Wednesday, October 11, 2006

9:33 PM

Hey all
Back in Australia. Got back yesterday morning. Today is my first day back at school. All my friends and family were excited to here about my trip. I'm missing everyone already, we all became so close over the last week it feels weird without everyone around. I've already told one of my classes all about my trip and my form teacher would like me to bring in photos tomorrow for our school newsletter.
Our plane flight was long but it went alot quicker then the way there.
-Emily :)

Sunday, October 8, 2006

5:13 PM

New friends, polar bears, helicopter rides, tundra buggies, smiles, laughter, food and fun where all ingredients of what is the recipe of leadership camp 06. Not just the experience but also the fantastic people I ve met have changed me in such a large positive way. This past week would honestly be one of the best weeks of my life. I ve learnt so much about global warming, other countries, polar bears and of course myself and my ability to make a difference in the world. The influence that the wonderful people at leadership gave me was astounding. Everyone and everything was incredible and I d like this opportunity to thank each and everyone one of the people for being to kind, believing in their self and believing in the power to make a difference.

As the camp draws to a close and people start to leave the more I want to stay. It s scary to think I may not see these people for years or maybe ever again. Their personalities and stories will stick with me for a life time and the impact they had on me will change me forever. Robert and Carolyn are two of the most amazing people I have ever met their attitude and passion have inspired me deeply. They have taught me many things and given me a new outlook on life.

I look forward to going home and teaching what I myself have learnt and help to build a world that is cleaner place, one which polar bears will inhabit for many years to come. Together we can make the change if we all go our small little part. I will never forget this experience and I will continue to tell the world about it until I m old, frail and can t remember a thing.

I left Australia as Emily Williams, I leave Canada as Emily Williams-Ambassador of the Arctic.

Friday, October 6, 2006

5:51 PM

Today could be described in one word - AMAZING!! We had the oppotunity to ride by helicopter to a polar bear maternal den. The experience was unbelievable, it was my first time in a helicopter I was fortunate enough to get the chance to sit up front. The view was fantastic, the vast landscapes and many lakes was just so different to what I'm used to in Australia. Myself, Jesse, Tamara, Jake, Candace and Jon got to ride in the newest, biggest, fastest helicopter, we got upto 190km per/hr very fast although it didn't feel like it. Our flier Adam was a great guy and an excellent pilot.

Once we got to the maternaity den we were all just so relieved to finally hit foot on ground in the tundra. The tundra was so fun to walk on, it was bouncy, soft, mossy and rather damp in certain areas. We all had a great time tackling, laughing and lying down on the ground and just soaking in the scenerary that surrounded us. Hendrik a teacher from Manitoba taught us about some of the interisting plants that grew on the tundra. I tried a bear berry, It didn't have a very nice after taste but apparently once they are frozen the taste is alot more sweet.

Then in small groups we adventured down a small hill towards the den. The den was a great experience one that i may never get to repeat. It was warm, dry and very compact. I expected to be completely muddy when i emerged but instead was just covered in dirt and grass that brushed off quiet easy. It felt good to get dirty and just to generally be outside. The helicopter flight back was relaxing I never wanted it to end.

Once we got back to the lodge we tried to create a mission statment as a team but were unable to agree on cetain things so we decided to talk about our forward action plans for when we return home.
Some of the things i plan to do when i get home include:
* Presenting to both my highschool, other highschools and primary schools surrounding my region.
* Talk to Magazines, Newspapers and radio stations to perhaps set up interviews.
* Create a website that talks about both my adventure in the Arctic and Global warming.
* Talking to my school principal and P&C about instaling a recylcling system in our school grounds.
* Present to one of my generous sponsers The Rotary Club about my experience at leadership camp.
Hopefully all these plans will be successful but i'll just take it one step at a time.

Tonight is the last night on the tundra buggy lodge and there is a possibilty of snow so i'm crossing my fingers. I got to take a great photograph of a rainbow over the tundra just half an hour ago (very beautiful). Tomorrow its back to Chruchill and then the next day back to Winnipeg. As this camp draws to a close I'm starting to relise how much I will miss my new friends and this experience in general.

Thursday, October 5, 2006

5:05 PM

Another early start with another beautiful alarm. Today has been good but very busy, its been work work all day. First we had breakfast followed shortly by presenting last night presentations. Our group did a movie trailer very cool. Then there was a lot of preparation for our video conference with a primary school in Selkrik which was interesting. The video conference itself was really exciting and it felt great to educate the kids about global warming and the polar bears.

We then choose new groups and begun to prep our new presentations that we just presented not to long ago. Our group did a Rap which was rather fun to create and to perform. After all the groups presented we had a short discussion about what others think and know about global warming. The conversation was an enlightening one. I've started thinking about different ways i can inform people back in Australian and ways I can contribute to changing the way people respond to global warming.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

6:49 PM

Last night was amazing! A mother and her two cubs decided they would join us for dinner. The curious cubs decided they would go against their mothers wishes and come over to the lodge to investigate the situation. We were all excited and rushed for our cameras to take a shot of this beautiful family. To add to the excitment of the polar bears we got the chance to see the beautiful northern lights.
Today was also good,I must say Robert is a talented singer he woke us up with a fantastic rendition of 'Oh what a beautiful morning' one of the best alarm i've herd yet.We got the chance to present about global warming and the effects presentation, i think ours went well. We did a game show style it was fun. We also got to see some more polar bears which is always awesome. All must check out Patricks journal and watch his fantastic video skills. Today was pretty uneventful but still good. We got to step off the tundra buggy today, just to take a photo but still.

Tonight we had three trappers come and talk to us about their point of view of trapping certain animals. It really affected me, I understood what they were saying but there was alot of animal skins with faces and paws and it brang me to tears. What can I say i'm my mothers daughter. I tried to keep my cool but the tears just kept coming. I had to leave the room twice but i built up the courage and returned to watch the end of the presentation. The presentation was usualful and although i was already aware of how the trappers worked it was insightful to hear it from their mouths.

Until next time...

Tuesday, October 3, 2006

5:01 PM

Today we saw our first Churchill Polar Bear it was all very exciting! I ve been hanging out to see a polar bear since the day I found out about the trip. And today there he was peacefully positioning himself on the grass near a small lake. Everyone was jumping at the opportunity to take a photo of the first 2006 polar bear of the polar bear leadership camp! We also got to see an arctic hare, arctic fox and a ptarmigan.

We rode around the tundra on the tundra buggies for the first time today. The buggies are quite large and sit about a metre off the ground. We arrived here at the tundra buggy lodge to discover it was rather large. Robert was trying to scare us all day with the chance we would be on honey bucket duties, as you ll all be unaware of what honey bucket duty is all I give you a short description: Taking a garbage bag full of human wastage out of the toilets and disposing of it. We all had to draw numbers to discover what duty we would be assigned to and Robert decided he would be sneaky and make us all pull out honey bucket duty leave us all in shock and disgust.

Tonight we are to organize and create a presentation for tomorrow in any from (beside a lecture) about global warming and climate change. It should be very interesting to see what the other groups come up with as well as myself.

Monday, October 2, 2006

8:43 PM

Talk about an early start! 5:45am, but that s life and you can t spend it sleeping.

Today was a long day but a good one at that, we got to see the wide landscape of Churchill with our friendly bus driver and tour guide Kelsey! We got to see some pretty interesting stuff; this part of Canada sure is different to Australia!

I personally enjoyed the your of the research centre. Discovering where and how the researches examined their findings was interesting and a good insight onto how a researcher works in Canada.

I think today I may have seen more dead carcasses in one day then I ve seen in a life time! (Well maybe that s a bit of an exaggeration, but I did see a lot!). We saw three dead birds and a beluga skull in the space of around ten minutes while we were walking along the Hudson Bay coast. Then at the research station there was a cabernet full of bones from various animals including mosses and a fox. Also not just bones but we also saw the skins of two Polar Bears which I didn t like seeing.

Today we found out a lot of information about the Wapusk (meaning White Bear) national park of Canada one of the top ten biggest parks in the country. While on the tundra buggy we will be on the outskirts of the national park. We also got to play a game about the different stages of the Polar Bears life and learn about how the residents of Churchill watch out and stop the Polar Bears from harming anyone.

Must be off ?

Sunday, October 1, 2006

5:01 PM

Hello all
Today was not very eventful and yet eventful at the same time! Out of Evilness they made us have to be done at brekkie at 7.00 which meant waking up at 6:15 argh! We then headed off on like the smallest plane i've ever been on to Churchill.
Churchill is cooled, well cooled for an Australian! Jake lives in Chruchill so he took us for a short walk around town and showed us his house then we went to the supermarket to buy some supplies. I brought toothpaste very exciting! Actully i was replacing the toothpaste that was stolen from me at the Vancouver airport. Anyway Churchill is very small and lifeless. People are almost nowhere to be seen. The place we are staying at here is quite big and we were all shocked to see we had a lounge room and kitchen in our rooms.
Up till now we've just been hanging around, watched some family guy and thats about it!

Saturday, September 30, 2006

6:16 PM

Yesterday....29/9/06
After 33 grolling hours we finally arrived in Winnepeg, Canada just 13hours after we left Australia, strange how time works! I think thought out our flight we went throught like 10 times zones. We even went back a day!
Unfortunatly lucky me was unable to sleep on the plane and found myself exhausted and jetlagged! But amazingly when Tamara and I finally hit the hay we couldn't get to sleep, Like i said its strange how time works! (I think i might still be stuck in Australia time)

When Kerry, Tamara and I first reached Winnepeg airport we were meet by two friendly and excited faces, Robert and Carolyn. After knowing Rob and Carol for such a shotrt time there livelyhood and dedication clearly shows.

Today arrived fairly quickly and in groups from 1 to 4 the students begun to arrive. Despite the tiderness that showed on all theie faces I could tell that they were all excited as I was! Almost instantly we all got along, everyone has such nice,outgoing personalities and I feel lucky to have the oppotunity to be apart of such a talented groups of individuals.

Aftter a get to know you session and a few short games we all seemed to get along like 14 peas in a pod (a rather big pod!). Dinner shortly followed our gathering and let me tell you it was most certainly delicious! Oh and I can't forget how amazing the rooms are here, i haven't been an a hotel as nice as this before!

Most of the kids then procedded to gather in Tamara and my room to watch a movie. After a funny movie, laughing and popcorn it was finally time to go to bed...thank god.

Today...
Did you know in Australia right now its 7:30am on Sunday morning I should be sleeping in right now, But it happed to be 4:30 on Saturday afternoon here so sleeping in at the moment might not be the right idea.

Its so interisting to find out all the differences in each of our home enviroments, with so many differences cultures involved in this program its good to have insight to the ways in which others live. Also theres the differences in the ways things are said, spelt and the different shops.

Today started off with with breakfast (I can't believe how good the food is!) and was followed by three guest speakers, first Monica Pazerniuk brought up some interisting facts about global warming and climate change, then Robert Taylor showed us a selection of some of his fabulous photography work and last was Heidi Cook who enlightened us about the indiginous side of Canada. Heidi was also fortunate to take place in an United Nation conventionon climate change in Montreal last year. Monica and Heidi both being young and very passionate about there role in lifes in life insired me and helped me to srart to think what can I do small or big to help change the world?

The group then travelled to sculpture gradens for lunch then headed over to the Zoo at Assinboine Park to see the Polar Bear Deb that is kept there in Captivity. Her enclousure is horrible and I'm glad that in the unfortunate event that Deb dies(which is dawning because Deb is 39 and the oldest bear in captivity) the park is unable to adopt another Polar Bear unless they redo the enclosure.

We then had a bit of a debate about animals pacifically polar bears and being kept in captivity. Alot of the students and teachers brought up some very interisiting and valid points. The debate got me thinking indepth about my own personal opinion on the matter. I believe if the zoo is helping to educate the youth about different animals and the enclosures are more than a cage(alot more) then zoo's are good. I wish i had an opptunity to work out a zoo (I'll see what i can do when i get back to Australia.)

Anyway that pretty much brings us back to now and me writing this journal entry. So far i've been having a great time and can't wait to learn more!
Cyas all later (hey to the my RALFods)