MHS Agriculture Travel

Thank you to these amazing chaperones that helped make the Australian Agriculture Trip a success! Mrs. Skemp, Mr. Skemp, Ms. Brechtl, and Mr. Jensen helped organize the students and keep the trip running smoothly.

Day Ten: The best day was definitely our last day in Australia! We had the opportunity to travel to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkel and explore. The pictures and video do not do it justice. This was a once in a lifetime experience that we will remember forever. Our guided snorkeling was an opportunity to snorkel outside of the roped off area and we saw many clown fish. Thanks for following along on our trip.

Day Nine Continued: Our next stop was at Mungalli Biodynamic Dairy. Here we learned about the requirements of a biodynamic dairy farm, how they have expanded to more farms and processing their own products, what breeds work best in their operation, and had the opportunity to taste some dairy products. To top off the tour we had the opportunity to help put some milkers on some jersey cows during the afternoon milking. It was great to learn and see how the dairy industry is similar and different than the US.

Day Nine: Today we made our way from Townsville to Carins and our first stop was at the Fruit Forest Farm. This farm is family owned, includes 200 acres, and they sell their fruits directly to consumers and restaurants. They focus on fruit taste and quality. At the farm we had the opportunity to try some exotic fruits and get a behind the scenes tour of the farm. There are so many fruits that we had never tried before.

Day Eight continued: We attended a “Day in the Life of a Marine Biologist” workshop with Craig. He taught us all about the Great Barrier Reef and gave us a crash course in identifying common species we will see when we go snorkeling.

Day Eight: we had the opportunity to explore the Townsville Museum in the morning. They had a special James Cameron Challenging the Deep exhibit and it was the best part of the museum.

Day Seven: We traveled to Magnetic Island for the day. We met up with a local guide who helped us spot a koala during a hike. We also saw bats, WWII spots in the mountains, and met some Rock Wallabies. Did you know Koalas are not native to Magnetic Island? They were brought to Magnetic Island by humans and surprisingly have adapted well and thriving on Magnetic Island.

Day Six ended with boomerang throwing, traveling to Townsville to our new hotel, and dinner at the Cowboys Club(Rugby team). Our group beat the boomerang record and caught or hit the backboard to score 9 points. Our hotel has a beautiful view of the side of the mountain with rock exposed. Our dinner was located at the local Rugby Club for the Cowboys team.

Day Six continued with a stop at James Cassady’s land where he first settled and is now buried. They taught us about the soap tree that was used to clean and exfoliate hands with just the leaves and water. We also had the opportunity to help with the conservation of the forest land by setting a cool burn . These cool burns help keep the forest thriving. On our way to the next hotel we stopped at the Frosty Mango for a sweet treat. We ended the night by saying goodbye to Joe one of our bus drivers.

Day Six we traveled to learn about the aboriginal culture. On our way we saw Brahman cattle, fields of sugar cane, farmers working to harvest the sugar cane, and beautiful scenery. We learned about the aboriginal tools, forms of communication, and how the first European settler to the area James Cassady helped save and protect the aboriginal people of the valley. We learned how they are diligently working to restore the wetlands back so they can work to purify the water before it reaches the Great Barrier Reef.