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 wasnt there a blog entry will be posted shortly by Matt of the other groups experiences). We were lead by CVA member Andy to the Condamine Alliance who we were doing our project for and they treated us to delicious snacks and custom water bottles as well as heaps of info about the area and the flood and Condamine. We then set off for our FANTASTIC accommodations which were basically 3 mini homes. We lived like kings. Our daily routine consisted of waking up at 5:30am for 6:00 breakfast. At 6:30 we set out in Andy’s Party Bus towards our first site of the day. We spent 6:30 to 2:30 cleaning up flood rubbish on the Condamine River which consisted mostly of a lot of plastic in trees that is used to wrap hay but also included pipes, tires, large sheets of metal, etc. We arrived back at our homestead around 3:00 and snacked and bathed and slept. Dinner began being cooked between 5:30 and 6 and we all congregated to eat together at 6:30. After dinner we were lucky enough to indulge in watching Frozen Planet every night on our tv (yes, we had a TV! that is a pretty big deal) which was always an emotional roller coaster of excitement. We worked hard but had a blast at the same time, I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard. Carl (Casey’s stuffed lama) holds a very special place in our group now. We also had the pleasure of working amidst poisonous snakes and spiders everyday! We had many sightings of both and in fact, a Huntsman (one of the most deadly spiders) landed on Katie’s hand! Gadzooks. We arrived back in Brisbane after a week of work and had a beautiful reunion with the rest of the group, it was so strange to be apart! The next day we had free in Brisbane and Francesca, Kristen, and I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where we got to hold koalas, roam free with and feed and snuggle with kangaroos, and see a platypus, wallabies, Tasmanian devils, dingos, various birds of prey, snakes, lizards, crocodiles, and I’m probably forgetting something crucial but it was all amazing. I actually also got to hole a giant snake and crocodile! It was an amazing day. Today we all went to Mooloolaba (try and say it, you’ll mess it up) Beach which was BEAUTIFUL! Golden sands and somehow perfect clear blue water that also had constant, giant, fantastic waves were only the beginning of the general splendor. We were lucky enough to enjoy a peaceful yet exciting day beaching, eating, and wandering Mooloolaba. Just in time to leave our hostel at 4:00am tomorrow morning to catch a flight into Alice Springs. Get ready outback: Here. We. Come. Cheers, Andy Shout out to the peeps, I won’t get emotional on ya’ll but I miss ya terribly and love you to pieces!! |
