What we learned! From Schultz Elementary School

Reflections After Coming Home

Well, this has been quite the adventure! Australia has been like a dream to me personally, and now that I'm back to "reality", it's just nice to reflect on the whole experience. Now that I am home, I notice a lot of differences between Australia and the US. The Aussies were very hospitable to us and so polite. Once we arrived in Los Angeles though, it was like coming back to a "rude America", where a lot of people are pushy and impatient. It made me wonder why Americans are always in a rush. Then I remembered that in Australia we learned that the Aussies work to live, not live to work. Think about that for a moment. It made me appreciate life a lot more, and to take the time to notice beauty in every small thing. With all the sights we witnessed, of course it was amazing to us, because everything was in a new territory, but to people who see it everyday, it's just something familiar. For example, take a kangaroo. To all of us it was like, wow!, that's a wild kangaroo that we just saw. But for the Australians, kangaroos are like deer here in Wisconsin, an everyday, ordinary thing.
I hope you all get a chance to travel outside of the US someday. It doesn't even have to be Australia, just anywhere, any chance you get. I took the chance going to another country for the first time in my life, and it turned out to be absolutely breathtaking. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures and our stories.
Peace be with you and your journeys.
Holly

Return Trip Home

Hello class! We made it home safely and arrived back in Wisconsin on January 27th. It was along day of traveling and everyone was exhausted. In total, we had about 17 hours of flying on 3 different airplanes. Although some people were excited to be home, others wished they were in Australia. I personally, miss Australia. I miss the warm weather, the atmosphere, and the people we got to know and became close with. I'm sure people will be updating the blog daily seeing more people have access to computers. We want you to learn everything you can from our experience and hopefully this has made you want to travel in the future. Take advantage of every opportunity you have!

Moore Park Beach

Hi!

We have just returned from our week-long conservation project through Conservation Volunteers of Australia. Our group was split up into two teams and each team was sent to a different location. The team that I was on went to Moore Park Beach which is about 5 hours north of Brisbane. Our task for the week was to restore the sand dunes on the east coast so that the sea turtles could lay their eggs. The bank is eroding rapidly and when the turtles are ready to lay theirs eggs they can't get up the cliff so they turn around and go back into the ocean and drop the eggs. That is the main reason why the turtle population is rapidly decreasing and in the last 30 years the turtle population has decreased by nearly 90%. Each year over 300 turtles nest along the coast which makes it the most popular turtle area in all of Australia. At Moore Park Beach there are three species of turtles that nest there each season and the Loggerhead is the most predominant. At Moore Park Beach there is a turtle monitoring group that is made up of trained volunteers that assist the turtles that nest there each year. We were lucky enough to get the chance to take a night walk along the coast with some of the turtle group members. We walked along the beach and checked the turtle nests, some which were relocated and some that were natural. The hatchlings were due to start hatching any day and it happens at night. These people were so amazing and I learned so much about sea turtles. Unfortunately we didn't see any hatchlings that night but the experience was something I will never forget. The turtles lay eggs every 3-4 years and they lay around four batches of 100+ eggs each. Out of those 100+ eggs only about 3% hatchlings make it back to the ocean safely. They hatch and then walk to the ocean. Once they reach the water they swim for 3 days straight until they reach the ocean currents and then they rest with their mouths open. It is an amazing process. Yesterday we got the chance to visit Mon Repos Conservation Park which is a really nice turtle conservation center. Our job on the beach was to pull the invasive weeds that take over the trees. We planted several trees with huge root systems that will hold the soil together better to prevent the erosion. This morning when we left, some people from the town cooked us brekky (breakfast) and gave us letters of appreciation. It was a wonderful experience! We hope things are going well back in Wisconsin:)