Written by Mary and Sushi, Overseas Educators on the Carpe Diem gap year Australia New Zealand South Pacific semester 2024 Our beloved belayers, queens of the Daintree, goddesses of Aotearoa, BBs. Our dearest SOPAC ’24, Wow, what an incredible, magical journey we have embarked on together through the South Pacific. We are so proud of each and every one of you for the leadership, the growth, the openness, the… Read More

  Written by JT and Gabe, students on the Carpe Diem gap year New Zealand adventure South Pacific semester at Whenua Iti What’s New in Our Journey? So many things happened this week, as Whenua Iti was packed with incredible experiences. We got to sea kayak in a fierce rainstorm and treacherous waters, participated in a high ropes course, walked 12 miles in Able Tasman National Park, spent time caving… Read More

  Written by Julia M and Clivia, students on the Carpe Diem gap year New Zealand farm volunteer program near Napier and Wellington What’s New in Our Journey? This past week, we volunteered at the Hart Family Farm, a livestock farm near Napier. We learned about sustainable agriculture practices and humane livestock farming from Greg and Rachel, who have owned the farm for almost thirty years! Along with Greg and… Read More

  Written by Ash and Grace, students on the Carpe Diem gap year New Zealand Maori culture program in Raglan, Waitomo, and Lake Taupo What’s New in Our Journey? Hello there from your LOW’s, Ash and Grace! We are sad to say we have left Raglan but are happy to report the many fun activities that have taken place since the last blog. Starting off, we took a trip to… Read More

Written by Ash and Clivia, students on the Carpe Diem gap year New Zealand Maori culture program in Raglan and Wellington What’s New in Our Journey? After a few wonderful weeks in Australia, we continued our journey by hopping on a plane to New Zealand! We flew from Cairns to Auckland, and then from Auckland to Wellington. We crashed in Wellington for the night, after wandering aimlessly through the streets… Read More

  Written by JT and Julia M, students on the Carpe Diem gap year Australia Great Barrier Reef scuba diving program in the South Pacific semester What’s New in Our Journey? This week the SoPac group got to explore the Great Barrier Reef and earn our scuba certifications! We spent time building a connection to the water and learning how to navigate the depths safely. We grew physically and mentally,… Read More

Written by Grace and Gabe, students on the Carpe Diem gap year Australia Daintree program volunteering at ClimateForce in the South Pacific semester What’s New in Our Journey? Hello from your friends Gabe and Grace, the current leaders of the week! It has been a whole week since the last blog, and boy oh boy, are there updates! Starting off the week, we completed our second food shop of the… Read More

Written by South Pacific Students, Caroline and Susannah What’s New in Our Journey? Hello, world!! Greetings from your Leaders of the Week, Caroline and Susannah. We’ve had another great week here in the Daintree Rainforest and are excited to share our adventures with you. We started our week at SheOak Ridge and continued our work with our lovely hosts, Claire and Marcus. We took down a wallaby pen, put up… Read More

Written by Grace and Caroline, students on the Carpe Diem gap year Australia Daintree rainforest program at SheOak Ridge in the South Pacific semester What’s New in Our Journey? After our long flights, we safely arrived in Cairns! Mary and Sushi bravely drove on the opposite side of the road for the first time and got us to our lovely hostel. For lunch, we ventured to our first Australian shopping… Read More

Written by Mary and Sushi, Overseas Educators on the Carpe Diem gap year Australia New Zealand South Pacific semester Hello, SoPac Cohort 2024! We are super excited to journey with you this semester in Australia & New Zealand! 😊 Mary (she/her) and Sushi (she/they) here, your Overseas Educators! Mary is thrilled to be returning to Carpe Diem, as she loves to travel, share her passions for ecology and anthropology, and… Read More

Written by South Pacific Overseas Educators, Soumya & Forrest To my beloved superpoopers, We came together like the Daintree River and parted ways many moons later like its many tributaries. Along the way, we lived and laughed through seventy beautiful, challenging, sweaty, hilarious, eye-opening, wild and wonderful days. There are so many moments I look back on… a befuddling, chaotic few hours at the Sydney airport when we realized we’d… Read More

Written by South Pacific Students, Madeleine N. & Treavor O. Our group traveled to our last contact, Whenua Iti. We spent the next 9 days caving, hiking and sea kayaking. With our leaders Joe and Michael, we participated in many group bonding activities; we learned more about the Maori culture through these activities. What have been the three highlights of the week? 🪨 Caving – We went to a cave… Read More

Written by South Pacific Students, Asa & RJ We drove from Raglan down to Wellington over a few days while doing a practice run of our student directed travel. We spent a day in a very culturally significant museum in Wellington before we departed towards the South Island. What have been the three highlights of the week? 🌎 The first highlight of the week was on our first day of… Read More

Written by South Pacific Students, Talia M. & Madeleine N. Over the past week we had our final stretch outside of Raglan with the Māori. We spent time with knowledgeable Māori community members, Tiaki and Madisyn. We also spent two days at the home Rob and Rangi Marie who combine many Native American and Māori beliefs and customs. What have been the three highlights of the week? 🏄🏽‍♀️ Our group… Read More

Written by South Pacific Students, Stella K. and Asa P. Post Hart Farm, we got back on the road and headed to Tangariro National Park for a waterfall hike, mini golf, and a wide view of Mount Doom. Next up: Raglan! We found our way to the maraes to learn about the Maori culture and immerse ourselves in a new lifestyle, making new friends along the way all the while.… Read More

Written by South Pacific Students, Andy & Kyla We arrived at the Hart family farm in New Zealand. This is where we met Greg and Rachel, the amazing hosts that run the cattle farm we worked on. Every morning, part of the group would go with Greg and do the animal related chores such as weighing and herding cattle, feeding pigs and chickens, and driving around on the yute with… Read More

Written by South Pacific Students, Josie G. and Nolan S. We continued our journey at ClimateForce, immersing ourselves in the magic that is the Daintree rainforest. We’ve been mixing our time with physical work for ClimateForce (weeding, fence making, beach cleanups and tending to their tree nursery), learning about environmental careers and the research that ClimateForce does (workshops with plant and seed identification, conversations with ClimateForce employees, and being able… Read More

Written by South Pacific Students, Treavor O. & Tasha B. With our instructors, Martin and Chad, we were able to get certified in scuba diving. We spent one day learning in a pool and two days scuba diving in the magical great barrier reef. After our tiring, but rewarding, three days, we come up to the Daintree. We met the CEO of ClimateForce, Barney and his team. We planted trees,… Read More

Written by South Pacific Students, Talia M. and RJ L. We spent last week at the lovely Sheoak Ridge in the Daintree rainforest. Hosted by Claire and Marcus, two passionate and accomplished conversationalists. We had some amazing wilderness experiences including cuddles with wallabies and educational nature walks. What have been the three highlights of the week? 🐱 Getting to have unique and immersive wildlife interactions were definitely some highlights, from… Read More

Written by South Pacific Overseas Educator, Forrest On September 20th, thirteen strangers got on a plane with the intent of making their way to Cairns, Australia. After a 15 hour flight the group decided they liked Sydney so much that they’d stay there a little while. We spent two days in Sydney napping away jetlag, exploring Bondi Beach, playing games, and posing in front of the Sydney Opera House. We… Read More