The final blog...

Hey all,

Was it really just a two weeks ago we were sweating buckets in the intense Port Douglas heat, and exploring a totally foreign underwater world? Seems so distant as all of a sudden it gets dark at 4:00 and we are surrounded by all this snow...

How can one sum up such an incredible three months, the journeys we went on, the people we have encountered, the changes we have undergone. Needless to say this was the trip of a lifetime, for us leaders as much as for you as students. From the Bula's in Fiji to the G'days in Australia with some of the Hongi in between we truly have had some remarkable experiences. Throughout our time together you have all worked so hard and contributed so much and we wanted to say how great it has been, how proud we are.

Now that the culture shock is subdued, and we have had some much needed TLC from mom, we hope you all take some time to reflect on our recent travels.

A hearty thanks to all the readers who have been subscribing to this blog along the way and to all those who have taken part in sending us on this amazing adventure.

We look forward to hearing from all of you as you continue to learn and grow through whatever your next step is. We wish you all the best in your lives and all of your future travels.

Happy Holidays!

Much Love (and Lunch)

Drew and Karen

Home Stretch!

It's been a very busy two weeks! It began with the group being split into two different groups for our work with the CVA (Conservation Volunteers Australia): Group one consisted of Alana, Chris, Annie, and Lindsay. Group two was Tracy, Ryan, Sarah, and Zach. It was a surprise to us all, and it was really weird splitting up the group after having been together for so long!

Alana, Chris, Annie and I (Lindsay) headed out to Port Victor where we stayed in a beach house, and spent our days driving around to other towns and doing much needed work in local parks in beaches. We cut down invasive plants that were suffocating the native plants in the area. The one thing we were most surprised about was the massive amount of flies that seem to lack an idea of personal space. For meals, we split into groups of two and took turns cooking different dishes everynight, an amazing toca dish, tuna and plenty of pasta ! But for free time we were lucky enough to have Drew push us to jog on the pier everyday, as well as have tons of fun on the local playground. Plus we had the guilty pleasure of a dvd player and tons of dvd's to watch at night after a hard days work out in the sun!

Group two, Tracy, Ryan, Zach, and I (Sarah) went to an old mining town called Burra, where we spent the week looking for a rare species of lizard called the Pygmy Blue Tongue. Up until ten years ago, they were thought to be extinct, but small populations have been found. Our job was to try and find some new territory. This basically involved walking around looking in spider holes (which most of the time contained huge, nasty looking trapdoor spiders), but occasionally we got lucky! Our accomodation was pretty nice, we stayed in apartments with kitchens and nice beds. When we weren't working we went to look at the old miner's dugouts, the jail, and other historical sights.

After the group reunited we had a day off and then woke up bright and early to begin our Groovy Grape desert adventure! The first day, we spent about fourteen hours in the bus, with occasional screeching stops where our guide, Clancy, would jump out of the bus to capture some sort of reptile. We also stopped to see some aboriginal cave paintings, which date back thousands of years, and are made with ochre, which is yellow, white, or red. They're usually used to tell 'Dreamtime' (the Aboriginal's creation time) stories, to depict important rituals, or simply to point out the location of waterholes and food sources. That night we ate kangaroo around a campfire in a tourist village in the middle of nowhere.

The second day we were in the car for even longer. There were no stops, but we finally arrived at our destination and we spent a refreshing night sleeping under the stars, which are completely visible and absolutely beautiful.

The next day we got to sleep in (which it turns out was much needed: we woke up for sunrise for the rest of the week). We headed to Cooberpiti, which is Aboriginal for "White Man's Burrow." Basically, in the nineteenth century, large deposits of opal were discovered. To escape from the wretched heat, the miners began to build their houses underground. The temperature remains the same no matter what, and they're actually really comfortable. From above ground, you can tell how many rooms a house has by how many metal poles (air vents) are sticking out of the ground. We stayed in an underground hotel called "Bedrock" which was fittingly reminiscent of the Flinstones. We went out for pizza and had a relaxing night.

We woke up for sunrise that morning, and headed to Uluru, the famous "Big Red Rock." We stopped at the Breakaway cliffs, which are colored from the ochre they contain, and we watched the sunrise. On the way we went into an Aboriginal village to see their art center, which was beautiful. We arrived at Uluru at around sunset and watched it at a lookout point.

Four AM was our lovely wakeup time the following morning. This is for a good reason though: it simply gets too hot to do anything after around ten o'clock, and everything gets really crowded. We watched the sunrise with about 400 other tourists and then went for a hike around Uluru. The creation stories were all around the rock, which is an incredibly sacred site for the Aboriginals. It's the grounds for important coming-of-age rituals for both boys and girls. The men and women have different sacred areas, which out of respect for their law, they never enter, and when they walk past the other's sacred sites they avert their eyes. We then went through a small museum talking about aboriginal art and the Dreamtime.

The next day was nearly the same but we hiked Katijuda instead. It's much bigger than Uluru, and entirely unique: the name stands for "many heads." We spent the rest of the day swimming (in the 105 degree weather) and then driving to our next location.

The last day we all worked really hard to create a beautiful thanksgiving dinner, complete with chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, casserole, gravy, peas and carrots, fruit cake, apple pie, icecream, and tons of little treats, like candy cane and chocolate. The girls decorated the table with flowers and made place cards, and set up candles. We were lucky enough to have a german couple, a british man, and two australians with us to celebrate the holiday! After dinner we went around at the bonfire and said what we were thankful for.

Now we're headed to Cairnes for the final stretch of our trip, where we'll learn to scuba dive in the legendary great barrier reef!

So, we're currently sitting in what's known as the "Big Love Cafe" here at the Chenrezig Institute. The meals are huge (and healthy...) and we love our motel style suites, which keep out the multiple species of highly poisonous everythings that live in Australia. We were all a little bleary-eyed upon our arrival, due to the highly comfortable all night train ride, but we were served a delicious pasta dish and lots of free coffee and tea.

Our first night, we went to a ceremony for Tara, a figure who portrays the Buddha's more feminine nature. There was lots of chanting and fast muttering that none of us could keep up with, periodically interrupted by exciting crashing and banging noises... nonetheless, it was otherworldly and enchanting to listen to. Even better: they served us the best chai tea in the world halfway through the ceremony, and gave us a big slice of chocolate cake at the end!

Since then, we've been doing yoga, getting the background of Buddhism, and today we had our first meditation course. There's plenty of rest time where we're free to explore the rainforest here.. on a side note, up until the seventies, Chenrezig was just a bare hill side where cattle grazed, but with the help of some volunteer students, 30 acres rainforest, complete with the rain and the animals, was born!

We're spending the rest of today walking through the garden of enlightenment, and let's not forget Lindsay's birthday festivities!

We are currently in Sydney, after a fairly laid back week in Lyttelton. We did a few days of work for the department of conservation, clearing off a stone wall, which was completely hidden by trees and other plants.

We also visited Kokoratata, where there was a group of boys and men aged eight to fifty. These men were at this establishment in order to become more connected with their native Maori Culture. They learned how to perform "hakas" (a very intimidating war dance). We had to each stand and tell them our mountain, river, town, state, and if we knew, our ancestry. In turn they told us their personal reasons for being there and what they had gained. We also took out one of their traditional canoes and learned the different strokes... it was a beautiful day, and we all had a lot of fun splashing and racing towards the pier. All in all it was a really pleasant experience; we all felt really comfortable and welcomed there.

We also went to a reservation called Raupaki, where they were going through communal mourning for their town hall, which they were tearing down in order to rebuild. The town hall, in Maori culture, is considered sacred, and is viewed as a living component in their community. We attended a church service, and at the end the elders stood and each went through all of their ancestors and their memories of these people. After that we at a meal that was cooked in the ground in the traditional fashion.

The rest of the week we had a lot of down time to hang out in Lyttelton. Halloween was a blast. The Halloween Commitee consisting of Lindsay and Tracy provided us with a plethora of treats as well as an interesting competition. The competition pitted teams of two against each other to see who could dress their partner as the opposite sex most effectively. This had some absolutely hilarious results. Zach, aka "Candy" and Annie, or Travis, stole the show. We walked around the town in these outfits, much to the confusion of the locals. We concluded the night by watching a few horror movies.

While in Sydney we split up into pairs to complete a scavenger hunt that led us to all of the important landmarks around the city. It took us all day and when it came to a draw, Drew and Karen treated us to some Thai food.

Yesterday we had the day to roam. We went to the aquarium, which had some awesome glass tunnels going through a shark tank. We also saw a platypus, and had a preview of the great barrier reef. Last night we all met up at the Opera House to see a contemperary adaptation of Shakespeare's play, Titus Andronicus. It was a little gory but really well done, and we all really enjoyed it.

Tonight we head for Brisbane on an overnight train. We'll update again soon!

THE GREAT OUTDOORS!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, we are currently in Lyttleton, which is right outside of Christchurch. We have a nice kitchen and comfortable beds, which is awesome after two insane weeks of intense outdoor activity!

To kick off our adventures, we went to the OPC, as was mentioned in the previous blog. The objective of OPC is to give students a chance to explore their leadership abilities and to push themselves outside of their comfort zones. The center also maintains a policy called "Leave No Trace" ethics, which basically entails a conscious effort to preserve the beautiful landscapes of New Zealand.

Our leader, Matt, wasted no time testing our group's ability to work together. We were presented with various scenarios, such as being stranded on the titanic (i.e. a wooden platform) and using a rope to swing safely to a "life raft," or getting all of us through a tire suspended ten feet in the air with no props besides our bodies. Basically, these activities forced us to cooperate with one another and explore each other's strengths and weaknesses.

After that we climbed a mountain in the Tangirero National Park area, neighboring the famous Mt. Doom (from Lord of the Rings, if you don't know already.) We appointed leaders throughout the day for each leg of the hike... we, as leaders, were in charge of leading the group up and down the mountain with a map and compass (and a little guidance from Matt). To get up the mountain, rather than hiking, we actually had to "scramble", or climb, up a rocky gully. When we got to the top there was an incredibly rewarding view and SNOW! The trip down was a lot of fun... we basically slid down the entire first half and the second half involved forcing our way through dense foliage and jumping down muddy chutes. Needless to say, we all emerged covered in dirt and plants.

The next day we had an interesting experience kayaking... the water was freezing and some of us couldn't figure out how to control our kayaks. Eventually we got the hang of it and Matt decided that we were ready to try surfing our kayaks down rapids using our paddle as a rudder... hilarity ensued. The second half of day two, many of us faced our fears as we entered a dark and mildly claustrophobia-inducing cave. We had to face many obstacles, such as the Panini Press, the Toaster, the Birth Canal, and Pooh Bear's Crack, with obvious implications. When we thought it was time to emerge, our leaders decided it was prime time to leave us in the cave with some basic knowledge and have us work our way out ourselves, with a half an hour time limit. We followed the underwater river against the current, knowing that it flowed into the cave and after a few trials and errors, emerged into the daylight after only twenty minutes.

Many of us have a fear of heights, so the third day was the most psychologically difficult. At the high ropes courses we walked across swinging bridges, the tight ropes, and a particularly frightening ordeal called the "Monkey Tails," all fifty feet above the ground. The finale was the Big Swing. To get there you have to climb a rock wall sixty feet high, and then hook ourselves to some wires, and... jump! The reactions were priceless. The day ended with a little fun on the zip line. We had some good laughs when we left Tracy hanging over the gorge unaware of her fate as a plastic bag of water sped down the line towards her. She sadly had no escape, and was pulled back to the platform soaking wet.

Day four was the overnight. We all brought group supplies in our backpacks. This was the most taxing day by far. Starting at 9 am we walked in the rain through rapids, slippery rocks, and dense New Zealand bush. At about three we finally reached dry land... but no sign of a trail. At this point, the leader had to use a map and a compass to guide us through the forest to find the path that would lead us to our campsite. Without much incident, we arrived tired and hungry for a delicious macaroni dinner... alas, none of us had the foresight to bring utensils nor dishes. We ended up drinking macaroni out of water bottles or simply eating it with our hands. The next morning we woke up bright and early to head back to OPC. Before we could shower and eat though, we had one last challenge to conquer: the Seesaw. Basically you need to get all of the group members across a 10' x 5' giant seesaw without letting the platform touch the ground, not even once. Earlier in the week we tried the same challenge, which resulted in much confusion and frustration for everyone, and with no luck. But after a week of working with each other, we devised a method that encompassed every person's best abilities and we triumphed!

When we flew to Queenstown, we had a few hours of rest and relaxation before preparing for our next excursion. We didn't get our fill of outdoor exploration at OPC so we packed our bags again and set off on the Greenstone/Upper Caples trails for four days of tramping. Basically we walked eight miles a day on average, utilizing similar leadership tactics from the previous week. The scenery was absolutely indescribable... Whether on top of a snowy mountain or walking through the sunlit valleys, we experienced something truly unforgettable. We really came together as a group, which has now allowed for Drew and Karen to take a step back and allow us to make the remainder of this trip our own.

This week we're looking forward to working with the conservation department and also getting to know a little bit more about the Maori culture. You'll be hearing from us soon! :)

PS- Alana had an awesome birthday, she wanted you to know.

Hello again from the OZ trip.

Well, the WOOF Farm is absolutely amazing, tough work, but very very fun. We have already been here for a week and in that week we have mostly been planting trees. In three days, we planted a total of 1200 trees. To plant the trees, we had to first use a grubber (pick axe) to dig a small hole maybe 5 inches deep and then the planters place the plant in and cover it up with dirt. After that comes the hard part. There was a huge mulch pile at the bottom of the hill which we were planting on. We had to fill up a trailer full with maybe 2-3 shovelers and then tow it up the hill where 2-3 more people would scoop out all of the mulch with buckets and hand it over the fence where the mulchers would make a ring around the plants. That was mostly what we did for the week of work.

New Zealand is absolutely beautiful. Every single picture that any of us have taken does not look real. The Sky's are picture perfect, but not always blue. It has been fairly rainy here for a couple days, but the last two were great. perfect weather, but still kind of cold.

One day after work we all went to the hot springs and marinated in the pools for a good 2 hours and loved it. It was the perfect temperature and also at the park there was a water slide which was too much fun. We always had little battles and races in the slide to see who would come out first and most of the time drew would win. The hot springs were a great way to relax after a hard days work.

Now we are leaving for our next destination which is the OPC (Outdoor Pursuit Center) in Tongariro National Park which by the sounds of it will be challenging, but looks like a good time ahead.

We arrived in Aukland a few days ago, and it was a great recharge to be in a big city after Nananu. We had some relaxing time, did a little bit of shopping, ate a lot of food. We all bought clean clothes, which felt good after wearing the same dirty outfits for the first few weeks. Aukland is such a beautiful city. It was great just to walk around and get a feel for the city. It's very different from the USA in that it was rare to see a person walking alone or on a cell phone; this city is much more social than home. We visited an art gallery, where we got to see some interesting photographs, and we got to learn a lot about the Maori culture, which was really cool. We took a ferry one day to Devonport, where we walked up a volcano, which had a beatiful view of the surrounding islands and the city of Aukland. We walked around Devonport to another volcano, and we slid down the hill on a piece of cardboard, which massacred most of the people who went down. But it was a very good time. On our last night, we went up to the top of the sky tower, which, for people who are afraid of heights, was mortifying. We got a witness a spectacular view of Aukland and of the sunset. Then after dinner, we all went to see a movie, Wall-E, which was very light-hearted and funny. These few days in Aukland have been great; we did go back to our old habits for some time, but after talking together, we were able to step back and see how the change from Nananu to a bigger city affected us. Now that we realized this, we will be able to avoid reverting back to our habits from home. We are now headed for the Woofing farm, where we will spend a week on an organic farm; we are all looking forward to working hard.