Trips To Australia
2005 - The Dingoes
Both the Dingoes and the Skippies departed from Heathrow Airport on 20th July 2005 bound for Melbourne via Singapore. Having stopped at Dubai airport to change planes we were then on route to Singapore where we stayed at the Robinson Quay hotel which was a stones throw away from the wonderful Clarke’s Quay. This was where most of the team spent their evening sampling some of the local cuisine and some were even brave enough to have a go on the Bungee rocket! The following morning was spent doing some retail therapy before both teams departed for their last leg of the journey onto Melbourne.
Arriving in Melbourne in the small hours of Saturday morning the teams were allocated their rooms and were off to bed, however it was another early start the following morning as the team were given the opportunity to go and visit the oncology unit at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital. This, the youngsters found a very humbling experience and it really made them realise the kinds of young people who they have helped by fundraising for The Joshua Foundation. Sunday was an action packed day in the morning the teams went off to ride the Puffing Billy steam train and in the afternoon went off to Ramsey Street to see where Neighbours in filmed.
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On Monday the dingoes travelled up to the Grampian Mountains to start their week of conservation work. Camp Aginda was our place of residence for the week and the team did fantastically well cooking meals each night as we did not have the luxury of having catered accommodation! Each morning the team would go off in their two groups and undertake conservation work all day, some of the work they undertook included planting trees and working with young people on national tree planting day and also cutting down small pine trees in the forest.
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Both the groups worked extremely hard all week despite the sub zero conditions which also included rain on most days, but the team really made the most of it and even braved the cold one night to have a camp fire, where they toasted marshmallows and told scary stories!
On the Sunday it was a 5:30am start as the team headed back into Melbourne to meet the Skippies and fly to Sydney. The atmosphere was fantastic as we travelled everyone was really excited about going to Sydney. Once in Sydney the team was plenty of free time to shop which they made the most of!! And the rest of their time was taken up with trips and meals.
The Blue Mountains was a fantastic day out we did a short walk, travelled on the steepest train in the world and then to round it off had a BBQ lunch at the Youth Hostel in the Blue Mountains. The Jewish Museum was also a very informative morning for the group they were shown around by a survivor of the Holocaust who went on to tell the group her story which stunned everyone. All the teams then filtered down to the Opera house for team pictures and then in the evening most of the team went for diner up the Sydney Tower which revolves so you get a 360 degree view of Sydney by night!
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Then it was the day that most of the team had been waiting for ‘the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb’ it was am amazing three hour walk to the top where the views of the Sydney sky line were breath taking. The day was rounded off with a fast and exciting Harbour jet ride which certainly blew away the cobwebs!! The team also visited Manly beach and again took advantage of the long street fully of surf shops.
The team’s final night was spent at the Hard Rock Café in Sydney; all the teams got dressed up and went for a meal and some non alcoholic cocktails! Finally there was a last minute dash on Thursday morning to Bondi beach and then it was back to the airport on route to the UK. It was a brilliant trip made even better by a fantastic group of young people.