Spirit of Tasmania/Travel Day, Geelong, Victoria

-

 

After a lovely day of seeing breathtaking views such as the Gibson Steps, 12 Apostles, and a rainforest, our group set out for The Spirit of Tasmania, an overnight ferry. Taking a boat lowers carbon emissions and therefore is more eco-friendly than flying!

The Spirit of Tasmania, originally created in Finland, sailed to ports in countries such as Italy and Greece. To lower fuel costs in the early 2000s, the ferry stopped sailing to one of its stops in Sydney, but continues to sail sustainably to Tasmania. The Spirit of Tasmania was the first Australian ferry company to join Green Marine, a voluntary program that helps companies improve their environmental performance. At the moment, two new vessels are being built with renewable energy! 

The bus ride was calm and quiet, with students reminiscing about their favorite parts of the day. After seeing the most cows I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and an unsuccessful kangaroo search, I took a long nap. Upon arriving at the Geelong Harbour, the group had one hour to roam around the downtown area where some of us stopped at a playground! While stopping at the bathroom, I thought it was interesting that there were no hand dryers or paper towel dispensers. It does reduce waste to dry hands by sun and air (which worked very well in the sun)! After hanging out by the park, we piled into the van and started our journey to board the ferry! When we arrived, my group helped unload all checked suitcases and backpacks from the trailer and begin the group check in. 

Once everyone from our group made it on, we ate an amazing buffet dinner (shoutout to the mushroom cream pasta) and explored the ship. We listened to live music, watched the sunset, and played card games. Before bed, we stopped at a vending machine and saw some unfamiliar chocolate bars such as white chocolate Snickers and Mars chocolate, with recyclable wrappers! We were fascinated by this, because the wrappers we are familiar with in the USA are made with plastic and can be found to be littered. After saying goodnight to the group, my roommates and I headed to sleep. Our bathroom had resources to keep our stay a bit more eco-friendly such as recyclable cups, and a clean towel to dry hands (not any disposable or paper towel). I do get insanely motion sick, so I wore my motion sickness glasses and my roommate Anita made sure to tuck me in so I felt better against the waves (thanks Anita)! Six hours later, we woke up, got ready, and headed off the boat, and found ourselves at a McDonald’s! Next up, Cradle Mountain!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Glow Worm Tour/Flying Fox, O'Reilly's Lamington National Park, Brisbane

-
Image
A Night with the Glow Worms Led by our guide, Nathan, we explored the dark, mysterious rainforest, and learned some surprising things along the way. It was one of those adventures that makes you appreciate nature even more. The Walk to the Glow Worms Our journey started with us all holding red flashlights so our eyes could adjust to the dark. The red light wasn’t just for show—it helps you see without ruining your night vision. We were surprisingly able to see some creatures in the dark forest on our way to the glow worms.  Nathan pointed out some cool (and somewhat intimidating) creatures. One was the  Bark Frog, an endangered species that blends in perfectly with the bark of trees. We had to look closely to  spot it.  Another interesting critter we learned about was the  Lamington Crayfish . These crayfish can live up to 30 years and grow as big as 30 cm. Nathan shared that it’s illegal to catch or harm one of these crayfish, with fines up to $5,000 and jail t...
Read more

Mole Creek Caves & Honey Farm, Tasmania

-
         On Tuesday, January 7th, we had the opportunity to go to two amazing places in Tasmania. The first one was Mole Creek Cave in Mole Creek, TAS. At the beginning, the tour guide did a land acknowledgement. While I came into Australia knowing that this land belonged to the Aboriginal people, I did not know which specific tribes lived in the places that I would be visiting, so I was glad that I was told. If I can find the time, I want to learn more about the Pallittorre tribe that originally inhabited Mole Creek.      Throughout our time in the cave, there was a big emphasis on not touching anything, (the oils on our hands can mess up the mineral formations) which reminded me of the concept of “leaving no trace”. However, there were pieces of limestone as well as other rocks that we were allowed to touch before going into the cave so that we could get an idea of what they feel like. Everyone in the class was very respectful of this, and we ...
Read more

Caroborree, Thunderbird Park, Brisbane

-
Image
  On our last and final day in Brisbane, the class practiced and prepared for a traditional Aboriginal celebration called a Corroboree. Corroborees are a performance of song and dance that represent Aboriginal spirituality. To start the day, the men and women were separated and told that we could not see each other in our clothing or jewelry until the Corroboree celebration in the evening. For the women, we started with traditional gift making, also known as the second law in Aboriginal culture. The goal of this first activity was to take pieces of shaved, wet palm, and weave them into their pieces of jewelry such as bracelets, anklets, and necklaces, to wear during the evening celebration. Lydia, Douglas’s niece who helped teach us song and dance, said that palm is the material used as it’s very abundant and durable. grass can be used but it’s hard to find strong grass. The palm will last for decades after drying and can also be used to weave into other things like baby carriers. ...
Read more