Australia Zoo, Christmas in Australia and Going Home

Australia Zoo 
Last week I traveled an hour and a half North of Brisbane to visit the Australia Zoo. The zoo is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Australia with nearly 700,000 visitors a year. 

The zoo is most widely known because of one man. Ask your neighbor to name a famous person from Australia and you will most likely hear them say Steve Irwin. He is renowned the world over for being the man who wrestled large crocodiles, spoke with a thick Australian accent, had an intense passion for wildlife conversation and charmed people with his kind and quirky personality.

Going to the zoo was a great experience and it is still very evident just how much Steve's legacy and dreams are being lived out at the zoo and beyond. RIP STEVE

Christmas in Australia

I will actually be leaving Australia before Christmas day but just wanted to note how weird I feel in regards to Christmas only being 10 days away. Close your eyes (now open them again to finish reading this) and imagine yourself in sandals and a short sleeve shirt walking back to your condo in Florida after a long day at the beach. Next, imagine you've just opened the door (which had a wreathe on it) and sitting in your living room is a decorated Christmas tree. Would be kind of weird heh?

Anyway, it's not devastatingly hot at the moment (70-80 degree weather) but its definitely not in the least bit cold. The picture below may sum up what Santa does when he visits Australia during Christmas.

Going Home

Well friends, my time in Australia has come to an end. It's 3:05 am as I write this blog and my flight leaves Brisbane for LA tomorrow morning.  I am trying to stay up a little later to night so I can sleep a lot on the plane. Will see if the strategy works in my favor.

I am happy about going home but also sad to leave Australia. I've had so many great experiences and have made so many wonderful friends that I will remember forever. I know I will return eventually and when I do will definitely have to add to this blog and call it "Morgan in Australia part 2".  I have enjoyed sharing some of my experiences with you and hope you have enjoyed reading this blog. 

"Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different"- C.S.Lewis 

WHERE ONE JOURNEY ENDS, ANOTHER BEGINS.

If your interested I will leave you with one question I answered for a Rotary Report...

     

      How has your experience changed your outlook on your host country and sponsor country? How have you contributed to The Rotary Foundation’s vision to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace?

Before leaving for Australia I didn’t know much about Australia except the many stereotypical ideas in my head about Kangaroo’s and Koala’s, Steve Irwin, sayings such as G’day mate or Let’s put another shrimp on the Barbie, the Outback and Crocodile Dundee. While these ideas describe bits and pieces of the Australian identity they in no way define the people of Australia.  The people and friendships that I have made in Australia have only strengthened my love and understanding for Australia. I have met many different people and these differences in the people have helped me to break down previous stereotypes that I had in my mind. These stereotypes were not bad; they were simply what I knew. While my sponsor country (USA) can be seen in various places due to the Westernization of Australia, it has been good to escape my environment in Mississippi and live in a place different from my upbringing. When people ask me how I would describe the differences in Australia and USA I simply say, “Everything is the same but different.” I then go on to explain, in great length, exactly what I mean.

Having an open mind to these differences is what has helped to make me more open minded towards people that are different than me. Differences are good but sometimes we can be quick to judge people because they are not like us. It takes a great deal of understanding about a person’s background to really understand a person and that is not something we can usually gather from a passing glance. 

This experience has also made me more inclined to return home to explore and to better understand my own culture. Margaret Meed said, “When we sharpen our ability to observe another culture, we’ll also be able to apply that level of perception and appreciation to our own roots.” I look forward to exploring my own roots as I return to my cultural upbringing. 

World understanding, goodwill and peace for all people are the very reasons that Paul Harris made this scholarship possible under the Rotary Foundation. It was believed by him that if nations and their people could only understand each other better that this would bring peace among them. Understanding is the key to peace and this starts with people and relationships. 

I believe I have fulfilled my duties of promoting international understanding, goodwill and peace through my presentations given to Rotary clubs about my State, upbringing and culture. Just as I have been able to break down stereotypes about Australia, I hope that many people I have met this year would also able to break down stereotypes about Mississippi and its people. Telling stories and sending Ambassadors to other counties only helps to strengthen the balance between this understanding and peace among nations.

While there is not one moment that I can say changed my life, I believe this whole experience of serving in another country as contributed greatly to the personal responsibility and calling I feel towards helping others. The life changing moment for me occurred when I was 17 and traveled to my first third world country and saw the many different circumstances that so many people around the world live in. I have never been the same since then. 

Thanks and God Bless,

Morgan Wiggers 

Summer, Bundaberg, Cricket, Byron Bay, Rotary

School has ended so my official academic career in Australia is over! I still have a few more classes back in Mississippi at my Uni (Belhaven) to finish my MBA. For now though, I have some free time to enjoy my remaining time here and will also take a trip to New Zealand before I leave for good. 

Recently the weather has been nice and hot for the beach as the summer months here are December to February. Therefore, I am trying to get in as much surf and sand as I can before I return to the cold weather. I remember the temperature being such a dramatic change when I left Mississippi for Australia in January. I will experience that once again but this time it will just be the opposite.

It's been a while since I last blogged so let me tell you all that I been up to since my last post...

Bundaberg
About two weeks ago I traveled to a place four hours north of Brisbane called Bundaberg. I traveled with the Rotarct Club of South-West Brisbane to help serve at a Powerboat Race event called Bundy Thunder.  Rotaract is basically Rotary for people between the ages of 18 and 30. This was a really great experience as I got to see another part of Rotary and hang with some great people my age. The power boat racing was exciting to watch as well. My job was filling up canisters of petrol for the racers.

 I could really hear the work paying off.

Bundaberg is well known for its large sugar cane fields, Bundaberg Rum and Bundaberg Brewed Drinks.

Bundaberg Sugar is the largest cane grower in Australia. For your information, sugar is one of Australia’s most important rural industries, worth around $1.5 - $2.5 billion to the Australian economy. 

                      Great with a coke                               I love Ginger beer

Cricket
The Cricket season is starting up so I went to a local game the other day with some of my house mates. Cricket was just ending when I arrived in January so I have not really been able to experience it as I have experienced the other Aussie sports.

One thing is certain though, Australian's take Cricket very seriously and there is so much history behind it. One only needs to look at the Legend of the Ashes to understand the international implications of the sport and its great rivalries. I would give you the run down on how Cricket is played but I don't understand it and actually found it quite boring when I watched it. None the less, I asked a lot of questions but would need a lot more time to really understand the strategy and rules behind the game. To make it simple I will let you listen to an excerpt from Bill Bryson's book, In A Sunburnt Country, on the sport of Cricket in Australia. It's very funny the way he describes it.

Byron Bay
I went to Byron Bay the other day which is two hours south of Brisbane. This is a very popular place to visit for both international and domestic people and most backpackers stop to visit as they travel up and down the coast of Australia.  It is actually located in New South Wales on the border of Queensland and is even a one hour time difference from Brisbane.

With as much beach as I hope to get the remainder of my time here I am sure some Mississippians will think I have been spending my time at the tanning bed. Let this be known to be false.

O yeah....It's a special time right now for all students graduating high school as loads of them travel to the Gold Coast to experience what is known as Schoolies week. This is essentially the same as what we may refer to as "first week" when we head to Florida to celebrate graduation. Don't worry, I didn't hang with any Schoolies, as the one's who do that are known as Toolies.

Rotary
I went to my last rotary meeting last night at my host club. They had a little special presentation for me which was very nice and we all got to exchange some very nice words to each other. I have thoroughly loved my club so it was sad saying goodbye to the many friends I have made throughout this year. They also presented me with a plaque and gave me an Aussie hat. We concluded the meeting by singing  the Star Spangled Banner together. 

Now, I just need to get my hands on a knife. 

 That's all for now folks. You stay cool.

Melbourne Cup, QANTAS, Kangaroo for dinner, ShelterBox, Rotary

G'day mates. Hope you are doing well!  I have been in Australia nearly 10 and a half months now and only have 45 days left :(  The time has gone by so fast and I am really going to miss this place. I just got back from speaking at my Rotary club and this time gave a presentation on my experiences in Australia and with Rotary. I have really enjoyed sharing with you all the things I have encountered and will continue to blog until I return home. With that, let the blogging continue!

The Melbourne Cup - "The Race That Stops the Nation" 
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race and is regarded as one of the most popular sporting events on this side of the hemisphere. The event takes place every year at 3 PM on the first Tuesday of November with an estimated 700 million people around the world stopping to watch the spectacle. It's no wonder its called "The Race That Stops the Nation"

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Fashion is a big part of the event

I only heard about the Melbourne Cup about a month ago, as it was being hyped up, and have to say I really enjoyed watching the event. I put $20 dollars on a horse named Americain (American bred-French trained) who actually won the event last year. This years race was a thriller and has been regarded as the closest finish ever. Take a look at the video below and you will see what I mean.

You might usually say a horse won by a nose but this race was won by more like a whisker. Maybe trainers should teach the horses to stick their tongues out?

QANTAS
QANTAS (Queensland And Northern Territory Aeriel Services) is the largest airline in Australia. It is an iconic image to Australia and has even been nicknamed the "The Flying Kangaroo." The company started in Queensland in 1920 and is known as 'the oldest continuous airline in the world and the second oldest in the overall world.'  This year the company was ranked as the 8th best airline in the world.

I blog about QANTAS today to share with you a little about this Australian icon but also to inform you of what happened last week. On October 29, CEO Alan Joyce, announced that QANTAS would be grounding all of its domestic and international flights. The government as well as the rest of the country was caught off guard by this risky and bold move.  The grounding took place due to a long struggle with three different unions over various issues such as wages, job security and an announcement made in early January that the company would be focusing a large portion of its operations on Asia and that there would be 1000 jobs cut. This  resulted in many pilots, engineers and baggage handlers organizing  strikes and was causing great hardship on the airline as many customers flights were being canceled due to this result. Alan Joyce announced last week that he was left with no other choice but to ground the entire fleet in hopes that the unions would drop their claims against the company. The Melbourne Cup may be known as the 'race that stops the nation' but this move by QANTAS seemed to stop the nation in more ways than one.

As a result of the grounding, various government officials asked that Fair Work Australia put an end to the industrial action and get flights back in the air as soon as possible. Two days later, on October 31 this happened. If this dispute lasted any longer than two days it would have been disastrous. It is estimated that QANTAS lost $20 million for eacg day the fleet was grounded. Can you imagine if this thing lasted a week? Anyway, its good things were worked out quickly as QANTAS plays a big part in Australian's tourism industry. 

Kangaroo Meat
I ate my first kangaroo last week. Wait, let me say that again. I had kangaroo for the first time last week. That sounds better. For a long time in Australia's history, Kangaroo was not eaten. It was only in 1993 that it became legal.  It's not the most popular meat in Australia as a 2008 survey found that only 14.8% of Aussies said they had eaten it four or more times in a year.

 

I really liked the meat and found it quite similar to eating venison. It is very lean and good for you as well. Now, I mentioned before that I enjoy hunting and enjoy eating the things I hunt, BUT I am not sure if I could bring myself to shoot a kangaroo. Since my first exposure to a kangaroo was petting, laying and feeding them I feel like I would have a hard time bringing myself to kill one. If my first contact with a deer was feeding it with a bottle and petting it, I might not be a deer hunter.Anyway, I didn't do the killing so I am OK with someone else doing it for me.

Funny tidbit: Australians eat the national symbols on their Coat of Arms. That wouldn't work in America as I would be in a lot of trouble if I ate an Eagle.

ShelterBox
Two weeks ago I participated in another service project with ShelterBox and this time we displayed it in the Central Business District. The display was beautifully set up and received a lot of attention from many passersby. Our main objective with this ShelterBox display was to get people to sign up for monthly giving if they so inclined. To my knowledge, no one submitted to doing this on the day of but many people took information home with them and seemed very eager to contribute. You never know what will come of events such as these but the most important thing is that we try.

"The proper aim of giving is to put the recipient in a state where he no longer needs our gift.  We feed children in order that they may soon be able to feed themselves; we teach them in order that they may soon not need our teaching. The hour when we can say “They need me no longer” shall be our reward." - C.S.Lewis

The lady below was very interested in ShelterBox as she is living in a bit of a crisis herself. She lost her grandson and her home during the Queensland floods and is currently living in a hostel with college aged backpackers. I asked if I could help her out but she said she would be all right. It's people like her that are still struggling from natural disasters and is the reason why ShelterBox exists. To help people rebuild their lives and give them Shelter, Comfort and Dignity until, as C.S.Lewis states "they need our help no longer."

Rotary
I have given 20 Rotary speeches and have a few more left before I leave Australia on December 16. This weekend I will be going to Bundaberg (four hours North of Brisbane) with a Rotaract club to help at a powerboat event.  Rotaract is basically Rotary for 18-30 year old men and women. I am looking forward to this and will let you know how the trip goes.

School
I have one test left in Strategic Human Resource management for this semester and then I am finished. My other two course finals were papers and I submitted those last week. Though I will be finished with school in Australia, I will still have five more classes to complete to earn my MBA back home.

I hope you have a good week and stay tuned for a few more blog posts.

Cheers,
Morgan