ISV Australia 2011

The ISV program is amazing. My volunteer project was Walkabout Wildlife park, an hour from Sydney. Our project leader picked us up at the airport and he drove us there, where we stayed for 2 weeks. The staff of the park was really really nice and they made everything really simple. We worked a lot but doing different things every day and it was amazing. Plus we were surrounded by animals all the time, which was great. We got to spend a lot of time with kangaroos (so cute) and koalas and we saw a lot of australian species! During the day we worked from 8 till 4 and then during the evening you have free time (we went to Harry Potter's premiere!) and we also had the weekend off, that time can be used to do whatever you feel like (visiting other places and cities).
When the two volunteer weeks finished we were off to Cairns (north of Queensland) and our adventure tour started. First in Cairns we went snorkeling and scuba diving in The Great Barrier Reef and we went white water rafting in Tully river! You get the opportunity to go skydiving or bungee jumping during your free day (you have to pay extra for that but it's totally worth it!) After 5 days we left and our next stop was Airlie Beach, where we could see the Whitsunday islands, which are heaven! They've got the whitest sand in the world and they are really beautiful. We also went ocean rafting here. After that we went to Fraser island (the biggest sand island in the world). This is a great place to see dingoes and whales. The most fun part is jumping from the sand dunes! Then we went to Byron Bay, where we had a 2h surfing lesson. This was awesome! The rest of the time you spent in Byron Bay is free so you can find other activities, relax at the beach, visit the lighthouse or go surfing after your lesson! Finally our last stop was Sydney. Here we had a free day and on the evening we went on a sunset cruise around Sydney Harbour. It was great to see the opera house and the harbour bridge at sunset, amazing views! The next day we went to the Blue Mountains and we tried rappelling.
The program is totally worth it. Some of the activities you do on the adventure tour (like surfing and the sunset cruise) are optional so you have to pay more if you wanna do it. Everybody should try them because they are amazing (everyone in my group signed up for them!)