Australia Ecotourism | An Elon University Academic Blog

As Jason posted, we finally arrived in yesterday. We had a relatively uneventful flight. We did have one student whose bag did not arrive, but hopefully that will be fixed soon. After arrival to our hotel, we had a short meeting to talk about upcoming activities, expectations, etc.; all the fun stuff. After the meeting, we encouraged the students to stay up as long as possible because it would help out with jet lag.

It seems that most had the same idea and took a stroll around town. Of course the big highlights to be seen were the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Bridge. Some walked across part of the bridge and others went to Manly Beach. Jason and I had similar ideas. We enjoyed the area near Sydney Harbor, the Rocks and walked to Darling Harbor. On our way back from Darling Harbor, we walked through Hyde Park. Overall, it sounded like most of them turned in early for our first day of adventures.

Greetings From Sydney, Australia! It may have been a non-stop 15 hour flight, but the 29 Elon University students finally arrived on 7:42AM on January 6th (which involved completely missing out on January 25th ). The students were exhausted by being 14-hours ahead of their regular time but it did not stop them from exploring the Land Down Under. The Harbor Bridge, the opera house and downtown culture was what the students mostly tried to embrace on their free day. With cameras around their necks and the sun at a beautiful 90 degrees farenheit, it was the ideal day to take in. Staying in the area of Potts Point, students were able to socialize, explore and relax themselves for the incredible experience in which they were about to experience in the morning.

January 7th may be a Friday, but people were up earlier than the usual 8am Departure time (mostly due to the jet-lag) for the start of the course with an exhilirating trip to Kur-N-Gai National Park. The tour guide for the day, Leslie, took the students through an incredible tour of Aboriginal culture through stone floor stone carvings. Even with rain showers and excessive heat, we were enganged by all of the carvings and what they represented. Leslie began and ended the tour with making sure we all paid respects to his ancestors and everyone that goes back to the start of Australia’s history.

The most entertaining part of the day for us was byfar playing games of the aboriginal culture. One game involved throwing tennis balls at a centerpiece and the other involved using boomarangs and arrows. I felt that the class truly bonded today and all of us realized at Manly Beach during the conclusion of the day that this is “just the beginning”.

Stay Tuned for our next update from Canyoning in the Blue Mountains.

G’Day Mates.

-Raj Rawal – Class of 2012

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we all have arrived in Sydney. After a quick course update this morning everyone is out and about taking in all that is Sydney. We are all looking forward to showers and real beds tonight! More (and pictures) to follow soon.

Greetings all. I am Jason Springer, Director of Elon 101 and Assistant Director of Academic Advising. I am very much looking forward to co-leading this winter term program. We will be updating this blog for friends, family, and colleagues frequently so please check back often to follow our adventures.

Hello, my name is Dr. Eric Hall, I will be a co-leader of this winter term course with Jason Springer. I will briefly introduce myself and then let Jason introduce himself. I am an Associate Professor of Exercise Science at Elon University and this will be the 9th year that I have lead this course. I will use the blog to keep everyone up-to-date as to what we are doing and how we are doing while in Australia, so please keep coming back.

Here is a picture of me from a previous year.

Hello all-

My name is Dr. Eric Hall and I will be leading the Australia Ecotourism course during Winter Term 2011. I am an Associate Professor of Exercise Science and this will be my ninth year leading this course. My co-leader this year will be Rob Springer. Rob is the Assistant Director of Academic Advising at Elon and Director of Elon 101. We will be maintaining this blog throughout our time in Australia so please come back as often as you can to see our adventures.