Underwater, overwater, home

Hello Hongi blog followers,

Three months of planes, cars, buses, farms, villages, hostels, pastoral settings, bustling cities, inside jokes, and constant wearing of flannel have come to an end. Team Hongi is home. The last week of our odyssey found us in Port Douglas, a rather quaint vacation spot about 60 kilometers from Cairns, the coastal access point for the Great Barrier Reef. Our dive hub. After lugging around dive texts and spending an impressive number of hours submerged in a swimming pool, everyone made it out to the reef and completed their open water certification.

Prior to leaving for Port Douglas, the group shared a tearful 4am goodbye with Catherine, who left a few days early to attend orientation at USC (Good Luck Catherine!). What started as a group of 11 was, in the end, whittled down to a mere seven. We could all even fit into a single taxi! We returned to Cairns on the 6th and consumed a brain jarring quantity of energy drinks, to help aid in the effort of staying up all night to catch the airport taxi at 4am. Our last hours together officially as a group were spent sharing our admiration and respect for one another, as well as remembering aloud all of the funny and memorable moments from the past three months. At 4 the group said goodbye to Stefan and took off for a marathon travel journey back to LAX, and then on to their respective home states and cities and, finally, families and friends (ie you folks, the readers).

It was a glorious time, team ramrod, and i will miss you all. Best of luck in the future.

Stefan.

Good Bye Fanz

What a trip! A few shout outs too our whole group for either getting Certified to open water dive *Becca C. Becca O. Sarah, Jordin, Shelby, Coco, Maxx* and to Andy for getting his Advance, Suz for continuing her diving! And Matt getting to snorkel the reef!

As our trip comes to a close we all wanted to think back about some of our favorite parts of our 3 month long adventure

Sarah: Marama organics with Graham and Giselle. Our stay there was fun filled, educational and purposeful

CoCo: I loved our neon CVA vests and the OPC wetsuits, also the time we spent in them, even if some of it was type three fun!

Jordin: I loved all the people we met on this trip. We got really lucky with all of them. Without them my trip would not be what it was. Thank you Kali, Graham, Juliane, Giselle, Steve, Ethan, Patrick, and everyone else who made our trip what it was.

Becca C: ill never forget dance parties and kava ceremonies in Nananu. I will always remember my Fijian family and friends and hope to return some day. ROLLER BLADING AND POWER WALKING FOR LIFE!

Becca O: POWER WALKING AND ROLLER BLADING 4 LYFE DOG!

Matt: I will never forget fulfilling my goal of this trip of seeing and touching Koala’s. Also making some money playing my guitar on the streets of Cairns.

Shelby: ill never forget our adventures in Nananu and playing volleyball with all those strong Fijian men. Kava dance parties. New Zealand home stays. The OPC zip lining and caving and abseiling. I had a blast shearing sheep and painting the woolshed with Graham and Giselle. And I’m totally stoked on being SCUBA certified! The people we’ve met are unforgettable. Kali, Graham, Julian, Steve, Ethan; all of them have made this trip a bit more memorable.

Andy: fresh coconut milk from Fijian palms. Mangoes, guavas, waterfalls and crystalline springs. So many beautiful botanical gardens! Outback sunsets, early morning yoga. Sheep herding, cave exploring and breathing underwater. Chess playin, Frisbee throwin, balderdash and bufords of fun!

Suzanne: oh what a trip. So many memories. Dancing our buts off with all the Nananu folk, cooking and eating yummy meals at Graham’s. Exploring the caves at the OPC and laughing hysterically when reflecting on our sleepless camping adventure. Milford sound, yoga, wombats( need I say more) WOMBAT WARRIORS! Along with wombat jobby of course. Sleeping under the stars, grooving the grape with steve and diving WOW! I will forever remember each one of you and our crazy adventures. XoXo

Maxx: What a trip. When I think of my favorite moments on this trip I think of OPC adventures doing things I never would have thought I could do (climbing threw sewers, jumping high ropes, and adventuring in caves!) I will never forget any of the amazing people that I have met throughout this trip and the things I have learnt I will take with me for the rest of my life. Thank you all so much.

Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible

and helped us along the way

Groovy Grape and Beyond!

Hello again family and friends!

We have just arrived in Cairns, Australia. Which means a few things; we have safely made it out of the Outback and from the treacherous beach community of Noosa! During our Outback adventure with the Groovy Grape, we spent seven days and six nights traveling to many of the well known destinations such as Uluru, Coober Pedy, Kings Canyon, The Garden of Eden, and several other beautiful sights. During our stop at Uluru our group did the walk around the base, and as a group decided to respect the Aboriginal peoples culture and not do the walk up the side. During our stay in Coober Pedy we had a tour of an old opal mine and enjoyed a nights stay inside underground caves! Within the city almost the entire population lives underground in cave homes. The reason for this is that they stay at a constant 25 degrees Celsius year round while the land above them is extremely hot. On our last day with Groovy Grape tours, we did a canyon hike through Kings Canyon to the Garden of Eden. It was remarkable having hiked through such hot dry land and stumbling onto a small valley of green plans and pools of water. As a group we stopped here and took a dip. After Groovy Grape we jumped on our last flight together as a full group to Brisbane. After a two hour bus ride we reached our beach destination of Noosa and began our three day stay in a very relaxing community. Some of the activities we got involved in during our stay consists of Becca O. teaching Sarah and Matt how to surf and me*Maxx* watching and passing on helpful words. Matt got up on some waves on his first day surfing! Other members of our group had fun lounging on the beach and doing morning yoga. After Noosa we embarked on our 35 hour train trip from Noosa to Cairns. Even though our trip is coming to an end, we are all looking forward to a week of scuba diving classes, diving on the Great Barrier Reef, and many more great adventures to come!

~Maxx F.

Back from the Bush

We our back from the Bush!
Hello family and friends its your friendly Bilbo bloggins here again to tell you about our adventures in wombat land!
Our merry group got to spend five fun filled, and at times quite goofy, days at the Brookfield Conservation Park. We joined a group called the CVA or Conservation Volunteers of Australia who took us out to lovely Brookfield to help find and record wombat warrens.
A warren is basically a giant mole hill dug out by wombats. For those of you who do not know what a wombat is, it is basically a giant hamster that lives in the brush of Australia.
Our days at Brookfiled consisted of the group splitting up during the day and tramping through the bush for several kilometers looking for the warrens in the ground. As i am sure you can imagine this activity would get very boring very fast so we came up with all kinds of games and dances to do to keep us having fun.
Suzanne made up a entertaining wombat dance for us all to do and a beautiful goat dance as well.
Becca.O came up with a great idea to help us when we got a bit frustrated. She had us come up with what our own ideal personal raincoat would be so that when we got frustrated all we had to do was "put on"our raincoats and have the frustrations just slide off us. This came in handy when the GPS systems were not working as well as it could have been and as a result we all got a little lost in the bush. Along with our new "raincoats" Sarah was there to help us all keep our heads.
Becca.C helped us pass the time by singing songs by Death Cab for Cutie.
In the late afternoon the group met back up at base camp. We all took turns every night making dinner for the whole group. Coco and Becca made us all a delicious spaghetti one of the nights followed by some fun rounds of balderdash thanks to Maxx.
Matt kept us entertained at night strumming on his guitar. Shelby made sure none of us died in the night by being our constant spider lookout. This was put to the test when she found a rather large red back spider in the bathroom, which we later discovered is quite poisonious and can make you very sick.
Andy helped us relax and laugh after a particularly stressful day of warren hunting by attempting to learn to Irish Step Dance taught to him by me (Jordin). On our last day with CVA we all got up extra early, part from CoCo and Andy who had to go into town early to make sure CoCo's ear was not infected (Don't worry all! her ear is just fine and will be able to join us all in scuba diving later in the trip), and the rest of us were in for a treat as we headed off to visit some wombats up close and personal. We went to the home of a woman named Brigit who ran a wombat rescue out of her home. Their work is all nonprofit and to be honest its quite amazing. They currently have fourteen wombats, one dog, one cat, two owls, one echidna, and two opossums all living with them. These woman even shared their bed with these forteen wombats!The whole group took turns cuddling up with these adorable marsupials and holding them in our laps. It was quite an amazing experience that not many get to enjoy.
Now the group is reunited back at Adelaide before we head out again on our next big adventure in the Outback. So keep your eyes peeled for our next blog and keep your fingers crossed as we trek across the big Outback!
Lots of love from us all over here in backwards land!
Jordin and Becca.C

G'day Mates!

We're here to deliver you a little ditty
From this wonderful place called Adelaide
It's Australia's fifth largest city
Near the world's largest uranium reserve, where much of Oz's money gets made!

It's hard to imagine that four days ago
We were at Govinda Valley exploring our spiritual sides
At first bummed to not be studying Buddhism,
We soon found ourselves pleasantly surprised

To learn how to access our kundalini energy
From Patrick, our compassionate yoga teacher
We even got to analyze our astrological charts
From Andre, our very own vedic philosophy preacher

From Matt's chart, he received confirmation
That he'd pursue a career in the film biz
While Maxx became pretty adventurous
Tasting all sorts of new vegetarian dishes

Sarah and Coco really got into the yoga
Contorting themselves in all sorts of poses
They even enjoyed the breathing exercises
Letting the prana flow in and out of their noses

Shelby sure did love all the yoga
But was definitely the most thrilled
When she discovered a rugby ball
And got to play with it in the Aussie hills

The two Beccas rose before the sun
To check out the visiting Vedanta clan
They sat and listened to Sanskrit chanting
Language barrier and all, they maintained a good attention span

We even got to celebrate Jordin's birthday
At our beautifully peaceful retreat
The group and the generous staff there
Got together and made her a delicious treat

One day after class with Andre
Patrick drove us all to the zoo
Where we finally got to see it,
Our very first kangaroo!

Govinda Valley came in perfect time
As our nomadism was starting to take a toll
We were feeling a bit stressed out and tired
But now we're relaxed, rejuvenated, and ready to roll

Back to Sydney we then went
To explore a world famous city
Botanical gardens, opera house, harbour cruise
That we had to leave so soon was really a pity

We are only hours away
From our intense outback excursion
Where we work to save Australia's wombats
What a cool conservational immersion

You may or may not have realized
That there's been a bit of a swap
Your previous rhymers have been replaced
Those originals, of course we can't top!

Becca.C and Jordin

We've finally made it to the land Down Under,
Which means we got through free travel without too many a blunder.
Tekapo, site of the world's best stars,
Was covered in clouds, which made viewing them hard.
At Mount Cook the next day the weather was nice,
We hiked near a glacier and tried to touch the ice!
To Wanaka next our caravan drove,
And into our hostel's hot tub we dove.
At the Rob Roy Glacier rain once again foiled our plans,
But rainforests and rivers were seen by our clan.
Then back in the van to Queenstown we went,
Where "Dennis" was returned with only one dent!
The next day we hopped on a bus to Milford Sound,
where on top of our cruise ship the waterfalls did pound.
While in the fjords the mountains surrounded,
and by the foggy views we were astounded.
Yesterday we jetted to the land of OZ,
and almost missed our flight--april fools was the cause.
And this morning one of ranks joins the Crimson Class
and next fall through the Harvard gates she will pass.
Of her all of us couldn't be prouder
but we would've died last night had our hostel been louder.
Today to govinda we take the train at two,
And after a week of yoga, we'll report back to you.

Ode to Lyttelton

There once was a woman in Lyttelton

Named Dee whose house we are livin' in

Tonight she's having a barbie for us all

and since she's in charge we know we'll have a ball.

Dee has a neighbor named Sue,

Who's hosting some of our crew,

And also a bestie named Ann,

Who's housing the rest of our clan.

Lyttelton harbor is a picturesque place

located near an old volcano's base.

Here we work with fences and dirt,

to restore the land is our main effort.

On Monday we went to help out Yvette,

And Maxx and Gavin made a fence for her piggy pet (s).

She taught us all about Maori culture and tradition,

And with Jordin's help cooked us lunch in her kitchen.

On Tuesday we hiked to a house on the hill,

Where Peter showed us which invasive plants we could kill.

Armed with deadly blue goo and clippers alike,

We made the land much more pleasurable to hike.

While we hacked away at weeds galore,

stinging nettles attacked and gave Matt a sore.

On Wednesday we went out to Godley Head,

and through this old army post we were led.

We planted some grass and ripped out a fence,

Andy and Shelby made sure a pinecone war commence (d).

Come Thursday to Godley Head we went back,

and the Beccas, in style, moved brush into stacks.

Decked out in weird hats, they were quite a sight,

wearing 3-D glasses to block out sunlight.

Suze, meanwhile, remained reliable and funny,

though the outlook on her parasites isn't so sunny.

And today, it's Friday (but thursday for you)

We're having fun in Christchurch, but we miss you too.

Tomorrow we leave on our free travel trip,

to Mt. Cook and Wanaka after a Tekapo dip.

With Andy and Suze at the wheel of our van,

We'll end up in Queenstown, or at least that's the plan.

So now you've reached the end of this blog,

and we've run out of rhymes, our minds are afog.

And if we make it through free travel without going loco,

there will be an update next week from Sarah and Coco.