Friday 25th October 2024

Wake-up call on Friday will be at 5:20am.

You’ll need to quickly pack-up your belonging and put them on the luggage transport trucks.  Make sure your luggage is all labelled with your details, and the correctly coloured tag.  There won’t be much time after mass before we depart, so make sure you’re ready to walk before you go to Mass.

Mass will commence at 6:00am. Breakfast will be served immediately after Mass outside the Cathedral.  Breakfast will be porridge, cereals, fruits, and bread, washed down with tea and coffee.

Once you’ve had breakfast, gather with your bag at the front of the St Patrick’s Cathedral for the traditional blessing.  The pilgrimage will depart the Cathedral immediately following the blessing.

The first leg of the pilgrimage is an easy 10km walk out of Ballarat’s CBD, through Ballarat Cemetery, and into the neighbouring state forest for morning.  Morning tea will be at about 11:00am at a clearing in the state forest.  Sit back and enjoy your fruit and muesli bars while listening to a stirring sermonette from one of our guest priests.

Refreshed by morning tea, you’ll then walk another 9km to through the State Forest for lunch by the lake at about 1:30pm.  Lunch will be tasty vegetarian sandwiches freshly made by our team of volunteers.

Refreshed by an hour’s break and a good feed, we will depart our lake-side lunch stop at about 2:30pm.  We’ll walk for around 8 Km to Kingston for afternoon tea at about 4:20pm.  As we approach Kingston, you will be walking along the spectacular tree-lined avenue of honour, dedicated to those who fought in World War I.  As you rest your feet under the oak trees, you will also hear another fiery fervorino from another of our guest priests.

From Kingston, we walk the final leg of 7km to arrive at Smeaton at 6:30pm for dinner and a well-earned sleep.  Before tucking in, you should find your luggage and set-up your tent (if you’re camping).  Its much easier to do this while it is still light.

Friday night is vegetarian night on Pilgrimage.  Our volunteer caterers will be serving up vegetarian curry, rice and pasta bake, rounded off with mountains of salad. 

Female pilgrims and boys under the age of 12 will be sleeping in the hall at the Smeaton Bowling Club.

Male pilgrims over the age of 12 will be camping in a nearby farmer’s field. If you’re camping, make sure you’ve bought your tent or swag, and set-it up before having dinner.

Please note that there are very limited (cold) shower facilities at the Smeaton Bowling Club.  You might want to bring some wet wipes to help freshen up.

The day will end with Compline at 9:00pm.