Caledonia Argus

Land down under a 'dream come true'

Posted: 7/23/02

By Shannon McKinney
Argus News Reporter

ìItís a once in a lifetime experience. I had the greatest time,î says Tracy Meiners when asked about her recent three-week trip to Australia.

Meiners has seen and done so many things in Australia, that she has to consult her travel log to keep it all straight.

The dream of traveling across continents began to take shape when Meiners received a letter in the mail last August inviting her to take part in the ìPeople to People Student Ambassadorî program as a cultural learning experience. At the time, Europe was offered as the only travel destination. The first meeting for the ambassador program had been scheduled for September 11, 2001. But, after the terrorists attacks another meeting was rescheduled for November in which Australia was offered as a second choice.

Meiners had always dreamed of traveling to Australia. Itís itinerary seemed more exciting to her than Europeís tour. ìIt was a hard decision,î she said of choosing between the two.

Four informational meetings were held over the next several months to help prepare the students for the differences in the culture, and the type of things theyíd experience. ìIt was so you werenít nervous when you got there,î she explained.

Meiners traveled with a group of about 42 students and four adult leaders. Most of the students were from Orlando, Florida, while only a few were from this area.

The trip began June 9 and ended June 28. The flight to Sydney, Australia took 20 hours.

The group left at 5:30 in the evening and arrived in the morning. Meiners said everyone thought they would be able to sleep when they got there, but that was not the case.

As soon as they got off the plane, the group visited the Sydney Opera House, which was one of Meinerís favorite things to see. The opera contained the largest organ in the world. ìIt was really amazing to see it,î she said.

Later that day, they visited stadium Australia where the Olympics were held.

Over the next few days, they climbed to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, visited the Hard Rock Cafe in Sydney, an aborigine museum, the Sydney Aquatic Stadium, and watched a drama play called, ìSoul Mateî at the Sydney Opera House.

Meiners admitted that she hasnít seen a lot of plays, but really enjoyed this one.

Local culture different than USA

After Sydney, the group traveled to Tamworth where they stayed two nights at the home of a family. All students were required to wear uniforms.

The family she stayed with ate a food called ìVeggie Mateî which is used as a spread on toast for breakfast. The Orlando group of students had to eat it before going on the trip. ìThey all said it was disgusting. Itís brown and looks like jam,î she said.

Meiners never did eat the spread, but she did bring back a small bottle of it.

Aside from the Australiansí strong accents, Meiners noticed that they have a tendency to shorten their words. For example, breakfast is ìbreakyî and Mosquito is ìmozzyî.

Meiners said it would have been very easy to slip into speaking their accent, if but for the fact that she was constantly surrounded by the Americans she traveled with.

While with the family, Meiners visited the town of 30,000 people and a wildlife park where she got to hold Koala bears and see Dingos and Wambats, which look like pigs. They also visited a kangaroo leather shop.

Meiners shared with her host family how the families from Caledonia interacted.

She witnessed her first rugby match. ìThey beat each other up. It looked painful. They donít have gear (when they play),î she explained.

The group then traveled up the coast to Couran Cove Resort, which was on an island. They spent one day participating on a treasure hunt around the island with a partner. They also played basketball and volleyball.

Their next stop was for lunch in Brisbane, Australiaís third most populous city with 1.6 million people.

They visited an underwater world in Mooloolaba, which Meiners described as similar to the underwater world in the Mall of America.

Many of the trips to different cities involved bus trips on a coach bus that lasted several hours. To pass the time, they watched all the Crocodile Dundee and Star Wars movies and played games using toothpicks and lifesavers. The bus trips were a memorable part of the trip for Meiners.

They visited Rainbow Beach for a few hours and saw a ship that had wrecked on the beach in the 1970s.

At one point, they stopped at an elementary school in Gin Gin and visited with third and fourth grade students playing games and talking about America. ìA little girl taught me how to play chess. It was neat she seemed pretty smart for her age,î said Meiners.

Trip has several high lights

One of the highlights included a visit to the Koorana Crocodile farm. Meiners had a bowl of Crocodile chowder and liked it. ì It reminded me of cream of chicken soup. The meat was tender. One of my goals was to try it; I knew weíd have the opportunity,î she said.

Later they went crocodile hunting in the dark using flashlights to find the glowing red eyes. Fences separated the crocodiles from the people.

Meiners also held a baby crocodile which had its mouth taped shut. ìWhen you hold it, itís very forceful. It almost got out of my hands,î she said.

Then, they walked through caves that had a natural sound system that was equal to the kind at the Sydney Opera House. The song, ìAmazing Graceî was played. At one point, the lights were turned off. ìIt was so pitch dark, you couldnít even see your hands in front on your face,î she said.

Another highlight for Meiners, was snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef at Arlie Beach in Queensland.

The day wasnít as sunny as they hoped it would be, but you could still see plenty of beautiful fish and colorful underwater coral. People were asked not to touch the coral reef to keep it from being destroyed.

Another highlight included staying with another family with five children outside the town of Ayer. Meiners met the mayor, who talked to them about the city.

Interacting with local people like the mayor, said Meiners, was one of the things she really liked about the trip. ìThey taught you about their culture. I liked their accent. They seemed to be so friendly. They wanted to know how we lived,î she said.

Taking a trip on a hot air balloon near Cairnes definitely left Meiners with good memories. ìI was the first group to go up just as the sun rose. It was a big place to go ballooning; there were 10 other balloons. Being up that high and looking across the mountains was just really nice,î she said.

Another favorite for Meiners was the Aborigine Center where the group got to see real Aborigines do dances. Meiners learned how to play the Didgeredoo, an Aborigine musical instrument and also how to throw the boomerang. ìThe way they look and do things is really different, their body paintings,î she said.

Meiners said that at first she was worried that Australia might look dry and barren like the outback. She was impressed, however, with how green everything was. ìThe rain forest area is so pretty, so green and tropical, and the beaches are really beautiful,î she said.

She wishes she could go back someday and encourages others to go on the trip. ìI would recommend for kids to do this. Itís so much fun.î

To learn more about the program, log onto www.studentambassador.org.

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