Follow the Journey

After a few plane delays and travel complications we finally made it to Australia! Right away we went to our spiritualy retreat which was a wonderful break from the hectic free travel!  For a few of us we meditated for the first time, we spent a little over a day in silence, (which proved to be tough for a few of us) and had a lot of time to reflect… Read More

Greetings friends, family and loved ones! You will be glad to know we had an amazing week of free travel! The group spent the past few days road tripping up the west coast of the southern island, sea kayaking and hiking the Abel Tasman and checking out the Franz Joseph glacier! Oh, can’t forget our “puzzling” adventures and illusions at Puzzle World, New Zealand… We soon found out how challenging… Read More

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The FANZ Walkabout group has just completed a four day stint at the Blue Mountain Adventure Centre in National Park, New Zealand.  The week was amazing as our guides Bevan and Simon took us all over the area doing awesome activities.  Activities included a high ropes course, white water rafting, caving, kayaking, canyoneering, jumping waterfalls, repelling or also known as abseiling and some leadership building activities.  Highlights from the week… Read More

Hello from PJ and Tom’s farm! We arrived at the farm on Friday around midday, and will be here until Saturday the 10th for the Blue Mountain Adventure Center. Each day we have been broken up into small groups of two in order to complete daily tasks assigned to us. Day one was pretty rough with the wind and rain but we all chugged on through. The two Adams went… Read More

Greetings from Rabulu, Fiji! We have spent the past few weeks living, eating and sleeping in our new home and what an experience it has been! It is safe to say our group has really been put to the test of adapting to a completely different culture than the comfort of our homes in the States…With great rewards! After a day of getting settled into our home-stays, we immediately delved… Read More

After meeting at a McDonalds in LAX, a 10 1/2 hour flight and a phenomenal stay at the Mango Bay Resort the Walkabout group is on their way to the Romulu village.  Our first four days on our journey through the South Pacific were a bit of a vacation as we were able to swim in the ocean, kayak, snorkel, make coconut jewelry and watch Polynesian  fire dancers as we… Read More

Just a quick hello from Fiji to all our fans in the Carpe Diem family.  The group has safely arrived to Fiji.  Orientation is going super well at Mango Bay and other than the occasional rain the weather is great and pretty mild.  The group is shaping up nicely and Justin and Jessica are feeling the vibe of a big love fest already.  Get ready for memories and life long… Read More

Its official!  The group is all together, bags are checked, smiles are prolific, they are through the gates, and in about 30 minutes they will embark on a very, very long flight to Nadi, FIji! A journey of a 1000 miles begins with one step – 8 new travel companions along with Jessica and Justin just took that very first step.  On the surface the journey will take them through… Read More

And so begins a wonderful semester!  The group is together and giddy with excitement about these next three months.  Everyone’s met at the airport … sadly, one of the women had to bow out at the last minute because of an unexpected medical issue – so we wish her the best and speediest of recoveries and hope she can share in this journey if only by following you all in… Read More

At least you will once we embark on this exciting adventure!     Justin and Jessica here in Portland, OR.  We are scurrying around to finalize the details for our amazing journey.  We’ve spoken to all of you as an introduction and to go over the important details of prep, packing, and placement (at the LAX airport).  You should also have emergency phone numbers for the day of travel.  Check… Read More

Our time down undahh and as a group has come to an end.  Annie and Rita here blogging to everyone at home for the last time in Cairns, Australia.  We just got back into Cairns today from Fitzroy Island and it was a wonderful two days and nights to spend in a really really reallly nice resort with amazing facilities… For our last day all together we enjoyed a nice… Read More

So we start our week in Carins* going to a scuba school and meeting our instructors, Matt and Dave where they thought us for 2 days the risks and rewards of scuba diving. After the first day we had loads of homework due the next day, We had to read a whole book and fill out questions for the scuba certification test. We had a ton of fun with our… Read More

Hayden and Dylan wishing everyone at home a Happy Thanksgiving. It has been a very pensive week here in Australia as we have been staying at the Chenrezig Buddhist retreat center. Before arrival we got a quick briefing of customs and practices of buddism and the expected behavior while attending the retreat, which includes living alongside spiders which has proven to be quite a challenge for some. It also began… Read More

Hey everybody, it’s Annie and Blair from ALICE SPRINGS! We just finished up our week long bus tour with Groovy Grape through the Australian Outback! Last Monday our tour guide, Steve, picked us up at 6:45 AM from the YHA. We had a long day on the bus and visited a cave with Aboriginal art inside. That night we stayed in Angorichina Village in the Flinders Ranges, a location soliders… Read More

Franny and Sadie here reporting from Adelaide, having just returned from an amazing week of working with CVA (Conservation Volunteers Australia). For the first time in the trip we were separated into smaller groups in order to conquer more tasks in the duration of the week. Group 1: was Justin, Ozzy, Dylan, Frances, Hayden, Liz, and Rita. And group 2: Allison, Mike, Connie, Blair, Sadie, and Annie. We said our… Read More

Hey guys, it’s Blair and Rita again from AUSTRALIA! We never got a chance to recap on our few days in Sydney so here you go! We left Queenstown, New Zealand and arrived in Sydney last Thursday. We loved the opportunity to explore the city and see all of the exciting events going on. On Friday, we all took a ferry over to Cockatoo Island to check out the awesome… Read More

We MADE IT!! Blair and Rita reporting to all of you folks at home that we actually made it through a 4-day treck on the South Island of NZ. We decided all last minute that we where gonna do the Kepler Treck and it all worked out wonderfully. We spent 4 days trecking up and down the big mountains and it was just about 7 hours of hiking a day.… Read More