We were in Sydney for a couple of days before and after we were in Melbourne: our flight in and out of Australia was from Sydney airport. We travelled between Sydney and Melbourne by train – an astounding 11 hour journey. Yes, 11 hours! Looking at the map of Australia, Sydney and Melbourne do not look 11 hours apart but trust me, they are. (more…)

The rest of our time in Melbourne involved a bit more sightseeing which included visiting Ramsay Street and going up the Melbourne Observation Deck in the Rialto Tower. I was hoping to meet more stars from neighbours when visiting Ramsay Street but that didn’t happen. Never mind, I was quite happy just walking on one of the most famous streets in soap land. As for the Melbourne Observation Deck, we got to see some pretty amazing views. On the 55th floor of the Rialto Tower Building you can enjoy not only spectacular views of the city, but also see out to the horizon for some 38 miles. Wow! This was an excellent way to end our stay in Melbourne and I recommend it to anyone who visits.

The last stop of our conservation experience was at Wonthaggi where we spent 3 days working on a farm. No, we didn’t do the usual farm tasks like milking cows and whatever else it is that farmers do, we did more weeding and planting trees.

I think those three days were the worst of our conservation experience. We had the most obnoxious team leader (I don’t even remember his name and he was not an Australian for your information) who made us work longer days with less breaks and to top it off, it rained non-stop, but he forced us to carry on working regardless. (more…)

The weekend after St.Kilda, we worked. It was instead of working the Thursday and Friday of our last week. We went to Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve. Jo and Yeong Suk had left ATCV by that point and Tim was no longer our team leader. We were joined by two new volunteers, also from Korea, Ho Hee and Young.

Yellingbo was fascinating. I’m not sure whether it was the place itself, the work we were doing or our team leader. It was probably a combination of the three. Armin was our team leader that weekend and he was a great guy, quite hippy, with a mischievous sense of humour. The place we stayed at saw all the volunteers and Armin sleeping on the floor in the living room right in front of the log fire, tucked in our sleeping bags. Ahhh! (more…)

The second and third week at work saw us working in the city of Yarra and St. Kilda. I don’t really remember any significant differences between the two; they both came across as peaceful places. I didn’t think they were anything special; neither the best nor worse place I had been too. (more…)

Back in Melbourne, we decided to stay at the Market Inn Hostel for the time we should have been staying at the volunteer house. The Market Inn was wonderful; cosy, homely and gave off a very welcoming atmosphere. That weekend, we did a spot of shopping and visited the Old Melbourne Gaol (pronounced as jail, not ga-owl as we initially thought) and the Museum. These visits made me realise just how British Australia’s history is because of the large number of convicts that had been sent there in the eighteenth century. I shouldn’t have been surprised really because even though Australia is the world’s oldest continent inhabited for more than 60,000 years by Aborigines, it was settled by the British over 200 years ago, in 1788, and since then has transformed from a colonial outpost into a nation with a population of about 20 million people. (more…)

While working on Merricks Beach, we spent the entire week weeding, cutting down small trees and cutting down fences to preserve the area alongside the beach. Working in this area was lovely. The beach was practically deserted with it being winter. We were able to appreciate the fresh sea air and the sounds of waves as they…. well ok, wouldn’t have been able to appreciate the sounds that much! (more…)

During the 4 weeks we were in Melbourne, we worked on Merricks Beach in Mornington Peninsula; the beautiful Yarra valley, the town of St. Kilda; the incredible Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve and on a farm (I’ve forgotten the name of) in Wonthaggi. Most of the time, we stayed in accommodation at the centre of Melbourne, but alternative accommodation was provided when we stayed at Merricks Beach, Yellingbo and Wonthaggi. The times we were located in Melbourne we were meant to stay at the volunteer house with other volunteers but nope, we were too snobby! Well, come on….when I explain why, you will understand! (more…)

At the end of 2008, I’m logging my experiences and thoughts on countries I’ve visited. Visiting Australia was in summer (their winter) 2001 so my memory of this place will be somewhat minimal. I do, however, have some unforgettable experiences, so here goes…. (more…)