Conservation Volunteers New Zealand

My placement at CVNZ Wellington was incredible. The staff were lovely. They made the work day interesting and engaging. They taught us the significance of the site and projects we were working on. It was very rewarding work and also a lot of fun. It was amazing to engage with individuals with similar interests. I’ve made some life long connections through my experience with people from all over the world. I’ve even been back to NZ a couple of time since and have caught up with the staff at CVNZ. Overall a great experience and one that I will never forget.

On this conservation project we did so many thing to rehabilitate and grow the degree of conservation in different parts of Australia. This was the greatest and most rewarding trip I had ever been on, and I have been to may countries before. Just knowing that I was, as cliché as it sounds, saving the planet was the greatest feeling. You can feel so small sometimes and think that something you do may not affect anyone around the world, but when you are standing on the edge of a cliff, or at the shore of a beach that you just spent all day cleaning and you look out into the world, you feel so powerful and there is no greater feeling than that.

Our project was okay, very long and tiring days, but we did get to see some cute animals. Our project leaders were not fully prepared to do the task at hand, I.e. Needed help in operating their own equipment, but we managed. Their hearts are in the right place.

Volunteering with Conservation Volunteers was an amazing experience that I would recommend to anyone who has a love and respect for nature. Being able to contribute to the conservation efforts of New Zealand left me with a new found respect for conservationist.
One week we would be working with Kiwis, the next planting indigenous plants in restored swamps, then collecting seedling the week after that.

This was a trip of a lifetime! I made lifelong friends with people from around the world who also valued my love of volunteering and travel. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the staff at Walkabout Wildlife Park. They were always right there working with us to make their park a better place. Our group focused on constructing walking trails and planting trees during our time at the park. We accomplished a lot during our two weeks, but I think that we would have been more productive if the labor of maintaining the park was cut into half days rather than being all day work. For example, working the mornings and then getting to interact with the wildlife or educating the public about the importance of conservation in the afternoons. The second half of the trip we toured the Eastern coast. My group got to meet the local and native people, interact with the wildlife, learn about the history of the country, as well as get to participate in activities such as scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef, skydiving, white water rafting, repelling the Blue Mountains, surfing, ocean kayaking, and whale watching. This half of the trip was amazing and like nothing I had every experienced before. The free time that we got at each destination was important. It allowed us to do things individually that was not on the itinerary. On top of being a spectacular trip, it was wonderful that ISV took care of all the logistics of traveling so that I could just enjoy the ride. This was a no stress, thoroughly enjoyable, once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget!