This summer, I had the pleasure of traveling to Australia due to the Geoffrey Andrew Ladd Discovery Award. This was a very special trip because I got to plan it. Usually, when we go on trips, I just sit back and let my parents find the tours. For this trip, I got to find tours or pick from ones my parents found, and I really enjoyed doing that.
I did many cool things in Australia. Some of my favorite things we did were camping in the Outback, holding and feeding saltwater crocodiles in Darwin, hiking in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, and seeing a wide variety of animals on Kangaroo Island. I really enjoyed camping, especially because it was a very unique experience. We took a 2-night camping trip to Uluru, where we slept in swags, traditional Australian one-person tents. I also loved seeing the animals (koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, seals, and a lot of birds) in their natural habitats, versus how they are usually seen in zoos. Holding the one-year-old saltwater crocodile was really cool because, I mean, how often can you do that?! The Blue Mountains had some super hidden views, our guide took us to where we were literally the only people around! It was amazing. There, I also got a real feather for my hat!
Even though we spent a lot of time in nature, we did things inside the cities. We went to the South Australia Museum in Adelaide, where we could see some of the tools the First People used, like spearthrowers, which were exactly what they sound like, and boomerangs, which usually didn’t return. In Sydney, I went to my first-ever opera at the Sydney Opera House. We saw the Marriage of Figaro, which was really entertaining, even though it was in Italian. I went to school for a day at the King’s School, which was a lot of fun and very interesting compared to life at Saint Andrew’s. On my last day, I visited with Mrs. Ladd before we left, told her about my adventures, and thanked her for this wonderful opportunity.
We did so many things this trip; I wish I could’ve shared them all with you! It has been such an amazing experience, and I hope the next Geoffrey Andrew Ladd Discovery Award winner enjoys it as much as I did.