Hey all! We had a great time on the Groovy Grape with our new enthusiastic companion, Steve, (BRILLIANT!). We started off our journey through the Outback by driving over to Uluru a.k.a. “Ayer’s Rock”, the biggest attraction in the Outback. We spent two days here and on the second night we got to experience a once in a life time opportunity of a thunderstorm over Uluru. The next day we… Read More
G’day Mates! Unfortunately after spending a wonderful time at the Maori, it came to say goodbyes. With tears and laughter, we departed Otoko Pa by taking a four hour bus ride to Wellington. Once we arrived to Wellington, we as a group decided that we were going to save money and stay the night at the train station to catch an extremely early flight the following morning. But little did we… Read More
Howdy yall! We have had a very busy week since you last heard from us. We started off in Rotorua relaxing before we took off for the Maori restoration project. During that time we went zorbing. For those of you that don’t know what zorbing is, it’s where individuals leap into a giant hampster ball spritzed with water and are pushed down a hill. Silly boys, Ross and Penrod forced… Read More
After a night in the ghostown that was Wellington, we headed off on our 5hour bus ride to the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuit Center. The week was spent doing some fun and unusual activities. The first day we went streaming up a river, knee deep, for some of us short people waist deep, and for others who fell in head deep. Without too many bumps and bruises, we made… Read More
Hello friends and family,Sorry it’s taken so long to get our free travel blog out (which seems like forever ago now…) but it is finally here! After spending two magnificant days in Queenstown exploring the city and eating delicious Fergbergers and Fish &Chips;, the group decided to venture out on two different free travel options.Part of the group- MoMo and the minors (aka Simone, Samira, and Gabe)-decided to rent a… Read More
Hello Stalkers! Samira and Tate here reporting from Marama Farms!
The group had mixed experiences in the city of Auckland. For most the time was spent exploring the city and even taking time to have a ride on a dolphin at the world famous Sky Tower.
We learned lots of things like: Where to find delicious gelato, kebabs, and burgers. We learned that nothing good happens in a hostel bathroom… Read More
Greetings from Auckland, We have just arrived in New Zealand after having a wonderful experience at our homestays in Togovere Village. We were wlecomed with a sevu sevu ceremony where we were offered kava and where we met our Nau’s (mothers) and the people of Togovere. The first night we got aquainted with our homestay families and went up the hill to watch an amazing sunset (which we did night… Read More
Watch out Fiji, because here comes Carpe Diem. After what seemed like the endless days of traveling, we arrived in Nadi during the wee hours of the morning. While the lack of sleep was prevalent on the faces of all the group members, the Fiji sun rising over the mountaintops and the excitement of reaching our destination pushed us through our first day. The next morning Ben and Simone took… Read More
It’s officially happened, the Walkabout group is walking now, through security, and onto the great beyond towards FIJI! The group thankfully didn’t experience any difficulty in uniting and if that doesn’t bode well for a wonderful semester than I don’t know what does! … Read More
Walkabout, the final Carpe Diem group is all together and ready to ship out to the many challenges and adventures that await! Look for more from the group itself in a couple of days. Until then, this is Carpe HQ signing off….… Read More
Dear Walkabout Fall 2010 team: Ross, Hannah, Samira, Stephenie, Michael. R., Eric, Sam, Kellon, Michael C., Tate, and Gabe! Benny and Simone here welcoming you to your new and exciting blog! We hope you have all been enjoying the last bits of summer and are ready to extend the sun and fun right into the South Pacific…woot woot. We are here in Portland at the Carpe Diem headquarters getting all… Read More
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… Read More
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… Read More
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… Read More
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… Read More
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… Read More
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… Read More
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… Read More
We left the village of Nananu on September 28th (day 16). Little did we know we’d be leaving behind so much of our hearts. Nananu became a home away from home. We became a part of a community with inspiring family values and work ethic. Everyone in the village has a role and every plays their part without hesitation, without complaint. Together, they would support one another, look after the… Read More
Hey everyone, coming from Fiji its your group OZ!! What can i say, its pretty much amazing here! September 16th (day 4) we arrived at the home-stays. As soon as we got here everyone was smiling and waving! Being here is such a new wonderful experience. Theirs cows and horses running freely and every morning wake up to the sound of roosters! The meals are wonderful! Theirs breakfast, lunch, tea… Read More
