Follow the Journey

Hey guys! We just finished our second to last day of work on Sheila’s farm. This week has gone by so fast and we are sad to see it come to an end. Each day we wake up at 7, eat breakfast and start that days work. The work involves planting trees (720 total), herding cows, feeding baby cows, repairing/building fences, gardening and other various jobs around the farm. We… Read More

For the past 5 days the Hongi group has been staying on a farm on the North Islands of New Zealand. Shela (farm owner) has been having us work everyday from 8 – 12 with jobs such as herding cows, cleaning cow pies, and planting hundreds and hundreds of trees. I can speak for everyone when I say there is not one thing we can complain about. After our working… Read More

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Heeeeyy, it’s Amy checking in. As I’m sure all of you know, we have made our way from Fiji to New Zealand and can I just say how obsessed I am with this country. We started our trip in the wondrous city of Auckland. It’s beautiful and wonderful and I’m moving here once the trip is over. Sorry mom. Gracie and I spent most of the time shopping, it was… Read More

Hey everyone! As was highlighted in previous blog posts, our journey in Fiji has come to an end and we have now begun our New Zealand adventure! After a brief  two day stay in Auckland, we were relocated to the Kotare Trust Marae in Wellsford. A Marae is a place for Maori families to share their culture and heritage amongst themselves and visitors who are interested. We were greeted warmly… Read More

Bula from Fiji, Our group’s stay in beautiful Fiji is coming to a close today.  We spent the last two weeks in the friendly village of Rewasa near the town of Rakiraki on the north side of Viti Levu island.  Our experiences inside the village will always and forever be remembered as a time where two cultures were able to share and take from one an other.  The group’s time… Read More

Hey everyone! We just spent our last few days in the village this week and headed out for our free travel in Nadi this past Wednesday morning. We are now spending some time at a resort in Nadi and have a very early wake up call tomorrow morning to fly out to Auckland! All of us are very excited for a change of scenery but will never forget our beautiful… Read More

Bula bula everyone! We’ve been in Fiji for a little over a week and we are loving it! During the first four days we stayed in pure paradise. The Mango Bay Resort was the perfect place for orientation and to get to know everyone. We left the resort and was a little nervous, but definitely excited about our home stay families. We were very humbled when we saw the homes… Read More

Bula Bula from Rowasa village! Day 10 here in Fiji and we are loving every minute of it. Our group project is coming along great! We have finished on walkway already and are in the process of completing our second. Everyone in the village is super excited and impressed on how fast we completed the first walkway. Not only are we having a great time with everyone in the village,… Read More

We’ve now been in our Fijian village for 4 days and everyone is doing really well so far.  Yesterday we traveled with the village rugby team into town and cheered them on as they won the league championship. Go Green Go!  The group will be heading back into town on Thursday for a visit to the sugarcane mill – stay tuned for an update on Thursday. Much love to all… Read More

Bula  family, Gabrielle and I are sitting in a local internet cafe trying to cool off after doing a little touring around the city. It has been super exciting being off on our own and getting to be fully immersed in the culture. We just left St. Johns school which is located now far from the local market center downtown. It was an incredible feeling and experience for both of… Read More

Bula!Today Gracie and I are exploring the local Fijian City. All the old buildings are run down and smelly but the people are beautiful and would offer us their lives. Every now and than we get pressured into buying jewelry that we dont want, but in the end we love. We got very dope looking sulus that matches the outfits we have packed and we are super excited to explore… Read More

Tia and I have been cruising around a local Fijian village trying to rock out this scavenger hunt assigned by Ryan and Cheridyn.  We are currently completing task number four, posting a blog on the blog site with a super cool picture.  It has been a really awesome experiencing a local Fijian market and working together to complete the scavenger hunt.  We have to purchase historic Fijian clothing while accounting… Read More

Bula bula bula! Me and Pete are scavenger-hunting in the fijian marketplace. So far we’ve managed to snag one sulu at a local boutique, we’re still on the hunt for three more sulus and maybe a sarong for Shelby. Our budget is 50 fijian dollars, or somewhere 25 American dollars. We’ve got a few fijian words down, and we’re trying to use them on our scavenger hunt. We’re having a… Read More

Hellllloooo family, Carpe friends, and everyone in between!   We’re in the midst of a scavenger hunt, our first duty was to buy sulus (traditional skirts worn by men and women in Fijian villages) but we decided to post first 🙂 Rebecca: What can I say? We’re in Fiji having an amazing time on this beautiful island!!! We’ve been staying at the beautiful Mango Bay Resort, which is right on… Read More

Bula! Nothing better then snorkeling in the clear Fijian ocean, Elee told us the hotspot to find blue starfish, coral walls, eels, and many multi colored fish (BEAUTIFUL) the second you hit the water the wild life comes out to be seen, they can just feel your positive energy! Now we’re in the market so stoked to learn about so many new things about this beautiful culture we are so… Read More

Bula! After what must have been a LONG travel day for the group, they have officially checked into Mango Bay Beach Resort, their beautiful beachside orientation site where they will continue getting to know one another better and delving into the nuts and bolts of what makes for an amazing trip! The group had been having sessions on cultural exchange, group agreements, health and safety, and other topics. The group… Read More

Cheridyn, Ryan and the crew have all rendezvoused at the airport minus one student who unfortunately will be meeting the group in Fiji a couple of days late. They have proceeded through security and their flight has departed! Though their flight is a long one, on the other end the Fijian Islands beckon along with a beautiful new adventure. The group was all smiles and laughter as they left and… Read More

Ryan and Cheridyn here!  Getting super excited to “dive” into our upcoming adventure in the South Pacific with all of you, our fellow Hongi adventurers. It has been great to hear all of your voices via phone calls, and again, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns about the trip.  Enjoy this exciting time of preparation and anticipation, and we’ll be waiting for you in the… Read More

Bula Hongi Crew and Family! James and Avy here on a sunny day in Eastern Australia.  We just wanted to take a minute to send out our sincere gratitude to all of the Hongi crew – Brendan, Ana, Tom, Jeff, Andrew, Emma, Lexi, Maddie, and Kailey – and to all of our families and friends back home.  From the shores of Fiji to the farms of New Zealand, from the… Read More