WOLLONGONG!
Yes, that was the mystery location of the Chinese temple in my other photos. I took the kids on a little overnight trip down there. We had planned to holiday a bit further afield but my husband was unable to take leave from work because he works in an area affected by the World (Catholic) Youth Day (week!) mayhem in Sydney. Wollongong was just the right distance (51km from Sydney) for a trip on my own with the kids. It is also one of those places that I had always meant to go to but never got around to probably because it is so close to home. The idea of staying at the temple was really serendipitous. I had always been intrigued by the sight of the temple which we often pass on our way further south. It kind of just appears out of nowhere beside the freeway in the middle of an industrial area. I didn't even know you could stay there until I looked at the website on Sunday to see about visiting during the day. I thought it would be an interesting cultural experience for the kids who are already quite interested in Chinese culture through their Kung Fu associations.
On the way down on Monday, we stopped off for a few hours to visit an old friend of mine who lives in a little seaside village called Scarborough. This entailed driving over the incredibly scenic but hair-raising Sea Cliff Bridge. We had a lovely lunch at my friends place and then took all the kids to the beach. We deliberately didn't let them change into swimsuits as we didn't want them going in swimming in mid-Winter. This didn't stop them though! Two got soaked in their clothes and my son just stripped off all his clothes and went in naked!
The sun goes down pretty early in Scarborough because of the escarpment so we headed off for Wollongong and the Nan Tien Temple shortly after 5pm, arriving just in time for dinner. This was held in the Dining Hall in the middle of the temple complex and was a vegetarian Chinese steamboat meal eaten with the Buddhist 'reverends' (I would have called them nuns). The food was delicious although the kids mainly filled up on rice and fruit. The reverends were very impressed at the kids attempts to use chop sticks (even though their technique was terrible). A couple of friends also joined us for dinner and to spend the night at the Pilgrim Lodge.
Here are some pictures of the Lodge.
Entrance to Pilgrim Lodge:
I hadn't known what to expect when I booked it but it was really very comfortable, ie, the rooms just like motel rooms and quite reasonably priced. The dinner was also great value at $10 for adults and $5 for kids.
The next morning we had breakfast in the dining room. The kids were thrilled at this as they again got to serve themselves and they had quite an interesting selection of food including cereal, fruit, mini croissants, milo etc. We then spent the entire morning wandering around the temple complex. There was so much to see and the kids had a great time playing and also had an opportunity to participate in temple activities such as placing candles on the altar of one temple, learning to pray to the Buddha, ringing bells and joining in a calligraphy class. The reverends recognised us from dinner the previous night so gave the kids special attention. Most were Chinese (from various countries including one we spoke to who was from Malaysia) but there were also quite a few Westerners working at the complex and even one Western reverend.
Here are some more photos we took.
Waiting for temple to open:
In the gardens near the Lodge:
One thing I loved about the temple was how open it was to the surrounding community. Apart from the accommodation in the lodge and the meals which are open to everyone, they also run things like meditation and cooking classes, HSC study camps, baby blessings etc etc. They also have plans to build a university which will host students from all over the world. It is great that something like this exists in Wollongong which is really a very traditional, working class Aussie kind of place.
More on the 'Gong itself to follow.
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