Australia Ecotourism | An Elon University Academic Blog

Tuesday was the longest day of our lives. We actually did time travel in that we left Melbourne at 12:10 pm and somehow arrived in Los Angeles at 7:00 am on the same day. We all made the flight and then in most of our cases traveled back to the East Coast. It was a great journey; I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did. Other than the knee injury at the end and the floods in Brisbane it was a pretty drama free course. Thanks to all our guides who made the learning possible. Hopefully do this again soon.

PS, keep an eye out for any last minute pictures or videos we put up.

Our final day of activities started off with breakfast at the hostel. The weather for the beginning of the day was not the best, it was raining when we left, but this was appropriate because our first stop was at Maits Rest Rainforest. We had a quick walk through the rainforest and then made a quick stop at Castle Cove for some pictures. Will was able to talk to us about the different areas and how they fit into the Victoria Parks system. He works for them full-time so he had some insightful things to pass onto the group.

Will at Castle Cove talking about Parks Victoria

Luckily after these first stops, the weather started to break and the sun came out. We made two more quick stops at the 12 Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge. The 12 Apostles is one of the most photographed sites on the Great Ocean Road and is a landmark in Australia that many can’t miss. It is interesting because it is completely made by nature with erosion of the sandstone by water and wind.

12 Apostles

Loch Ard Gorge is probably a lesser known site, but many would agree that it is probably more beautiful. It received its name after a ship that wrecked just off the coast in the late 1800s. The story is quite interesting in that there were only two survivors of the ship Eva Carmichael and Tom Pearce. Tom saved Eva and then had to climb out to get help for both of them.

Loch Ard Gorge

After these quick stops we stopped in the town of Port Campbell for some lunch and then made the long drive back to Melbourne for our last night. The students did some reflection in Port Campbell and then when we arrived back in Melbourne they had their final assessment before enjoying their last night out.

Students engaging in some last reflection over lunch

Sunday began our two day adventure on the Great Ocean Road. This is always one of my favorite trips because you get a chance to see some beautiful scenery. Our day started with about and hour and half bus ride to Ocean Grove. Ocean Grove is where we were able to do a two our surf lesson. This is always a highlight for the students. They now have the opportunity to say that they surfed in Australia.

Time to get the boards

The company West Coast Surf was excellent. Upon arrival everyone was given a wet suit and a surfboard. We then went down to the beach where the instructors warmed the students up and gave them some initial instructions and then gave them the chance to surf for about two hours. There were definitely some tired and sore people following, but everyone had a great time.

Better stretch before you surf

After our surf lesson we drove to Torquey where we met up with Phil and had a quick lunch. Phil then gave a quick history of the surfing industry for the area. Two popular surf companies were started here, Quiksilver and Rip Curl. It is also close to Bell’s Beach which is one of the oldest surf competitions.

Some last instructions

After our stop here, we finally started on the Great Ocean Road. For those of you who don’t know, the Great Ocean Road is considered one of the most scenic drives, but is also thought by some to be the largest war memorial. Following World War I it was envisioned to bring tourism to the area, but also a chance for veterans to get jobs. Millions travel the Great Ocean Road each year.

Time to catch some waves

We made a quick stop in Lorne and had a great view of the road from Teddy’s Lookout. We then hiked down to the beach from the lookout where our guide Rob gave a talk to the students about indigenous culture. Our students were quite lucky to have such knowledgeable guides about this  topic and Rob did a great job.

Beginning of Great Ocean Road

After our talk we continued on the Great Ocean Road until we reached the town of Apollo Bay and our hostel. The accommodations are great in a quaint little beach town. While some of us were preparing our BBQ dinner, many of the students went down to the beach for a game of beach cricket. The students all enjoyed themselves, well except for one. We had been having a relatively injury free course until one of the students hurt his knee diving after a ball. Following dinner we ended up taking him to the emergency room, but not a whole lot could be done other than crutches and some pain relievers. Hopefully nothing too serious was done.

Students at Teddys Lookout

View from Teddys Lookout

Rob talking to the students about indigenous culture

Saturday was a free day for the course. Students were given a chance to explore the city. I used it as another day to go to The Tennis. I planned ahead and bought tickets for Rod Laver Arena in the evening. It was an awesome environment because the last male and female Aussie players were playing, Bernard Tomic and Sam Stosur. Unfortunately it was not a good day for the people I was cheering. John Isner lost a long 5 set match earlier on Margaret Court Arena and then both Bernie and Sam lost in the night matches. It was a long day of tennis, but once again a lot of fun. We did get to see Nadal play which was fun.

Most of the students used it as a day to look around Melbourne and head to the beach. Many made it to Federation Square to explore and then went to St. Kilda for some shopping and beach time. Jason and a few of the students went to a cricket match between Victoria and New South Wales. It sounded like everyone enjoyed the free day.

One last picture of The Tennis from Margaret Court Arena - check out the skyline

Sorry this is out of order. Internet access is suprisingly hard to come by in Melbourne.

Thursday (Jan 18) we set out for Kuranda, a small tourist trap of a town atop a rainforest just outside Cairnes. The most interesting thing about Kuanda is the way you get to the town. While there is a winding road that will get you there, we chose to take the more scenic and adventurous route.

Skyrail is a 45 minute ride above the canopy of the rainforest. It was completed in the mid-90’s and was built using hand tools and helicopters to minimize the impact to the environment. Along the way there were several opportunities for us to disembark our cable cars and walk the raised deck platforms to see the rainforest from the ground level. The most impressive sight of the day was Barron Falls.

Following our Skyrail venture and Barron Falls we arrived in Kuranda. There is vender after vender selling Aboriginal art, boomerangs, t-shirts, ice cream, and opals. After some shopping and a quick lunch at one of the many cafes we met up for our departure down the gorge.

The train ride from Kuranda back to Cairns is spectacular. The cars that visitors ride in are 80-100+ years old. This cranky old technology screeches and moans as it descends down the steep tracks at about 20 mph. Along the way we heard stories about how the rail line was constructed using hand tools, dynamite, and some horse drawn implements. We also had some outstanding picture taking opportunities.

Wednesday (Jan 19) was a travel day. All students, busses, and flights were on time and we arrived safely in Melbourne about 5pm local time. Students used the evening to explore the city a bit and grab some dinner.

Eric and I had the opportunity to meet up with a friend who used to work with us at Elon and now lives a wonderfully nomadic life wondering Australia and New Zealand. She just happened to be in Melbourne this week and we had a wonderful dinner in Little Italy.

Today is what I will call nature day. We had a very long day which started with our meeting our guides Andy, Matt and Nick at the hotel at 9:00 am. After our short introduction we got on our buses and drove to San Remo for a quick break and then on to Woolomai Beach.

Phil talking to the group on hike at Woolomai

At Woolomai we were able to see one of the stunning beaches in Australia, but also to learn about how deadly they could be. There were many surfers at this spot, but only a small portion of the beach was available for swimming because of rip currents that come through. One of the guides was telling how he had seen five people recently swept out to the ocean in the rips and had to be saved by surf rescue.

Group picture at the end of the hike

We were at Woolomai to hike out to a very scenic point for views and to learn a little bit about the local birds that make this area home. After our short walk we were then back on the bus to go to Churchill Island for lunch and a brief lecture from a Park Ranger named Graehme. Graehme was excellent. He discussed with our group all of Philip Island and more importantly how the park fits in with the economics of the area, but specifically the implications for that specific park since it they do not have a federal park system it is responsible for generating their own money. The penguins are a big part of that endeavor and we would see them later.

Graehme talking to the group about Churchill Island

After learning a little bit more about the island we had the opportunity to go explore the island a bit more before heading to the Koala Conservatory. This was a great opportunity for the students to see koalas and to learn more about them from the interpretation centre.

Koala 🙂

After out time viewing koalas we then went to the Philip Island Wildlife Park. This does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Philip Island Park Service, but it was a great stop because it was an opportunity for the students to see much of the wildlife in Australia such as emus, Tasmanian Devils, quolls, cassowaries and kangaroos to name a few. However, the highlight for many was the opportunity to actually feed the kangaroos. Many pictures were had.

My favorite - Tasmanian Devil

 We then made our way to the beach town of Cowes for a leisurely dinner before our penultimate stop at site called the Nobbies. We had a great view as the sun was setting. Normally this spot has a lot of seals and is sometimes called Seal Rock, but the seals were too far away to see so we just enjoyed the views.

Richard feeding the Emus

The final stop of course was to see the Penguin Parade. The penguins come from ocean after days searching for food and then come up on shore after sunset. The penguins are quite small and the parks have created some habitats for the penguins to go into for shelter and home. It has very strict policies concerning lights and photography, but it is quite a sight to see so many little penguins trying to make their way up the beach.  Finally we were on our way back home and finally made it back to our hotel around 11:45. It was a very late night. Tomorrow is a free day and then off to the Great Ocean Road.

Students feeding the kangaroos

Today was our first full day in Melbourne and we decided to take advantage of the nice sunny weather and head to the Australian Open. Melbourne is a very sporty town and refers to the Open as “The Tennis.” 

Federation Square

Most of the students took the tram to “The Tennis”, but I used the extra time this morning to walk through Federation Square on the way. Federation Square is a very interesting area that is thought to be the meeting place in Melbourne. It is fun to be around it this time of year because there are a lot of people hanging out and viewing the big screens to watch the tennis matches that are going on.

On our way to the Tennis

A short walk from Federation Square is Rod Laver Arena and the rest of the tennis grounds. This year we had a chance to get the students to Hisense Arena which used to be the main arena for the grounds until Rod Laver was built for the 2000 Olympics. Our seats were excellent, only about 10 rows from the court, the one bad thing was that they were directly in the sun, I thought I was going to melt but I am sure the students loved it. The tickets also allowed you to roam the many outer courts. Since this was the second round, many of the courts were in full force.

Rod Laver Arena

I can’t speak for all the students, but I saw many of them at the following matches. At Hisense in the morning, many watched number 9 seed and former number one, Jelena Jankovic from Serbia lose to Shuai Pang from China in a two set match. At the beginning it looked like Jankovic was going to run away with it, but she eventually struggled at the end and lost.

Inside Hisense Arena

The next match in Hisense was a fun match to watch between Feliciano Lopez from Spain and seeded 31 versus Bernard Tomic from Australia. Bernie was obviously the crowd favorite and was able to upset the Spaniard. Unfortunately for young Bernie who is only 18 and the youngest person in the field, his next match will be against Rafael Nadal the number one seed. I think Bernie will need a lot of luck on Saturday.

Bernie

Most of the students then made it to Show Court 3 to watch John Isner of the USA and seeded 20^th play Radek Stapanek from Czech Republic. Isner was obviously a favorite of the students being an American, but also because he was born in Greensboro and played tennis at the University of Georgia where he was an All-American. Isner struggled at the beginning, but found his serve and was able to overcome a first set loss with three consecutive sets to win in four. A couple of the students were able to track him down following the match and get an autograph. Needless to say, they were very excited.

Melbourne at Night

Some of the students concluded the long day of tennis by going back to Hisense Arena to watch the last match where Robin Soderling from Sweden defeated Gilles Muller from Germany. Soderling won a convincing three set match. Soderling is the number four seed of the tournament, but I would not be surprised to see him go far in the tournament. He won one of the warm-up tournaments in Australia before the Open by beating Andy Roddick and looked very good in his win tonight.

Sorry for the delay on posts, but Jason and I have been very busy and have had trouble accessing internet. We made it to Melbourne safely. Jason will be posting about our last day in Cairns and I will talk about what we have done so far.

Today was another early morning to head to Fitzroy Island. I was excited for two reasons, one this is a new location for me to go, but also because we were going to have a chance to do a little sea kayaking which I really enjoy. Due to the size of our group and the number of kayaks we had to split into two groups. Jason decided that he would go with the first group kayaking; therefore, I went with the other group for a hike.

View from the Summit

The hike was definitely much more rigorous than I think any of us had anticipated but the group persevered. We knew that the hike was going to involve a lot of elevation change because the one track was to the lighthouse which you could see coming in and the other was to the Summit, the highest peak on the island. The elevation was difficult, but the hardest thing to overcome was the weather. It was very hot and humid and no breeze. Needless to say we sweated quite a bit, but we were rewarded with some great views from both the lighthouse and the summit.

Sea Kayaking with students

After coming down on the hike we had a chance to grab a quick bit to eat before getting our turn on the kayaks. Our two guides took us to Little Fitzroy Island on our tour. Overall the students did a great job. The conditions were pretty tough in the afternoon as the wind decided to pick up and a couple of groups capsized, but overall it was just good fun. Once we had the opportunity to make it to Little Fitzroy Island and have a bit of a snorkel.

Little Fitzroy Island

The weather influenced the sites that we could snorkel, but we still were able to see part of the Great Barrier Reef. We may not have seen as much as we did yesterday, but we still saw some good coral and fish and it was amazing that it was just feet from the island. A couple of students saw an eel, but I mostly saw fish and coral. After paddling back we jumped on our boat and made it back to Cairns. I viewed it as a pretty good full body work out for the day with hiking in the morning and upper body kayaking in the afternoon.

Snorkeling off Little Fitzroy

Students hanging out in stinger suits after snorkeling