Beginning of Great Ocean Road - Surfing

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Hello hello! Greetings from Australia! My name is Anita Bhat and I am excited to share with you the incredible adventures we encountered today. This is only our second blog post, and I have heard several remarks from my classmates as well and from myself about wanting to live here in the future. This means we are already off to a great start! Today we had the privilege of taking a surfing lesson, driving along the Great Ocean Road, and experiencing some backpacker activities like staying in a hostel, seeing koalas, eating a barbeque dinner and playing some cricket on the beach. There were also many instances today that helped us learn more about how these Australian tourist activities can be sustainable and more eco-friendly. Some of these examples which I will be sure to go into more detail about include making sure to use reef safe sunscreen, keeping items to a minimum on the beaches, and the wildlife details after our short walk from the bus.

To start, the first main activity we had today was the surfing lesson. Although surfing was a little difficult for those of us without previous experience, it was such a blast and was something I would love to do again. Through this excursion, we spent lots of time at the beach and in the ocean, so it was important to practice sustainable beach etiquette there. One of them included making sure we wore reef safe sunscreen. Some popular sunscreen brands have chemicals in them that harm the reefs, so when swimming in the ocean in tropical locations with a lot of coral, it is important to make sure our sunscreen is reef safe. Even though we did not specifically come into contact with any coral today, it was still important to keep this in mind. Another interesting sustainable detail we practiced was bringing a very minimal amount of items to the beach. Most of our belongings were just left on the bus or put into one community bin to keep it all together. This prevents the possibility of stray items getting into the oceans and harming ecosystems there. It was also very important not to leave any kinds of trash on the beach in order to prevent any harmful pollution to the ocean waters.

After taking our wetsuits off and climbing onto the bus, we drove a few hours on the Great Ocean Road. The Great Ocean Road is a road that runs directly along the eastern coast with incredible scenic views and fun stops along the way. Looking out the window and seeing the endless blue of the ocean along the horizon was an absolutely breathtaking site. We tried to take as many photos as possible, but I specifically remember having a conversation with my classmates about how the photos don’t do the actual views justice at all. It was gorgeous to see in person. One of the stops we made along the way was a short ten minute walk to find koalas in the trees. As part of our prerequisite seminar we learned a lot about the importance of preventing deforestation and wildfires which have huge impacts on the forest ecosystems here. I personally loved seeing the koala at peace in its home, and the fact that these places can very easily be destroyed by a wildfire is horrible and stresses this importance.

Finally, tonight we had the opportunity to stay in a hostel overnight in Apollo Bay and take part in backpackers activities with our guides we’ll be spending time with for the next couple of days. This included a barbeque dinner we helped make. I love that this form of tourism can be a more sustainable as well as cost efficient way of traveling. I remember learning from a different class about how making your own food and appreciating where it came from can give more of an overall appreciation and awareness for the environment. I loved the food and this concept, and I personally would do it again in my own travels outside of this trip. To close off the day, the last little fun activities we did were playing some cricket on the beach and exploring more of Apollo Bay. I know some of my classmates and I found a fair with food and rides which was so fun and cute! In terms of overall reflection, we are only on the second day, but this has so far been an absolutely amazing experience. I can’t wait to learn more about the different sustainability practices that can go into tourism and staying safe. I will certainly continue to use these practices when traveling outside of this trip, and I hope that you can too! I hope you all have a great day or night, depending on what time zone you’re in. Thanks!

 

 

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