Kites and Cliffs and Charismatics

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Kites and Cliffs and Charismatics

This weekend was the ‘Festival of the Winds’ down at the beach. In our minds we were envisioning the sky completely covered in kites. Which naturally led me to imagine hundreds of tangled kite strings and grumpy kite enthusiasts. In reality, it was a very orderly set up. There was a blocked off section of the beach where the big guns of kiting were allowed to do their thing. These were the huge life size dragons and car sized pinwheels that were really more balloon-like in that they just hovered near the ground. The other people in the official section were the high-flyers. These kites got way, way, way up there. There was even a commentator. As in, “there’s Julie with her ruby pinwheel spinning just above the sand with a classic clock-wise twist.” Though, when we stopped to listen to the announcer it was about the best sort of gifts to buy for your favorite kiting enthusiast.

Outside the barricade the normal “no kites on the beach” rule was wisely lifted (given that it was a big kite festival) and normal people were going crazy. Here we found the anticipated string tangles, and ladybug or phoenix or just standard diamond kites dive bombing unsuspecting tourists out for a walk. Here we found the boorish dad yelling to his disappointed child, “I’m flying the kite because I’m the BEST at it. I know how to fly this thing!” Only to plummet it, in the BEST way, straight down into the surf a minute later.

It was fun. Face painting, dancing, some bungee flying contraption, and primary colors everywhere.

In addition to the kite melee on the beach, we finally took to the cliffs above and set out for a nice walk down to Coogee. We were told it would be about a 45 min walk. What we weren’t told was that the walk along the cliffs is like chutes and ladders. 10 yards flat, 25 stairs, 20 yards flat, 50 stairs, curve around an eroded cliff and surprise . . . 8,000 stairs.

Since strollers and stairs do not naturally get along, we opted for the much shorter walk to the cliff head at the south end of Bondi Beach. Don’t get me wrong. We still carried, Abby, her stroller, and bag up and down a solid amount of stairs, but it was a great view from the top. Plus Abby found a mud puddle at the top that she felt her church dress would really enjoy soaking in.

Which leads me finally to church. We gave the Bondi Beach church a go and I think it will be one we’ll try again next week. It’s Assemblies of God, which as most of you know is a nice step or five down the spectrum from our structured Presbyterian ways. But in a sense it reminded us both of early New Life (the church where we met and grew up in Philly) and it had a very nice community feel. Plus they are super charismatic and apparently so is Abby. I’m sure my Ludlum relatives will be thrilled to hear that Abby took to clapping and dancing in the worship section like nobody’s business. Later, during the sermon they gave her chocolate cake in nursery which sold the deal for her.

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Photos

Kite Festival
Es and Abby overlooking the kite festival

Mud puddle
So glad we hiked all the way up here.