Written by South Pacific Students, Treavor O. & Tasha B.
With our instructors, Martin and Chad, we were able to get certified in scuba diving. We spent one day learning in a pool and two days scuba diving in the magical great barrier reef. After our tiring, but rewarding, three days, we come up to the Daintree. We met the CEO of ClimateForce, Barney and his team. We planted trees, weeded, learned about identifying trees, gathered seeds to identify, and put up an electric fence. We’ve learned a lot about the oldest rainforest in the world and how to preserve it.
What have been the three highlights of the week?
The top highlights of this week we’re definitely scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef and learning all the skills we can use for the rest of our lives, learning about restoring the rainforest in many ways like planting trees, putting up electric fencing so the wild hogs won’t ruin the property, and helping clean up the area by picking weeds so that the community of Climate Force has an easier time restarting the rain forest when we leave here. We were also trying a lot of different delicious fruits and food we can’t get anywhere else in the world that were offered from the community of Climate Force. Lastly seeing all the beautiful sights/views at Climate Force was an awesome experience including looking up at the stars and seeing the Milky Way. This week was definitely one to remember.
Growth comes with challenge – what are some of the challenges you’ve overcome this week?
The Daintree is a beautiful place full of a variety of different animals and plants, and it gets hot! Working to preserve the environment by weeded and planting trees in the hot sun is quite taxing. Keeping hydrated and healthy is consistently on our minds. As well as knowing our limits and when to take breaks. We’re looking out for each other by brining water to each other and reminding each other to drink water.
How’s the group?
Our group is closer than ever, granted we started off this trip getting extremely close with one another right off the bat. As we keep moving within this trip, we will be getting closer and closer every day slowly becoming a family. We all have learned many things about each other and enjoy all the time we have together. As this trip keeps moving along our group will become friends forever.
