Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji - Putney Student Travel
Description
Join us for an active cultural adventure Down Under on this summer program for high school students to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. Experience subtropical Queensland, the alpine winter landscapes of New Zealand, and the South Pacific paradise of Fiji. Get beyond the typical tourist itinerary and experience these unique places in engaging and exciting ways.
This high school summer travel program to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji combines outdoor adventure—snorkeling, whitewater rafting, sailing, and skiing—with cultural exploration—living on a sheep farm, strolling the streets of cosmopolitan Sydney, and joining a Fijian ceremonial meal. In the course of just five weeks you can meet a wallaby, swim in turquoise water off a deserted South Pacific beach, take the wheel of your sailboat as you cruise along the Great Barrier Reef, visit the Sydney Opera House, learn to sheer a sheep with Kiwi friends, and lay down fresh tracks in Southern Hemisphere powder.
Throughout the summer program we rely on the on-the-ground knowledge of Putney’s longtime contacts in these countries, who insure that you experience the nations Down Under as an insider. Lou, our long-time guide in Queensland, is a jack-of-all-trades in Outback living. Dave, a native Kiwi, shares with you his expert knowledge of the ski-fields of the Southern Alps. Jenny, our Fijian host, introduces us to the island’s unique culture.
Accommodations range from small family-run inns to campsites in the Australian bush, and berths on a sailing yacht to refuges high in snow country. We form cooking and cleaning crews for the skiing and bush portions of the itinerary. We eat most other meals at restaurants, as picnic lunches, or in the homes of our Kiwi and Aussie friends.
Midway through the program, spend five days living with a Kiwi host family on a rural sheep station or dairy farm. This is an unusual and fascinating opportunity to participate in life in rural New Zealand while getting to know a family. Help out with household and farm chores like cooking and sheep-sheering, and join the family on an outing to a rugby game or to a traditional Maori hangi, a cultural performance and feast.