Day 48 (Wonthaggi Lifesaving Club) - Cape Paterson Bay Beach, Victoria Australia

Agh (sigh). Today was good, and it started early - 4:30am.Got up, finished packing, walked 20 minutes to the Bendigo train station, took the 5:56am train to Melbourne, got in at 7:45am, walked about 6 blocks to the Conservation Volunteers Australia office, got in a van, and drove 2 hours to the small coastal village of Inverloch. There are 5 of us students: Justin - studying abroad at the University of Melbourne, from the University of Minnesota; Min - also studying abroad at the University of Melbourne, from New York City; Max - doing an internship with CVA, from Hong Kong; and a girl from Japan who is also doing an internship and has graduated from Uni (I can't remember her name). Together with Steve, our CVA leader, we were assigned to help the South Gippsland Conservation Society by getting rid of the "Wandering Jew" weed. It's not actually called the "Wandering Jew" anymore, someone thought that that name wasn't politically correct (go figure), so it was changed to "Wandering Creeper." The hardest part was actually pulling the weeds because they didn't want us to pull the roots out. Instead, we were supposed to snip the vines at the root. Apparently if we pulled the weeds out by the roots we would disrupt the soil. The plan is to spray the weeds when they grow back to permanently destroy it. We then piled the ivy-like weeds in a pile and used a wheelbarrow to haul them out of the little valley we were in.We probably only "worked" for maybe a combined 2-3 hours. I know some of the others wanted to work more and were gun-hoe like I was, but after being on three Alternative Breaks I've realized that sometimes you just have to go with the flow - get educated and fuel the local economy with the almighty dollar...and that's what we did. It's challenging because you want to work hard and get as much done as possible, but sometimes it doesn't work that way. Any help is extremely appreciated by the hosts and it is making a difference, just not as much as you may have planned for. I'm getting used to and am starting to expect this style of service.

For lunch we went to "The Kiosk," this small local restaurant across from the beach/ocean front. It was - in the words of Molly Gleeson, "So ADOREABLE!" They only served brekky and lunch, and had an assortment of beverages.The inside was decorated in a variety of colours, and the walls were filled with artwork that held inspiring messages - basically just a lot of random clash-ness. It was cool though. There really wasn't a central theme, but it worked in some weird way. As I went to the back of the restaurant to use the toilet the thought did occur, "How did this place past health inspection?" Which was followed by, "Does Australia have health code standards?" Oh well, I trust them...

I decided to be adventurous and try something new food wise, the Australian sausage roll. It was a sausage wrapped in a croissant style pastry, with McDonalds style chips, and a basic salad. The whole meal cost $12.50, and it really didn't fill me up - always a bummer, but seems to be a reoccurring theme…There was a nice little highlight on the menu stating how the restaurant was practicing many environmentally friendly practices. Steve said the little seaside village has a strong environmentally friendly history. After lunch we did some more work (for like 30 minutes) then Dave, our onsite coordinator and member of the South Gippsland Conservation Society, and Steve went into botany mode and identified all the foliage around the area for us. It was interesting, but it was too overwhelming for me. It's all green. I do remember that they showed us some weed that some dip-s*** brought over from a different country and now it's negatively impacting the migration habitats of birds that use the area from Japan, China, and India. Talk about global ecosystem screw-up, all because of some grass.

After our little wildlife tour, we headed to our final destination of the day - the coolest place I've been in Aussie since the Great Barrier Reef - the Wonthaggi Life Saving Club which is on the Cape Paterson Bay Beach. It's a local swimming place for the residents of the area on the ocean front.The beach has these crazy looking rock edges that go out into the water. Water crashes against the rocks and make big splashes, it's breathtaking to watch. There was this dog that kept jumping into this man made rock pool on the beach, it was so funny.He'd jump in, swim around, get out, jump back in, and repeat the process. I took a video, it's on youtube. For lodging we stayed in this old looking rectangular building that looks like it should be commissioned. There's a creepy white door on the outside that you go in, take these awkward stairs up, and it opens to the second floor that's a very nice oceanfront style common/kitchen room. In the back there are two rooms with four sets of bunk beds each. The entire place had a very hostel feeling, and at $30 a night a person, what a bargain!

After Steve made us dinner, which was pasta and a sauce with so many spices and vegetables in it I can't even begin to explain them - it was almost a stew, we sat around and talked. He was able to explain one of the possible reasons why universities here don't have much spirit (no one wears Uni shirts or hoodies, or displays any pride in going to their Uni) compared to the US. He said that a few years ago, the previous government saw the growing extra-curricular activities that Uni students were involved with as a threat. Being a conservative government, they didn't want the students political organizations or ideals to threaten their own. So against the will of the universities presidents, they abolished all student clubs and organizations that are run by students. At Central, pretty much all clubs and organizations are run by students, so that would destroy everything. They wanted students to spend more time focusing on their careers after graduation, and not engaging in those other college experiences that might be distracting. This made me sad, as all my memories and best experiences from Central come from outside the classroom and the possibility that students here are missing that is depressing.