Australia’s gold coast and Bali in one semester

You’ll meet your Program Instructors in Sydney and settle into Coogee for orientation, getting to know each other and taking a surf life saving session on the beach. Then we head down the coast to Bermagui and The Crossing. Here we spend a permaculture design experience day, a Landcare day, and a bushfire prevention and wildlife tour at Potoroo Palace.

• Orientation
• Beach safety
• Permaculture

A forest regeneration day and an overnight hike wrap up our time in Bermagui. Next is Canberra, with a visit to Parliament, a city walking tour of the Parliamentary Triangle, Anzac Parade, the Australian War Memorial and Lake Burley Griffin, and a hike up Mt Ainslie. In Katoomba we hike in the Blue Mountains straight from our accommodation, then spend a full day canyoning: hiking, scrambling, swimming and abseiling through an introductory canyon after learning abseiling skills.

• Conservation
• Hiking
• Canyoning

After a day exploring Sydney, we drive north to Crescent Head. Over three days of service with Maratus we plant trees on a property that holds 25% of the region’s remaining original rainforest, building tree guards, mulching and watering, and help a landowner remove invasive weeds. We may also meet Aboriginal community members, learning to weave with lomandra grass and making clay sculptures and sand art from natural materials. Then the surf lessons start.

• Conservation
• Culture
• Surfing

Three days of surf lessons with Crescent Surf get everyone riding waves. Then it’s on to Byron Bay to snorkel Julian Rocks (Nguthungulli), where tropical and temperate waters meet, with the chance to catch sunrise at Cape Byron Lighthouse and visit Nightcap National Park for waterfalls and glow worms. From Binna Burra we hike in Lamington National Park, then take the ferry to Stradbroke Island.

• Surfing
• Snorkeling
• Hiking

On Stradbroke Island a First Nations tour takes us four-wheel driving, painting a boomerang to take home, along bush tracks and to morning tea at a billabong, followed by an afternoon of sandboarding. From Noosa we cross to K’gari, the world’s largest sand island, staying at a beachfront eco retreat. We swim in freshwater lakes, walk inland tracks through towering forest and end the days with campfires and stargazing. Back on the mainland we spend a day at Australia Zoo.

• Culture
• Sandboarding
• Wildlife

A walk in Noosa National Park, then we head to Brisbane and fly to Cairns. Here we join Marine Discoveries for Reef Teach: an evening reef ecology seminar, then marine surveying days on Green Island and an outer reef pontoon, and a full day at Hastings Reef.

• Marine science
• Snorkeling
• Conservation

After a last day in Cairns, with Josephine Falls nearby, we fly to Bali. Following a rest and orientation day in Seminyak, we move to Sanur for two days with a food rescue organisation, helping prepare and distribute meals and visiting community programs including Bali Life Foundation. A day of paddleboarding, mangrove restoration and rubbish removal comes with a snorkel. Then we head to Tabanan, where local guides introduce us to Balinese Hinduism, temples and traditional approaches to health and wellbeing.

• Service
• Conservation
• Culture

In Tabanan we trek through villages, rice terraces and farmland, join a morning of hands-on agriculture with local community members, and share dinner with members of the local royal family at Tabanan Palace. Then we cross to Nusa Penida for three days with FNPF, protecting the critically endangered Bali Starling and supporting environmental restoration on the island, before a day to explore.

• Culture
• Conservation
• Trekking

Back on the mainland, a surf camp in Uluwatu with Balumba Surf builds skill, ocean awareness and confidence across several lessons, with a rest day to follow. In Ubud we take in the evening markets and a show, then spend a full day with Five Pillars harvesting ingredients, preparing food, visiting temples and joining in ceremony. The week ends as our yoga retreat begins. The yoga retreat is an opportunity to disconnect and be present. This time will have a compulsory phone and technology detox for a few days.

• Surfing
• Culture
• Wellbeing

Our yoga retreat focuses on yoga, meditation, mindfulness and personal wellbeing. Next we camp overnight on Mount Batur and climb to the summit for sunrise, then learn traditional batik, creating our own artwork with wax and dyes. We finish in Kuta with our program wrap before flying home from Denpasar.

• Yoga
• Hiking
• Program wrap