Stephanie, Brad, Bonnie and Ann Monkhouse, along with Mitchell Hancock, and James Fry left on a chilly Monday morning and travelled to Baulkham Hills, to pick up pilgrim passports, then travelled to Watson's Bay to stay with a family.

On Super Thursday, they made it early to Barangaroo to their seats. Stephanie said "when the Pope arrived the air was electric, everyone was screaming and people were even crying. As he drove past us in his pope mobile, a guy I didn't even know picked me up and put me on his shoulders so that I could have a better view. It was random acts of kindness like this that I touched me the most about my time at WYD."

"There was a huge feeling of oneness and everyone was so friendly and accepting. The stations of the cross on Friday were amazing. It was very moving and again, many patrons were reduced to tears."

"Saturday was the day of the pilgrimage to Randwick Racecourse. Carrying all our sleeping bags, mats and extra warm clothes we set out over the harbour bridge for our 9.6 kilometre walk. Walking over the harbour bridge was amazing while walking we met up with the St Edmond's College crew from Canberra and while we walked we sang" said Stephanie.

"9 kilometres is a very long time to be walking but having the Pope at the mass made everything so much more awe inspiring. Being less than 10 metres away from the Pope made everyone's skin shiver in excitement" she said.

"The mass the following morning was inspiring and quite interesting as people all around us were nodding off to sleep after the mass pope Benedict announced that the next world youth day was to be held in Madrid, Spain in 2011."