Albany, WA

The last weekend in October we drove about five hours south of Perth to Albany and spent a few days exploring what this place had to offer. I was worried about this trip because I had talked to few Australians about Albany before going and most told me that there wasn't much of anything there. Sure, the town was small and the weather was about ten degrees cooler than Perth, but the scenery in and all around Albany was ridiculous. We walked the tree top walk called The Valley of the Giants, and spent time in Greens Pool hangin' out on the elephant rocks. Then we went to the Gap and Natural Land Bridge in Torndirrup National Park. The last day we stopped by another beach on the Great Australian Bight before trekking five hours back to Curtin. Oh, also, on the way home we stopped at Gnomesville...which was, without a doubt, the weirdest place I've ever been. People from all over leave garden gnomes here and it's huge! Gnomes everywhere waaaaaat! Anyway, this southern area of Australia shares the same ocean as Antarctica, the Southern Ocean, which is beyond gnarly. Honestly, words and pictures don't do this place justice. You really should see it for yourself. I guess that's how I've felt with every place I've traveled to within Oz.

Here's a few of my photos:

Rottnest Island

Spent last weekend biking around and exploring Rottnest Island. Probably the prettiest place I've ever been...and it's inhabited by these weird, large hamster-like marsupials called quokkas. The only place in the entire world that you can find these quokkas is on Rottnest Island. A bio geek's paradise, to put it simply.

Sup Sydney?

Last week, I flew cross-country by myself to spend a week in Sydney. I was supposed to meet my litte brother and my mum there, but things didn't work out and they were unable to make it. So, I decided to head to Sydney anyway to meet up with some other American friends. After over 24 hours of traveling, thanks to flying stand-by and the AFL final in Melbourne, I finally made it to Sydney. I bought a train ticket and got off somewhere in the center of the city and spent two hours navigating Sydney by myself to find my hostel in Kings Cross. All of this might seem very boring, but honestly traveling completely alone as a woman in a foreign city and country (I'm not stupid and I realize that Australia is an English speaking country and I'm very grateful for this as well, obviously) is terrifying the first time you experience it.

 

 

Anyway, I made it and it was amazing. It's a beautiful city, one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. I'd love to live there, even though I normally hate big cities. We also went to Bondi Beach a few minutes outside of town. Bondi was rad. Skatepark and free wifi on the beach which was pretty ridiculous. There was a stunning costal walk from beach to beach that was rocky and jagged and unique and wonderful. Something about the sea. I can't get enough of it.

I ate a stupid amount of delicious food and partied with good friends. Flew back to Perth alone with no flight issues. Lost my luggage, but the airline was nice enough to drop it off later that day. All and all a great experience and a great adventure. Rough on the wallet though, but what else is new?

Internship with MK Inc. Summary

I have an internship with Millennium Kids Inc. through the University of Western Australia. I work in multiple primary schools throughout South Perth, as well as community outreach programs and in the MK office.

This semester the MK student ambassadors participated in a river workshop in May and decided on a number of different things to help the local rivers. They decided to create a river education art project for local council (completed by students before I joined the MK team), run a clean up the river program, plant tress in a river catchment (about 200km away in the countryside), plan a local community tree planting day (I was able to join MK at this stage and have participated in many local tree planting projects around South Perth), adopt a native animal and help recreate its habitat (oblong turtle), and a celebrate Indigenous culture day. 

So along with participating in these community outreach programs, I also work in the office where I research the oblong turtle of WA and work with Jane, the MK Indigenous Education Assistant.
Recently, Jane and I have designed a workshop for the South Perth schools in which we travel to multiple different schools in the area and teach students the aboriginal story of the turtle and some Indigenous language. The students practice the turtle story in groups and then perform the turtle story as a play for their classmates/teachers. I then facilitate a discussion at the end of each session, so students are able to reflect on the importance of the local turtle population and habitat.

This picture was at the ICEA Classic 2013 in Cottesloe Beach, WA. I ran the MK booth at this local surf competition where people were able to learn about local wildlife and sustainability. We had stimpson pythons and bobtails available for people to hold as well.

This is a non-profit organization that aims to work with children and bettering the environment and is exactly what I was looking for, but I'm also able to do a lot of work regarding Indigenous Australians. And I think that's the most important aspect of this internship for me because the mistreatment of Indigenous people in Australia has been a longstanding issue and has only recently been recognized globally. As an American, I can be honest and say I was completely unaware of the hardships and problems faced by the Indigenous culture here. So, I feel very lucky to be able to work side-by-side with Jane, who is my age, and Millennium Kids. Not only do I get a first-hand insight into what it's like to be a young Indigenous woman, but I've also had experiences with Indigenous culture and knowledge that many native Australians do not have.

I'm so stoked about this opportunity that I don't even know where to begin.
I'll post more about what Jane are up to throughout the rest of the semester!
Wish us luck!