Well we’ve come to that point when the students wrap up their trip, they fly home, and the leaders regain a sense of what it’s like to exist without a troupe of amazing friends/students to hang with. ~Sigh~

The trip has ended and we’ve all sat back I’m sure to recall the last leg of the trip:

What a fantastic way to end Australia. We flew from Adelaide to Cairns to be greeted by the warm sticky sun that was appropriate for the Tropical North and state of Queensland.  After a quick settling in we started our SCUBA the next day and after a fun filled two days of classroom and pool work we were ready!

Boarded a boat to Fitzroy Islands, as swanky a place as I’ve ever been too!!!. The Island is situated in the Great Barrier Reef and we literally would be diving off the island to preform our tasks and check them off getting closer and closer to our certification. (Okay, taking your mask off at 10m does require a bit of zen mindfulness to keep breathing! through the mouth and never mind that the nose is submerged…!!!)

We all had a blast and were certified and even saw sea turtles and Nemo in the process.

It was  a quick trip back to the mainland (main island?!) to begin the packing process back to the USA.  We all had a FABULOUS last dinner and closing ceremony and after a 3am wake-up the next day the students were back on the plane to the United States… after what seemed like sec and a half of a trip!  Seriously, was it really 3 months long?!  There is truth in the saying “Time flies when your having fun.” Especially with such an amazing, spontaneous, collective, thoughtful, talented, interesting, fun-loving, and all around amazing group of peeps…. yo, gonna miss ya fools!

Signing off for the “official” last time…

“Change is certain. Peace is followed by disturbances; departure of evil men by their return. Such recurrences should not constitute occasions for sadness but realities for awareness, so that one may be happy in the interim.”   -Percy Shelley

Jessica

( here is a smattering of shots from the trip)

Burger and Rachel kayaking in Abel Tasmen National Park, New Zealand

Jessica at the Blue Mountains, AU

Jessica with her new best best friend.

Happiest looking frog you will ever see!

Sunset on Brisy River

The group at the leftover Inland Australian ocean

Sunset with our back to Uluru

Sunrise at Uluru

Ahhh, crazy monster that walks around Uluru at 5am!! Blah!

The group at the leftover Inland Australian ocean

Alligator Gorge

The League!

Going Diving!

Carly and Jessica, Diving Buddies!

Nemo!

Dapper Hank and Will!

Last Hurrah!

Hello All,

First off, I think the group will agree that Groovy Grape was definitely a memorable experience. Not just by the things we saw but also the people that we were with. Our tour guide, Leith, was quite the interesting character and full of energy! A couple mornings we were able to experience him with coffee… almost frightening how energetic he was. Anyways, we started off our journey in Alice Springs. Then we enjoyed a nice hike through Kings Canyon just before sunset and enjoyed a dip in the Garden of Eden. From there we went to Uluru (a giant monolithic rock, the biggest to be exact). We spent the next 2 days hiking around the rock and learning all about the aboriginal culture and history. All family and friends should make sure that they see the wonderful sunrise pictures! Kata Tjuta was the next location, which wasn’t much of a change since it is located right next to Uluru. We did the 7.4km hike around the area before heading back to Uluru for another hike. We headed to Coober Pedy for a day and enjoyed noodling, and seeing and opal museum. Tragically, Rachel missed both of these events because she went to the hospital. (it sucked.) Not to worry though, all was taken care of. Which brings us up to today. This morning we did another little hike around Alligators Gorge before enjoying a nice semi-long road trip into Adelaide. We have a flight into Cairns tomorrow morning and the group will start their SCUBA certifications! Whooo!

Going into our final week – we’ll see you soon.

Burger & Rachel

A quick update from your Walk About Bloggers.  Currently we have completed four days of conservation work about an hour outside of Brisbane near Tawoomba planting trees that are intended to reconnect Koala habitats that have been broken up by farmers.  Our work inlcuded taking mattics or palaskies and clearing out about 4 foot wide circles in the grass, then digging a foot deep hole and finally planting one of four different kinds of trees.  Over the course of the four days we planted just south of 400 trees.  It was an amazing four days as our CVA leaders Jeff and Fabian not only taught us what to do but helped in our task of planting the trees. On the last day before we took off to continue our adventure Jeff invited us to his house to show us some rosebellied cockatoo’s he had raised and adopted. Currently we are back in Brisbane where we will be taking part in some local conservation work before we start heading towards Alice Springs Australia.

It’s your bloggers here with your daily scoop from the South Pacific.  After a memorable four days in Sydney we hopped on a plane to Brisbane this morning where we will be spending a week with the Conservation Volunteers of Australia.  Today we got to spend the day soaking in some sun and BBQ’ing at the South Bank Park and Lagoon/Pool, with some of Justin’s friends from when he lived in Australia many moons ago.  It was a amazing day, as Elia simultaneously tossed a football and children in the pool, while others enjoyed the park’s flea market and conversating with our new friends.  Updates will come as our efforts with the CVA begin tomorrow.  Sorry for the lack of photos recently we have been having some technical difficulties with computers and cameras.  Hope all is well in the States for everyone and we want to wish all a Happy Passover and Easter.  To end this edition of the blog we want to propose to you all a question the group has been struggling with the past few days, “If a tomato is a fruit, is ketchup a fruit smoothie?”

Till Next Time,

Your Blog of Gers

P.S. Hank wants all to know he was not sleeping during MacBeth, but merely resting his eyes for the second act, gosh Will!

Hello all from way Down Under!

We have spent the past few days exploring the (large) city of Sydney! Our group has had basically a second week of free travel as we all enter our final stretch with each other *sob*. Coming from up in the Blue Mountains, it has been nice to delve into the urban scene (and food) these past three days.

Last night we saw a Macbeth performance at the Opera House which was dramatic and as Parker described “better than he had ever imagined”. Hank on the other hand struggled to keep his eyes open at times, Shakespeare can do that to some people after all…

Today on the other hand was no sleeper…We spent the morning at the Wildlife Exhibit feeding Kangaroos, taking pictures with Koala’s and staring at the Funnel Webb Spider! Later that day, some of us continued on to the Aqua Museum where we walked under Nurse, Black Tip and Reef sharks! Soon enough, we will be diving with all of these creatures!

As for now, HASTA LA VISTA Sydney as we fly to Brisbane tomorrow morning!

Best,

Will

After a few plane delays and travel complications we finally made it to Australia! Right away we went to our spiritualy retreat which was a wonderful break from the hectic free travel!  For a few of us we meditated for the first time, we spent a little over a day in silence, (which proved to be tough for a few of us) and had a lot of time to reflect back on the first two months of our trip as well as our own personal lives. 

After four nice calming days we headed to Blackheath where we have been doing some wonderful hikes, or “bush walks”  through the blue mountains and seeing some views that leave you in awe. On the way to Blackheath we saw our first wild kangaroo! It was actually quite exciting. Then once we got to the house we were able to rent (which is right next to the national park and overlooks a big valley) we looked over our porch and saw a huge snake hanging out by the basement.  Australia is definitely keeping us on our toes!

Carly Lobeda

Greetings friends, family and loved ones!

You will be glad to know we had an amazing week of free travel! The group spent the past few days road tripping up the west coast of the southern island, sea kayaking and hiking the Abel Tasman and checking out the Franz Joseph glacier! Oh, can’t forget our “puzzling” adventures and illusions at Puzzle World, New Zealand…

We soon found out how challenging budgeting and managing a week of travel for ten people really is, but I’m proud to say everyone came together as one and got the job done! We rented JUCY VANS and drove, slept, ate and laughed out of them the entire time. Shout-out to Carly and Justin for sleeping outside for a few nights and making the sleeping conditions for the rest more bearable!

As for now, we just arrived in Queenstown and are spending the day unwinding, cleaning ourselves and preparing for our flight to Australia in the morning! Naturally nomadic folks, we are constantly on the move . More to come as we enter our final chapter of this amazing experience.

Will Kiendl