I arrived in Melbourne on Friday morning. At the office in Melbourne I met all the other volunteers that enjoyed the Australian Conservation Experience project with me. We were nine people from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and me from Italy. My team was sent to a comfortable accommodation. We spent the first weekend chatting, cooking, going out to the town, playing cards all together. On Monday we met Nathalie, our team leader. The setting for our working days was the countryside of Hamilton. There we planted about 10,000 of little trees and grass during two weeks.
The landscapes of the countryside were really beautiful and peaceful. One day we did a trip to the Nigretta waterfall and we had a barbeque all together. During our free time we saw the Hamilton’s craft market, the lake of Hamilton and we spent sometimes playing football.
We cooked massive and delicious dinners sometimes with Italian flavours, sometimes Chinese and Australian ones. After dinner we usually played cards and chat. I spent a really good time with the other volunteers, we laughed a lot and we had fun together.
Actually I didn’t know what to expect when deciding to volunteer in Australia at this conservation project, but at the end I can say that it was a great opportunity to grow up, to help the environment of Australia, to discover new cultures from all around the world. I will never forget this experience and the people that I met.
