Blog

Bay of Islands From Auckland we headed to the Bay of Islands, stopping on the way in Paihia for lunch. Our home for the week, was an old schoolhouse with bunkbeds stacked three high. The surrounding area included an incredible forest and a couple of nice fields. We were anxious to see what kind of work the week had in store for us. First Day of Volunteering We met the Department of Conservation guides whom would be showing us around the bay for the week. They started us… Read more

Just back to the office after spending time with the New Zealand Australia group. They are currently spending time on beautiful Urupukapuka Island in the Bay of Islands Maritime Park, camping and doing volunteer conservation work. Everyone is getting along great and enjoying themselves. Here are a few photos I took: Jumping into the ocean before our program briefing on day 1 Trust and bonding activities Whole group after our first day of volunteer work. You'll hear m… Read more

All participants on the New Zealand Australia program have safely arrived in Auckland to a sunny 80 degree evening. Everyone is excited to be here, to start the program and to start getting to know their fellow travellers.  The program offically begins tomorrow morning, with a Pacific Ocean swim, picninc breakfast and an extensive program briefing. Kind regards, Scott and Leo Read more

It's been an amazing month in New Zealand! We are now at the halfway point in the program having done two weeks of volunteer conservation work and two multi-day expeditions. Right now we're relaxing in sunny Nelson before our final week of conservation work at Nelson Lakes National Park. Canoeing on the Whanganui River - expedition 2 Riverside cave on our canoe journey Carnivorous snail survey on our second week of volunteer conservation work Jordan enjoying mountain… Read more

We are now relaxing in the lakeside resort town of Taupo after an arduous five days of backpacking, scrambling, climbing, slipping, rapelling, tubing, canoeing, caving and camping on our journey from Waitomo to the Tasman Sea. For some this was their first backpacking trip. For all of us, the challenges of slippery moss covered rocks, tangles of vines, and having to find the energy to make camp after 9 hours of exertion was at times overwhelming. Everyone found the trip … Read more

The day we went to The Bay of Islands, we woke up really early, made some breakfast and packed the trailer. It was about 3.5 hours up to the Bay of Islands, which actually went by pretty quickly. On the way we got onto a ferry to get to Russell, where we stopped to get lunch and snacks for the week of volunteering. We met Chris, the DOC (Department of Conservation) man we would be working with the most. Once we packed all our packs and food onto the small boat we started… Read more

Today was the first day that we all got together and had our first meetings. It was all alot of fun, and in some ways adventurous; we were running/sliding down hills, dodging sheep paddies, and hanging off monkey bars! Then took I much needed R&R; at Mission Bay beach. Everyone in the group seems to have a certain dynamic to add and I think we are all excited to get started on our adventure, I know I am. Tomorrow we depart at 6:30 am for the Bay of Islands, our first vo… Read more

Look out for our New Zealand volunteer conservation trip in the November edition of National Geographic Adventure Magazine. The trip was chosen as one of the top 25 new trips in the world! Read more