World Youth Day 2008

World Youth Day is the largest youth event in the world and was held in Sydney from Tuesday 15 to Sunday 20 July 2008. Organised (that's the correct spelling in Australia) by the Catholic Church, WYD brings together young people from around the globe to celebrate and learn about their faith. It was largest event Australia has ever hosted-and the 2000 Olympics were here-and it marked the first visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Australia.

Many of the streets of Sydney were closed this week for World Youth Day. On Thursday, Rob and I got to join in some of the festivities and even saw the Pope up close. Instead of squeezing in with the thousands of people that were lined up on the streets waiting to catch a glimpse of the Pope ride by after his speech in Darling Harbour, Rob and I passed all of them by and walked straight into Darling Harbour like we owned the place. We just kept walking towards where we knew the Pope was going to be, and somehow no one stopped us! We didn't even have the proper tickets/passes/identification but no one seemed to notice us stroll right on in. We got a great spot where we could hear his speech and then were able to get some up close pictures as he rode by us. It was a really neat experience.

The final mass this morning at Randwick Race Course out at Centennial Olympic Park was attended by over 500,000 people. We decided to just watch that one on TV. :)

Manly Beach

One chilly July afternoon (weird, huh?) following church, Rob and I hopped on a ferry and headed out to Manly Beach to see the sights. It's obviously not ideal beach weather at the moment, but it was a nice beach and a pretty area.

On the ferry

Manly Beach

Ipso Facto...We're Defacto!

At 3:30pm today, Rob got a call from the attorney who has been processing our VISA paperwork. He has been approved and he'll start work on Monday July 14th!

Congrats, Robby!!!

Australian Sunsets

Robby Gets a Jobby

Last week, after spending his first 26 days back in Sydney looking for work, Rob accepted a job as the financial controller for the Sydney Masonic Centre ( www.smc.au.com ). The SMC is sponsoring a work visa for him. It's called a 457 Employer Sponsored Visa and I get to reap the benefits of it! His visa will allow me to live and work in Australia as well under "defacto" relationship status. It will allow us both to be in Australia for FOUR YEARS!!!! Don't worry, family...I don't think I'll stay that long. We're now waiting for the paperwork to process with Australian Immigration before he is able to start work.

Here are some pictures of Rob's new office building:

Rob Does Cockatoo Island

I still don't really know what Cockatoo Island is....but Rob went there and took a hundred pictures. While he was still job hunting and meeting with recruiters he had plenty of free time while I was at work so he did quite a bit of Sydney touring. (By the way, he got a job!! Details to come...).

Anyway, the 2008 Biennale of Sydney was going on so Rob took a ferry over to Cockatoo Island to see the art exhibition. Here's some of what he saw out there: