What a long week this has been and I’m a little overwhelmed to be blogging but here I go!
So much has been happening. This past week we spent at our beloved village, Vatusekiyasawa with our lovely host families and the entire village. We’ve been learning, living and working with the community in a way that most people don’t get to experience in Fiji. Vatuse (for short) had become our… Read More
Fiji has been really; really fun and I think I speak for the rest of us when I say this trip will be an unforgettable experience. Recently the group and I have been staying in a Fijian village to build concrete pathways. Constructing these pathways is really hard work especially when all of the labor has to be done by hand. The process begins with mixing together gravel and dry… Read More
Courtney and Danielle here. We arrived in Fiji last night. We were greeted by frogs, lizards, and bugs. Today, we were stunned when we got to see Fiji in the light. The landscapes are breathtaking and the locals are super friendly as they smile and say bula (which means hello) as we pass them in the streets of Sigatoka. Later today, we will be completing a scavenger hunt in the… Read More
We have finally arrived at our first destination! Fiji, specifically Tumbakula where we are writing this. A bit warmer than home…
Almost every local has been saying “Bula” which means hello making it a very warm and friendly environment.
The amazing thing was the view once we arrived and got off of the plane. A rainbow! hovering over a few amazing palm trees in this tropical paradise.
Something funny and… Read More
Bula from Fiji!!
We survived the long plane ride(s) here, and now we’re in a crazy hot and humid place.
Today we woke up with a view of the ocean and had our first circle as a group by the beach. What a gorgeous place! We are getting to know the country and culture by exploring the city of Sigatoka with our new friends and a scavenger hunt.
We can’t… Read More
Me and Jeff are having a great time so far. We are really excited for the scavenger hunt going on this afternoon and its looking like this will be a great experience.… Read More
Greetings families and friends of the Carpe Diem FANZ Walkabout crew,
I just got word that the whole group has arrived and are settled into their orientation site! They are sleeping since they all just traveled for over 30 hrs to Fiji via Australia. The next blog post will be from the group in the next couple days, stay tuned for news from them in the coming days.
All the… Read More
Hello Family and Friends of FANZ Walkabout group,
Greg and Megan are about to depart the U.S. with their wonderful 9 students. They are all “thumbs up” already about the upcoming adventure. Energy was high and they are all excited to arrive in Fiji soon. Go Team Walkabout!
Sincerely,
Carpe HQ
A picture of the group will be added tomorrow morning!… Read More
Bula bula, FANZ-bound Carpe students!We are thrilled, nay ecstatic, nay TICKLED PINK that we are your trusty leaders for the next 3 months. We have been working oh-so-hard in Stumptown for the last few weeks preppin’ our great adventure (i.e. hitting the tanning salon, getting pedicures, sippin’ on Venti Caramel Macchiatos, and watching obscene amounts of this season of the Bachelor!).NOT!All kidding aside (besides the whole latte … Read More
Hello Parents and followers of Carpe Diem Walkabout FANZ blog,
We just received word from Robbie and Katelyn that the students have departed Cairns, Australia for their long journey back home. This marks the end of this program, but not the end to the growth, friendships, and knowledge gained during these past 3 months. We (including the leaders) wish the best for all participants and hope that everyone will continue… Read More
Hello all you beautiful readers out there! Last week was yet another wonderful Carpe Diem adventure, this time we hopped into our rental van with Robbie and Katelyn at the wheel and set our sights on the Daintree Rainforest for a week full of yoga, meditation, vegetarian food and the occasional tarot card reading. A typical day at Prema Shanti looked something like this, We would wake up and go… Read More
Where do I even begin to describe the unbelievable week we’ve had in the outback. From riding camels (yes there are camels in Austrailia), to sleeping in swags under the stars and cooking our entire meal over the campfire, we’ve truly had the authentic outback camping experience. It all started last Thursday when we were picked up bright and early by our enthusiastic guide Tamara in her safari car, nicknamed… Read More
G’Day Mate!
This week has been our first week in the land down under. We have kicked off Australia volunteering with the CVA (Conservation Volunteers of Australia). We started our orientation at the CVA headquarters in Adelaide, where we found out our projects and where our work sites would be and who was going to which work site, at the deep creek site was Bea, Tera, Emily, Katelyn, Evin and… Read More
Alright, 45 minutes to whip this out. 3, 2, 1, GO.
First of all, this week the group split, our OE the one and only Mr. Robbie Frankle, took the lovely Anna away to Brookfield, a conservation park about four hours from the rest of the group. Two gone, six left to a different park called Deep Creek. Well, the six of us and Rick, the hilarious, dread locked Aussie… Read More
Kia Ora! Or, for English speakers, Hello and good health! Those words were what was said to me immediately by our Maori contact when she picked us up. I was confused, clearly I am not a fluent speaker, and I was so used to Bula! that hearing a language other than Fijian or English was a bit mystifying. But I soon got used to it, as we arrived in the… Read More
For the first time in over a month of travels we are in the comfort of a home again. The smells of morning porridge, the comfort of a warm bed, and the energy of a bustling family. For the past week the Walkabout crew has been WWOOFing (Worldwide Oppprtunities on Organic Farms) on a farm Carpe has visit several times about an hour from Hastings. The experience I’ve had at… Read More
Part of me is wishing I could say Bula to all of you right now, but I am in New Zealand, yet to learn the Maori word for hello. So, try to imagine a Kiwi accent on my Hello! It has been full of twists and turns here for the Walkabout group, but now we have wind back in our sails and are diving fully into this ocean of an… Read More
On behalf of my fellow walkabouters I think I can safely say that we’re going to make the best of our new group arangements and carry of with our heads high and our hopes higher. But before we move foward with our journey I want to take a minute to step back and reflect on our time spent in Vatusekiyaswa. Going into the homestay I don’t think anyone expected to… Read More
Holy cow how the days have been flying! Our stay in Vatusekiyasawa, Fiji was a beautiul and challenging experience. More accounts from the group to come, but wanted to share some pictures below. Late Thursday night we arrived into Auckland and after many obstacles, such as missing luggage, the strictest bio contamination regulations in the world, and uncooperative airport ATMS, Tera (our transport captain for the week) landed us an… Read More
