The Long Weekend

Easter long weekend is extra long this year in Australia as Easter Monday also coincides with the ANZAC Day, which then warrants it having another holiday on its honour on Tuesday. It is extremely enjoyable for me as well as this is the first weekend that I can drive around without having to have a full-licence driver to accompany me, or having to find out who’s going where for the long weekend so Yani and I can tag along. More on that later …

Although the weekend has been occupied by hours of driving and exploring, of course I have also strived to celebrate it according to its true meaning. On Friday, Yani and I went to the Good Friday service at our church at 11am, during which I also sang a song that has blessed me so much – Philips Craig & Dean’s Your Grace Still Amazes Me. As I get older and more occupied with life’s endless activities, it is getting more challenging to focus on the things that really matter, and not just the urgent little things that will only give me a momentary sense of achievement or pleasure. It is no coincidence that my Bible reading in the past couple of days has been focused on this: Galatians and 1 Corinthians. This song also gently nudges me again to the right direction of the real meaning of Easter, that God’s grace is amazing and only through His grace alone that I am here, blessed and well-provisioned.

 

 

Pastor Toming shared a brief message in the service before we then went on our separate ways afterwards. Some of us went to have lunch in Chinatown and then drove on to Glenelg, whilst Yani and I chose to join a group who travelled to Hahndorf. It was a challenge to drive in the freeway, unsupervised but I did it at the end. Haha. The experience highlights my driving inexperience and the things that I still need to focus: the speed of my hands as I master the steering wheel as well as the control of the vehicle as I park. Coupled with Burt’s poor turning circle, I have never achieved a smooth U-turn in a two-laned street nor a straightforward kerb parking. No doubt, I will be more comfortable driving and parking at the end, but at the moment, it is still constantly an adventure for those brave enough to sit in my car. Hahaha. 😀

Hahndorf was pretty, as usual, but cold – it was a cool and overcast day when we were there. We had lunch at Hahndorf Inn where we split the group in three different tables due to the number of people who headed up to Hahndorf to escape Adelaide’s lack of activities. Our table ordered a mixture of German sausages and a rack of pork ribs – they were delicious! I am reducing my pork consumption (just out of personal preference) but was tempted to partake in the dissection of the pork ribs at the end. 😉 We then continued to have dessert at The German Cake Shop where I had my favourite Beesting Cake (which is the anglicised name for the original German name Bienenstich). As some of us wanted to have some pictures of the autumn leaves, we then made a detour to Stirling – another town in Adelaide Hills – on our way back to Adelaide. I didn’t take any pictures myself as it was just way too dark already to really capture the colours.

On Saturday, Yani and I went to the city at around 11am to join our church’s weekly prayer meeting that is held at UniSA City West campus. We usually have the meeting at 2pm, but because of the long weekend, we thought we would have it earlier so people could still continue on with their long weekend activities afterwards. However, because of miscommunication, some of the members thought that we still had it at 2pm, so an executive decision was made to have it at 2pm as per normal. Because Yani and I, along with two others were there already, we decided to have a brunch somewhere close by. Our first choice was a cafe in Unley – Serves You Right – with its cosy ambience and hearty all-day breakfast menu. However it was closed throughout the long weekend, so we then went to Hutt Street, at the edge of the city and made our decision to go to a cafe called Biga. I ordered a skinny latté and a big breakfast while Yani opted to fiddle with her iPhone as she didn’t want anything to eat *grin*.

After our prayer meeting, our adventure continued with a drive to Semaphore South – a suburban beach located slightly to the north. Yani and I had Michael in our car, while another car followed us, driven by Sigit, with Windy and Ane as the passengers. We initially wanted to explore Willunga to the south of Adelaide but it was just way too late to drive south (by then it was around 5pm already). We also wanted to drive around Port Adelaide but with the fast disappearing sun, we decided to focus our activities in Semaphore South – a secluded beach near the historic Fort Glanville. There were a lot of dried seaweeds there though so the aroma of the beach was similar to that of a dog’s wet hair. Not entirely unpleasant, but could’ve been better. Haha. As it was again quite chilly to frollick in the water, we took a couple of photo shots and watched some fellow beachcomberss flying their humongous kites. We also spent some time ‘exercising’ in the playground – thankfully the slide could still accommodate my body. Hahaha. 😀 We wrapped the day by having our dinner at Evida – a cafe in Henley Beach after an unpleasant drive-by egg-throwing incident that missed us but clipped Michael’s left arm.

I didn’t realise that driving could be quite tiring as I quickly fell asleep on the couch when we got back, while Yani continued to tinker on her computer with more job applications to write and send. I suppose all of the concentrating and focusing take a lot of energy as well!

Come Easter Sunday (or as I prefer to call it: Resurrection Sunday), Yani and I went to the combined service at Trinity Lutheran Church in Pasadena, a suburb located to the south of Adelaide. It was quite a historic moment as it was the first time that numerous Indonesian churches united to celebrate Easter together. We stayed around longer afterwards to help with cleaning up and when we left church, I suggested to Yani that we should head to Glenelg for some ice cream. Having our own car opens up a lot of possibilities! 🙂 So we drove along Anzac Highway and find a spot to park Burt before we walked to Bracegirdle’s – a café in Glenelg that focuses in chocolate, and more chocolate! We chose the same drink – Arctic Mint – cold dark chocolate with a scoop of mint ice cream on top. Yummoo. Before we went home, we also bough a cone of greek-seasoned chips from Souvlaki Bros. That topped a great Resurrection Sunday celebration – and what a great theme as well – Freedom. 🙂

Similar to the previous day, I went to bed rightaway and fell asleep in no time while Yani ended up falling asleep on the couch. I got up a couple of hours later and decided to brush my teeth, and write this blog entry before we call it a day. Yani is up as well at the moment, getting ready to continue her sleep properly. 🙂

Tomorrow is a new day, and a new adventure is waiting for us. Yani and I are planning to head back to the Hills – perhaps to Strathalbyn – a town where we had our pre-wedding photo shoots. It’s time to play some classic jazz, wear my Irish flat cap, and drive Burt again!

I hope you are having a great Easter celebration as well, wherever you are – and discover its true meaning beyond chocolate eggs and bunnies! He is risen and he lives forevermore!