Trips To Australia

Koalas Oz Experience 2010

Monday 23rd August

Some of us met very early in the morning and caught the bus to London Heathrow to meet the rest of the Koala team. We all boarded the plane to Singapore at 11.00 and flew for 8 hours.

Tuesday 24th August

Arrived in Singapore at 8.30am. Our first impression was WOW!!! What an amazing country, not only beautiful and affluent but extremely good weather. We toured as a group around Singapore, we visited the very famous and beautiful ‘Raffles’ hotel where the likes of David Beckham, Michael Jackson and the Royal Family have stayed. We then enjoyed lunch together before returning to our hotel for our team meeting at 6pm.

We decided to visit one of Singapore’s most renowned buildings – the casino. This building had a ship on top of it! We travelled to the top of this building where we could view the entire city of Singapore. It was breath-taking! We were also lucky enough to encounter a stunning lightning storm whilst on top of this magnificent building. A truly memorable experience for us all. The Singapore trip ended with the DUCK tour, this again was a brilliant experience as the vehicle was able to drive on the road and take us into the river. We saw sights both on and off land!!

Wednesday 25th August

We all prepared ourselves for another long flight to Sydney. However, Singapore airlines had all the new film releases on board so we were looking forward to watching as many new releases as possible before arriving in Australia. We left Singapore at 16.45 and arrived in Sydney 6am Thursday morning.

Thursday 26th August

Arrived in Sydney at 6am. We were picked up from Sydney airport and travelled to Canberra YHA where we would spend the next 3 nights. As we were all still quite tired from all the travelling and especially the time difference, we decided not to go out for lunch and have a BBQ instead-which was glorious!! This is where we had time come together and reflect on how much of a good time we’d had in Singapore.

Friday 27th August

Early start with a continental breakfast at 9am in Canberra's YHA. Team Leader Emma visited Canberra Hospital with other team members, where we had the chance to see how hospitals operate the other side of the world. We toured the children's ward which was very touching, it was evident a lot of work is done to help support families through difficult times. There was a brand new children's playroom and parent's rest room. Staff at Canberra hospital were very curious as to who we were as we all wore the Joshua Foundation T-shirts. We were all honoured to be able to explain what we raised money for.

Saturday 28th August

Breakfast at 8am.
All team members decided to visit Canberra Zoo. It was one of the best trips we did in Canberra. We had the opportunity to see Australia's famous wildlife up-close, e.g. koalas, kangaroos, wombats. Emma even managed to have a photo taken with a kangaroo! We arrived back at Canberra hotel at 6pm where we ordered a Chinese and had an early night.

Sunday 29th August

Conservation work begins!
We were picked up from Canberra YHA at 8.30am from conservation workers Lani and Taz and travelled to the wonderful-Kangaroo Valley. There was wildlife everywhere you looked. Wombats would approach the cabins where we'd sleep. This was the first time we all had a real sense of being in Australia.

Monday 30th August

Woke at 7am for breakfast.
Left Kangaroo Valley and travelled to the site where we would all participate in the conservation work. Our mission was to kill as much privet (weed) as we could to enable more trees to grow in the area. This was a long and tiring day but highly rewarding after seeing the result of just how much work we actually did.

Tuesday 31st August

We returned to the same site as the day before to complete the conservation work on that particular site.

By now we believed to be professionals at the job and just got on with it. It was great to see everybody pulling their weight and enjoying their time at the site. This was a chance for people to get to know each other a little bit more also.

We returned to Kangaroo Valley at 5pm and had two hours free time. Most of us would use this time to either sleep or just relax!

We were then split into groups of five and instructed to take it in turns to cook for each other. Group 1 for Tuesday, Group 2 Wednesday etc etc. This turned out to be a very enjoyable role for team members, especially when a sense of achievement was created because everybody complimented each others cooking.

Wednesday 1st September

Woke at 7 am. Arrived at a different conservation site today. We were instructed to plant as many trees as we could in this particular area. Again, this task was very rewarding as we must have planted over 300 by the end of the day.

Returned to Kangaroo Valley at 5pm where the group prepared a Mexican for the rest of the group.

The day ended spectacularly with a bonfire made by the conservation leaders.

Thursday 2nd September

Conservation work was cancelled due to heavy rain. The conservation workers decided to take us for a tour around Berry instead which was a two hour ride. By the time we arrived there, the weather was a lot brighter so we decided to spend a little time at the gorgeous Kiama Beach.

Returned back to Kangaroo Valley for the last time and packed for Sydney!

Friday 3rd September

Left Kangaroo Valley at 10am. We were so sad to say goodbye. The staff here were outstanding and the place itself was unforgettable.

Arrived at Sydney YHA at 12pm. What a contrast compared to Canberra (the city). It was busy, vibrant and full of things to do.

We arrived at Sydney Tower for the all you can eat buffet at 7pm. Here we could see the whole of Sydney, including the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, from a significant height.

Simply amazing!!!

Saturday 4th September

We all decided to have an early start because we were so eager to explore as much of Sydney as we possibly could. We began with Paddy's market where they sold the cheapest and greatest souvenirs ever!

At 2pm we did the jet ski ride around the harbour- this was better than any rollercoaster ride we had been on. The two words that came to mind are fast and wet! We did not stop laughing the entire time.

We visited the biggest IMAX cinema in the world later that day. We watched Avatar in 3D. This again was an unbelievable experience!

Sunday 5th September

This was our favourite day of all. We went to the Sydney Jewish Museum. Here, we were shown around by a 90 year old WWII veteran. This was the most touching experience we had ever encountered. He explained how he lost his parents through the war and how difficult being a Jew at that time was; he still had tears talking about it to this day. A truly remarkable man. The museum really made us stop and reflect about everything to a certain degree. We were so lucky to be on this trip together, travelling to the other side of the world and having families to go home to. We will never forget that moment.

Later that evening we climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This really is an amazing thing to do. It was spectacular to see Sydney from such a height late in the evening. A perfect way to end a fantastic day!

Monday 6th September

Today, we travelled to the beautiful Bondi Beach where we had the opportunity to surf if we were brave enough. Since returning home, Bondi Beach is on TV most days, it's great that we can say 'We've been there!'

The evening ended with the meal cruise. We travelled across the harbour whilst eating a three course meal. As we were travelling home the next day, we took the opportunity to say goodbye properly to all the Oz Experience members. There were floods of tears! 

Tuesday 7th September

Left Sydney at 11am.

Travelled to Singapore then London. The flights all together added up to 20 hours, which most of slept through.

After arriving in Heathrow we got our bags and made our way through arrivals. We all knew what was coming and we didn’t want to say the word….(Goodbye)

We all connected so well as a team and more importantly as a family!!

We could not believe how fast this trip went. We did so much together, time literally flew. We will never forget this trip to Oz, and cannot thank the Joshua Foundation enough for the opportunity. It was an honour to go to the other side of the world and represent TJF, telling people what brilliant work the Foundation does. It really is a privilege to know you all!

Love Emma & Gareth xxx

Team Leaders-Koalas-2010

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