Trips To Australia
2009 Skippies Trip
A Marvellous Adventure
By:- Ray & Trisha Price
The first part of the journey
The adventure started at London Heathrow when we welcomed all the Oz Kids (both Skippies & Koalas) off their buses and at the airport. Everyone was excited! Checking in was a dream: we were amazed at the easiness of everything and the first bonding of the two teams commenced. We flew on time to Singapore on the new airbus which was fantastic. All the Oz Kids were highly praised by the cabin crew and many passengers for their manners and behaviour on the plane. “They are a credit to The Joshua Foundation”
Arrival in Singapore
It was a very smooth transfer to the hotel from the airport to The Robertson Quay Hotel. Everyone enjoyed Singapore very much especially the tours, which had been arranged.
These included the extremely bumpy duck tour, which consisted of about half an hour on land then straight into the water to see Singapore from a different view. Fabulous effects especially because the weather was very hot & humid! The Bus tour took us all around Singapore (commentary included) showing the very famous sites including the Raffles Hotel – well worth a visit there to experience the romantic and colonial setting. A must! The evening saw us all enjoying the sights and sounds of a very busy place and sampling some wonderful food.
Transfer to Melbourne/Sydney
After saying farewell to the koalas (to meet up again in Sydney), the Skippies continued their journey to Melbourne. The flight was faultless; there were no problems.
The coach met us at the airport and drove us to The Melbourne Youth Hostel which was excellent. Very friendly and personable staff.
There were many memorable moments in Melbourne: - the visit to The Royal Children’s Hospital was inspiring and emotional.
One memorable and funny event was that the Team Leaders actually overslept on the first morning (after many times instilling into everyone that they should be at breakfast everyday at 8.00 am!). We made an entrance, sheepishly, at 9.15 am much to the clapping, laughing and shouting from the entire oz kids who were ceremoniously seated around the large table. Our penance was to make breakfast for them all on Conservation. A very suitable suggestion which we did with pleasure!
The Rialto Tower was excellent – well loved. Perhaps the most enjoyed tour was the “Neighbours Tour” The kids loved it. The guide we had was very funny but informative and we all had a very enjoyable few hours especially meeting one of the Neighbours stars.
Conservation Week
The Skippies were divided into 2 groups:-
Ray’s team – The “A” Team
Trisha’s team – The “Skip-Pies”
Very friendly rivalry here! The Boomerang Ranch, Daylesford, where we stayed was basic but adequate, but the whole week was made better by the excellent hosts, Noel and Theresa Cook. Very hard work was done by ALL the Skippies and the Team Leaders. Under the instruction of two fabulous CVA guys – Marcus and Kate – 2080 trees were planted: 2000 tree guards were made: 5 miles of hoeing, weeding, clearing and path making was completed and the highlight of the week, pretending to be lumberjacks and chopping down the suckers and small trees in the bush that were not indigenous to the area. Fantastic! This is what we came for and we enjoyed it tremendously.
A big thank you was made to Marcus and Kate when they arranged an evening out for all of us on the last night of conservation week.
Transfer to Sydney and meeting up with the Koalas (Saturday July 11th)
Again, the transfer was excellent. When we arrived at the YHA in Sydney, it was great to see the Koalas again and exchange stories. The hostel was much larger and the staff was very helpful and knowledgeable.
The first night was the trip to the Sydney Revolving Tower for the meal, which all of us went on. Fabulous experience and good food too! It was nice getting to know the Koala’s again and reminiscing about the conservation week
Sunday July 12th
Trips to Darling Harbour and Water taxi to Circular Quay. This was a free time for those who didn’t want to go to Manley and Toronga Zoo. We went to the fabulous Rocks Market seeing the famous sites: best of all was the Aborigine with his didgeridoo. Very Crocodile Dundee! Back to the Hostel for get together and exchanging experiences.
Monday July 13th
Next day was the memorable visit to The Sydney Jewish Museum. Everyone found this visit truly inspiring and fantastic. We had the fortune to be in the company of Olga Horbruck- a Holocaust Survivor – an amazing woman. It was then a mad dash to The Opera House (everyone made their own way) for group photographs. Next to the bridge climb!
The Bridge Climb
What can be said about this? Truly a fabulous, amazing, awe inspiring and wonderful event. Everyone who did the climb expressed their delight and pride. It took about 1 hour to be harnessed and made safe and then about two hours for the climb. As it was in the evening, the site from the top of the bridge was breathtaking with all the lights and the panoramic view of Sydney. Great!
Back to the Hostel for Pizza night. This was very welcome as everyone one was tired after a very busy day.
Tuesday July 14th
This day saw most of us at Bondi Beach. The most memorable event though, was the Oz Jet Ride. For the guys who braved this it was super. Both teams thoroughly enjoyed it – but everyone prepare yourself – you get very wet!!!!
Back at the hostel to get ready for the last night’s dinner on Captain Cruise boat. What a lovely time to reminisce over the last few weeks and exchange various memories. Quite sad actually, as it was to be the last night in Australia for most of us.
Wednesday July 15th
Bags packed – goodbyes said – and on our way to the airport en route to Singapore.
The 9 hour wait in Singapore airport for the flight back home was made a lot easier by the fantastic facilities and the comfortable chairs at the airport for us to catch a few hours sleep.
On arriving in London Heathrow, it took a while for us to make sure everyone was on the correct bus home or indeed, had been picked up by devoting parents.
What a marvellous adventure! We cannot thank you enough. You were all a credit to the Skippies.
Our Love
Ray & Trish x