Visitors to Sydney Gnostic Centre

Since the Australian Retreat we have had a steady stream of interstate and international visitors to the Sydney Gnostic Centre in Bondi Junction.

It started off with the return of Jo and Jason all the way from sunny London. They were running the centre here before taking off two years ago to start a group up in London which they have now done successfully. They were back in Australia for the Christmas/New Year holidays and popped into the centre to catch up with all their gnostic family here. We held a barbeque for them one afternoon, here are the photos.

Jason, John and Laraine.

Below -  The chef's; Paty, Tony and Shane.

Come on guys, too many chefs spoil the broth!

 The Jamesons and the McLeods; Laraine with her arms on Josh, Jason, Jo, Mark with his hand on Marlon

 Time to eat; Cheryl, Sue, Priscilla, Jo, Daya, Tony, Paty, Jason, Shane in the foreground

 Jason, Tony, Marlon (walking), Daya, Paty, Jo.

Then Laraine's boys entertained themselves with a game of cricket.  Marlon is about to bowl the ball to Josh batting the other end.

and a superb delivery it is from Marlon but it's well anticipated by Josh who is set to drive the ball back down the "driveway".

As the light was fading, the big boys got involved for the last session of the day.  Here Mark is about to hit one for six.  We are using a garbage bin as the stumps.

 Now John goes in to bat.

Next delivery, John plays defensively at this one, nice technique, head straight and over the bat, obviously played some backyard cricket somewhere along the way.

Group shot to finish the night off with. Sue, Cheryl, Jo, Jason, John, Daya, Shane, Tony, Paty, Laraine, Mark and the kids down the front are me, Josh and Marlon.  It was a very nice evening with good friends.

Next we had Jon from the Brisbane centre. He was in Sydney for a week and attended the week one classes at our centre.  One afternoon he, myself and Colm went for an awareness walk, along the coast.  There is a coastal walk from Bronte Beach to Bondi Beach which we did, which means we were walking to the North.  Here are some pictures.

Colm and Jon, the water of Bronte beach below and the cliffs of Tamarama behind. 

Me and Colm, at the point between Tamarama Bay(south) and Mackenzies Bay(north) which in the photo above is the rocks just above Colm's right shoulder in the background.

It was quite windy but fortunately not cold.  I decided to see if I could fly! 

Hold on, I'm Flying!  Is this the astral or the physical?

Further along the coastal walk at Mackenzies Point, Jon tests the wind resistance.  It's blowing a gale! This photo is facing south looking back to Bronte Beach.

Back from my flight I'm now teaching Jon how to take off.  No, I don't have my hair slicked back, that's the wind.

Looking at Bondi Beach from Mackenzies Point 

Jon and Colm looking out to sea, the Tasman Sea in fact, from Mackenzies Point which is the windy-est place on earth at the time.

Jon is careful to stay on the path and looks out for the pitfalls. This is the Bondi Beach side of Mackenzies Point.

Interesting to see how the wind and sea have carved the rocks over the centuries. 

Checking out the rock face's point of view.

Bondi Beach 

Heading back south along Mackenzies Bay, making our way home.  This walk is only about a 10 minute drive from the centre.  It was nice having you with us in the centre Jon and on this walk.

Next we had AJ & Carolyn from the Madison centre in the USA with us for two nights/one day last weekend.  We also had Dimi and Sophios from the Brisbane centre visiting last weekend as well.  All of them joined in our classes on last Sunday.

Sunday morning and the centre is a hive of activity!

Here's Carolyn and AJ in our garage cafe. There were very impressed with how the whole centre looked and operated.

Carolyn and Laraine. 

Setting up the room for the Meditation course after the Teacher Training Course finished.  That's Shane and Tony.

The room fills with students whilst I get the presentation ready. We played the previous weeks slides whilst waiting for all the students to arrive. 

All the classes are now over and Carolyn and AJ have a change of clothes to then go out and see Sydney Harbour whilst they have the chance, having travelled all this way.  Here they are just before setting off, Jiri and Tony look on.

They give the Sydney Opera House the thumps up! 

They decided to take the ferry to Manly, this shot is taken from the ferry.

On the ferry to Manly, the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.  You can actually take a guided tour which lets you walk up on the top of the arch of the bridge to the centre where the flags are, AJ and Carolyn were keen but there wasn't enough time.

Afterwards a few of us went to dinner at a vegan restaurant. Here we all are.  Backrow: Dimi and Sophios from the Brisbane Centre, Paty and Tony.  Front row: Colm, Myself, AJ and Carolyn.

and the oher side of the restuarant looked like this...

and another angle

We were very impressed with the food.  They do amazing things with tofu. I'm a bit of a meat and two vege man but this was great.  Good idea who ever thought of it! 

It was great to have AJ & Carolyn and Dimi & Sophias with us for the day.  

It really is great to have interstate and international students coming to the centre.  It is evidence that the global Gnostic Movement community is growing larger by the day. That's reassuring!

All visitors are very welcome.

And, er, what's that?  There's more soon on the way?

Well then, stay tuned for the next visitors to Sydney blog coming soon!