Albury Library Museum

May 20 – 24

It’s 664 km from Mildura to Albury. It’s a long way, but we left Mildura at 7.00am, the roads are good and with plenty of Tibetan song tapes, the time passed very quickly. We arrived in Albury ahead of schedule and one of the local Buddhist group, Susan Brophy, showed us to our accommodation – a house a little way out of town which is an artists’ retreat, provided for us by the City of Albury.
Geshe Sonam, back in Australia from his whirlwind trip to India, had driven from Paraparap and joined us in time for the set up in the Albury Library Museum. The Library Museum is a stunning new building with lots of space and light.
We had one of our rare tense starts as our set up seemed to cause some concern for the staff, but we were soon underway to the usual gathering crowds drawn by the sound of the monks chanting and the intricate designs and wonderful colour of the mandala sands. We caught up with some old friends from the Latrobe Gallery 2007 in Jacqui and Jo. Jacqui is the group leader of the Cultural Services and the person responsible for our placement in Albury.
Being in a library is nearly as good as being in a shopping centre for attracting attention from people, who are just passing by. Again people sat and watched fascinated and intrigued by the monks’ work. By the end of the week there was quite a crowd around the board most of the day. Geshe Sonam was kept busy chatting to people and explaining what the monks were doing. On Thursday evening he gave a wonderful talk to about 50 people on the general topic of Achieving Happiness. A large crowd gathered for the dissolution and we gave out nearly all of the sand on the spot.
One sidelight in the week was an invitation to have a cup of tea with the people from the local Thai restaurant. The resident lama made us very welcome in his lovely Thai style pavilion at the back of the centre.
Next stop Newcastle!

Renmark Plaza Shopping Centre

May 12 – 17

Renmark was thankfully just a 90 minute drive from Mildura after the dissolution on Sunday evening. We were greeted by our previous visit host, Ann Ryan, who showed us to our accommodation. This time we had a holiday cottage a little out of town in the bush and on the edge of a grape farm, generously provided by Ann herself, as our home away from home. The lounge room had a DVD player and Ann kept us supplied with the entertainment with films like Ice Age and Shrek.
With a Tuesday set up in town, we had Monday morning to enjoy some R&R. Ann had organised for us all to go on a houseboat cruise on the river Murray followed by a barbecue lunch. We all enjoyed the quiet and the serenity of river travel and a rare chance to relax and unwind a little. The monks had a great time wandering on the island where we berthed for the lunch break. On the way back, the leftover sand from the Mildura event was poured into the river with prayers for the health of the river.
In Renmark in 2007, we had enjoyed a huge response from the general public with our placement in the Renmark Institute sponsored by the Renmark Paringa Council.
Geshe Sonam was very keen to open up the mandala experience to a wider audience and so he requested that the tour be placed in a shopping centre this time. Trudy and Emma from the Council happily agreed to this request and we set up in a very spacious area of the centre right outside the Big W store.
A shopping centre may seem an odd place to create a sand mandala. But when you see people, who are just going about their regular shopping business, stop in their tracks when they see the mandala and then sit down and watch the monks at work for 10, 20 minutes, even half an hour, it makes a lot of sense. People were fascinated by the skill and patience of the monks. There were lots of questions and positive comments from people who may not have taken the time to come and see us in another venue. A few schools made the trip to the centre to watch. Again we had wonderful support from the local media. Renmark Plaza is too far from the river to walk there with the sand, so after the dissolution and the pack up, we stopped at the river in the centre of town to pour the sand into the river. Then we headed off straight away for an overnight stopover with our Mildura host family, before making the long trek across the plains to Albury.

Mildura City Centre

May 5 – 10
We set off very early from Wagga on Monday morning to drive the 556km across the Hay Plain to Mildura. With stops at Hay and Balranald fro petrol and a picnic lunch, we arrived in Mildura mid afternoon, we went straight to the CBD in Mildura to meet our hosts and begin the set up.
As guests of Mildura City Heart, we were provided with a neat large shop near the CBD Mall. The set ups are getting smoother and more organised with every event. Everyone seems now to have a specific job to do and it happens in next to no time.
Our main contact Richard Morfaw was on hand to summon up what ever we needed from spotlights to photocopying. And our home hosts the Noeleen, Naomi and Wally welcomed us with open arms. Noeleen had all the meals organised and Wally was soon up a ladder installing the prayer flag strings along the shop verandah.
At home base a beautiful meal was waiting; beds were ready and everyone had gifts of towels, soap and hot water bottles. The monks had their own separate living space and cooking area – a little like being back in a monastery.
The Mildura newpapers and Win TV (again) made sure everyone in town knew where we were and the venue was consistently busy right from day one. About 40 -50 people arrived each morning for the monks chanting and many stayed around to enjoy the comfortable social atmosphere of our shop. We had visits from local school groups and lots of passers-by dropping in.
A large crowd attended the dissolution and the sand was poured into the Chaffey fountain in the centre of the city.
The monks were treated to some beautiful meals eating out at local restaurants nearly every night. The monks enjoyed walking around the town during their breaks and even did a little shopping. We had one very beautiful walk along the River Murray one evening at sunset under a full moon rising. The weather was warm and sunny every day, but one stark reminder of what no rain means to a town like Mildura came from the lake over the road from our accommodation, which has completely dried up.
Very memorable! It was a great week in a beautiful town. Everyone had started planning our return visit even before we left. Thanks Mildura!

Wagga Wagga Regional Gallery

April – May 3

After a slow start to our third visit to Wagga Wagga, the program gradually began to gain momentum by the third day. This visit we were located in the downstairs gallery, a little out of the way of the general stream of visitors and the 300 or so people who work in the Council building. But soon lots of people found us. Some TV news coverage from WIN TV with footage of the mandala creation and a very lively interview with Geshe Sonam certainly helped let people know we were in town. The handcrafts were very popular as usual and the mandala looked amazing in the spacious gallery setting.
Our gallery host Linda Elliott had set up an area where children (small and large) could have a try at sand drawing using the copper funnels and some beach sand. Some very creditable efforts were noticed. We again had wonderful support from the Friends of the Gallery who kept the tasty lunches coming all week. Our meals were coordinated by our great friend Alice Kennard and we were all enjoyed staying with Alice and Ian in their large home.
Geshe Sonam gave a talk to over 60 people on Saturday morning before heading back to Melbourne and then off overseas for a whirlwind trip to Delhi and Bangkok.
The monks created another beautiful Namgyalma mandala. The only drama of the week came when an impatient young toddler tossed her apple towards the mandala board knocking one of the sand containers over onto the mandala. The monks quite unfazed by the incident removed the damaged area and replaced it. A large crowd attended the dissolution ceremony and the mandala sand was taken to Wagga Beach and poured into the Murrumbidgee River.

Bathurst Regional Art Gallery

April 21 – 25

Something very special happens when the monks come to Bathurst. It’s a very popular event that gets bigger and bigger each time. A full program of talks and meditation classes as well as the mandala and a film night brought over three thousand people through the gallery during the week. The monks and the mandala made front page news twice, Geshe Sonam was in demand for interviews on radio and television and the mandala event featured on Prime News. This year over 200 people crammed into the gallery for the dissolution ceremony, which concluded with a procession through the streets of Bathurst to pour the sands into the fountain at Bathurst’s main park. The mandala was one of the largest the monks have made. Special thanks to Richard, Brad, Sarah and all the staff at the gallery for another wonderful event.
The monks and staff stayed with the Mercy Sisters at St Joseph’s Mount Convent and were treated like family by the sisters. This year, at the request of Sister Pat, a small commemorative cairn, with an urn containing sand from the mandala, has been erected as a permanent reminder of the monks 2009 visit to Bathurst.

Imperial Gardens, Terrey Hills, Sydney

April 15 – 19
It would be hard to imagine a prettier place to spend 5 balmy days than in the Imperial Gardens in Terrey Hills near the northern beaches in Sydney. The monks received a warm welcome from owner Ken Lamb and his staff and a steady stream of people came to watch the monks create the mandala in a Javanese pavilion within the grounds of the beautiful Japanese garden setting. Many Tibetans from the local area came to say hello and chat with Geshe Sonam and the monks; and many old friends and acquaintances from previous trips to Sydney dropped in to visit. Not even a downpour could dampen the enthusiasm. The square mandala was exquisite and was finished off with the Australian and Tibetan flags drawn in sand. This was our third and most enjoyable visit to Imperial Gardens. Thanks to Ken and Cherie, and also to the Tauro family for making us so comfortable during our stay.

Canberra National Folk Festival

April 10 – 13
The National Folk Festival was a great place to start our tour for 2009. There’s always a wonderful buzz around the festival site and the ‘folkies’ always seem glad to welcome the monks into their musical weekend.
There were a few firsts for the weekend: the first mandala of the tour; the first time making a mandala in a tent and the first time on any of our tours that the monks have created a Namgyalma mandala, a female Buddha energy with the purpose of generating healing and restoring balance.
Grey skies over Canberra didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm and the torrential downpour in the evening following the dissolution was a welcome relief to an unusually dry Canberra. Special thanks to the Bissaker family for the ‘home away from home’ and Carolyn from the festival staff for her patience and technical help.