Follow the Journey

Dear Spanky, Zambi, Lucy, Morgan, Biscuit…and friends and family!       This past week we broke up into two groups to work on two different conservation projects.  I was apart of the Erye Pennisula group which was led by Skyeler. This group also included Brian, Zack, Molly, Anna, and Morgan. Before the groups split we watched ” The Story of Stuff,” an informational youtube clip that talked about how we are harming… Read More

Hello from Adelaide! (I would say from Sydney, since that was when this was supposed to be posted, but alas here we are)   Our last week of New Zealand was a whirlwind of incredible sights and car rides along the southern coast of the South Island.  Due to bad weather we had to change our free travel plans last minute, but I think all of us agree that it… Read More

Dear friends, family, and other people who have stumbled across our humble blog somehow, Sorry that this post is a little late.  It was meant to be posted after the farm and before Blue Mountain Adventure Center, but I was caught up in exploring the amazing cities we have been in and kept pushing it off.  Better late than never though, am I right or am I right? Im right.… Read More

After we left the Marae, we headed to National Park Village and stayed in a hostel there for the night. The next morning, we got picked up to go to Blue Mountain Adventure Center in Raurimu, the next stop on our journey. We started off the afternoon with a few team building activities, involving tires and planks of wood and wooden mushrooms, and then we did a high ropes course… Read More

Greetings from New Zealand! This week the Hongi group has had the privilege of staying and working as WWOOFers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) at Ruaway farm, owned and run by our hosts Claire, David, Craig, and Mike Carey. Ruaway Farm not only has some of the most breathtaking scenery in New Zealand but it also is one of the four largest organic dairy farms in the country.      This week… Read More

I just want to take a minute and write a little about a friend of mine before I get to the blog.  Ori Gutin is an individual you all need to meet.  He is hands down the best guy Ive ever met.  Nice, funny, kind, loving, caring, handsome, and charming.  If you havent gotten the chance to meet Ori, youre missing out.  Now onto the blog… Greetings from New Zealand!!… Read More

Bula vinaka (a warm welcome) from Nadi, Fiji! Anna here with a quick update (since we have a group dinner soon), so apologies for any typos and/or lack of detail. We just got to Nadi (the city) today and are taking the day off to rest and relax before we fly out to Auckland, New Zealand, tomorrow! It’s the first time we’ve gotten access to the Internet since the last… Read More

Family and Friends,   Ben here to let you know that we have arrived!! We crossed the infamous date line and missed Friday, arriving bright and early on Saturday morning at 5:30am. We slowly made our way to a local bus to take us to where we were staying which unexpectedly took us on a beautiful two hour scenic drive which was full of awe (and some sleep) of the… Read More

In Maori, the indigenous language of New Zealand the word Hongi literally means breathe of Life.  When you enter a Maori community you press your nose to everyone’s there, one by one, and share a breath together.  This marks the point where you are no longer strangers and visitors, but part of the land and community and obliged to take part in it.   It is with that spirit that Carpe… Read More

What up 2012 Hongi crew:  Zachary, Ben, Annie, Anna, Michael, Katie, Morgan, Maddie, Ori, Brian, and Molly !!! We hope you have been enjoying the last icy gasps of winter and are psyched for our South Pacific adventure.   We leave in six days! This is our group trip blog, a site where all of your friends, family and random stalkers will be able to keep track of our movements and… Read More

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So, it turns out if you’re on a boat for too long you become rather socially awkward. Shocking, right? Well, aside from the painful silences that accompanied several of the Cairns Dive Centre staff’s unfortunate jokes all too often, the occasional sea sickness and abrupt shortage of running water, the dive week was fantastic! (And I really do mean that.) I think I can speak for the entirety of our… Read More

Hello everyone! We have just arrived in Cairns after an impecable journey through the outback with our amazing tour guide Steve that we acquired through the company Groovy Grape! Our travels began when we arrived in a quaint little town called Alice Springs. As we filled up the bus that seated twenty one, we had no idea how excited and positive Steve was about his job. Our days were filled… Read More

First off i would like to apologize for the delay in this posting. I attempted to finish it before our Outback excursion but now here i am. This is the entry for Team Awesome, which includes Krysten, Caroline, Ruby, Avery, Dan and Myself (Matt). After getting picked up in Brisbane, we headed to our destination of Tenterfield, New South Wales. Since Queensland (where Brisbane is) doesnt use daylight savings time,… Read More

After a blissful and refreshing week chanting mantras and grasping at the deepest meanings of our conciousness we have reentered the “real world”.   Brisbane welcomed us with opportunities galore however we had a date with the Conservation Volunteers Australia.  Our group was divided in half to work on two seperate projects.  My group included myself, Greta, Allistair, Trent, Casey, Francesca, and Katie (so if youre child or friend or aquaintence… Read More

Hehe, I love puns. Hey America! Well, after a bustling three days in Sydney, the Mangrove Satyananda Yoga Ashram has been a welcome change of pace for many of us. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Jay and Chatan, who graciously walked us through the beautiful campus and divided the group into our respective living arrangements (thankfully, these rooms did not harbor any disagreeable odors; I cannot say the… Read More

We have finally safely arrived in Australia, all excited and all healthy. 🙂 As a group we never stop going, once off the plane we made our way to Kings Cross with some interesting shuttle rides to say the least. As many of us noticed Sydney was not quite what we expected. We all felt a bit at home in our cities with the 7/11’s on every street corner and… Read More

We spent a peaceful 24 hours in Queenstown getting last minute things for our planned trek to Kepler near Te Anu. Then We got the news that due to the recent snowfall Kepler was impassable and they weren’t allowing anyone to start the trek. Since we only had a limited amount of time for our free travel we made a snap decision to attempt to change all of our plans… Read More