Thursday 14th July - Afternoon - Rookwood Cemetery

Following lunch, the bus continued up to Sydney, with the first stop in Sydney itself being the Rookwood Cemetery, an 149 year old cemetery in Sydney, containing the remains of nearly a million individuals.

Cemeteries aren't designed for Large Buses to drive around them, and as the bus drove, trying to find the rendezvous point, it was regularly driving over the roundabouts in the cemetery, rather than around them.

Eventually we met up with the head gardener, Gary, who split us up into 3 groups. Two groups were going to be weeding and cleaning up small "islands" which they had constructed walkways out onto. The third group was going to be cleaning up around one of the small lakes - the island in that waterway currently the home to a mother duck and nine ducklings.

The groups split and worked hard. The levels of enthusiasm varied, but everybody seemed to pitch in and help - even if it was only when the camera was out.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

The Service project seemed to be a success. There was a noticeable difference in where the groups had been, and it gave the youth a chance to work together, start to get to know each other. It also introduced them to the Conference theme of "Doing Good".