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Published: March 27th 2011
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There was one aspect of the earlier mentioned course “Experiencing the Australian Landscape” that especially persuaded me in taking it. That was the actual
experiencing part, or, in other words, the field trips. We have two of them in total, one to Phillip Island and the other one to Wilson Promontory, a national Park. Both of them are camping trips but the camping will be taken to another level at the Wilson's Prom trip. At Phillip Island we had recreation rooms (rooms with tables and benches), normal toilets and
hot showers. We stayed at the same camp site the whole time. At Wilson's prom we'll have to carry our camping gear and food with us in our backpacks. Sanitary facilities will include only drop toilets and no showers. Some people in our group of about 25 had never been camping before, so for them Phillip Island was already a big challenge.
We left Thursday (24/3) morning from Clayton campus. First, we drove to another Monash Campus to collect all our gear. Everything that we did not have ourselves was provided by Monash University. In my case that also included the basics such as a sleeping bag and mat, because like
most other exchange students I didn't take anything with me to Australia. There are only two Australian girls in our class that study education, the rest of the group consists of exchange students who took the course mainly to go on the field trips. Our teacher Beau is young (end twenties/early thirties) and a very passionate teacher. Two other people from the outdoor education department (Fish and F'lice) also joined on this trip to help out. The goal of the trip was to apply the theory we had been ready about
outdoor education and
place. So, with each place we were in we should ask ourselves: “where am I?” “How do I feel?” “and Why?” and write it down in our field journals. Basically, it was just enjoying the outdoors for a weekend with camping, surfing and hiking.
We were randomly split up in three groups. My group started off with doing a coastal walk. It was raining and a bit stormy, so perfect weather for a beach walk like the ones at Scheveningen in October (lekker uitwaaien). The beach was even covered in the same foam that can be found at Scheveningen on windy days. We took our
shoes of and walked along the coastline, sometimes stopping when one of us had spotted something beautiful or strange. We found coral, the shells of sea urchins, dead birds and many other things. We also had to pair up in cooking groups and mine fortunately had already precooked the meal, so we only had to heat it up again. That night it was still stormy and raining. When we walked back after dinner we saw that the tent had broken down. Fortunately, it could be fixed and the inside had only become a bit damp and thus was still suitable for sleeping.
The next morning it was time to go surfing. The wetsuit I put on was still a bit wet from the previous day, when the other group went surfing. After a very quick introduction we were send off into the sea. I managed to get on my knees and on my feet (without standing up properly) a few times, but in general, I just sucked at surfing. The sea was warm, especially with the wetsuits on, and it was nice to float on the waves. In the afternoon we went the southern point of the Island, where
Start of Cliff Walk
Marten (Utrecht), Adam (liverpool), Fiona (AUS), Petra (Delft), Dana (Melbourne), Jenny (Uppsala), Rebecca (?)(China), me, Ido (Delft) we did a cliff walk. The path and the cliffs reminded be of Cornwall and the coast walk there. It was extremely beautiful and we even spotted a few Walibis (kangaroo-like creatures), a blowfish (the ones that are poisonous) and a dead penguin.
The last day, some time was planned fro everyone to go out by themselves. I climbed up the cliffs surrounding the surf beach we went to the previous day. When we drove back, most of the bus was asleep. All in all it was a really good and fun weekend.
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Marga
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Leuk zo een course “Experiencing the Australian Landscape”. Daarmee kom je nog ergens. Voor mij is het leuk om mijn kennis op diverse terreinen op te vijzelen. Nooit geweten dat urchins zeeëgels zijn en een blowfish een kogelvis. Trouwens wist ik ook niet dat je over "San Remo" moest rijden om naar Phillip Island, VIC, Australia te komen. Ik ga maar op zoek naar Nootdorp, Australia....