East Carolina University /////////// Study Abroad Australia

January info sessions: 1/23 + 1/24

piratesabroad — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:38:54 +0000

Ms. Eleanor Mitchell from American Universities International Programs is in town to conduct the Australia study abroad information sessions this week.

Meetings are scheduled for:

Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 5 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 24 at 4 p.m.

and will be held in Flanagan 265. Please contact Dr. Hans Vogelsong (vogelsonghecu.edu) with questions. Please attend if you are interested. The deadline for applications is approaching fast.

December 5 Information Session Scheduled!

piratesabroad — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:28:03 +0000

Dr. Hans Vogelsong will be holding information sessions for the Pirates Abroad Australia and Fiji program on Wednesday, December 5th at 2 p.m. The info session will be hosted in room 265, Flanagan Building. The session includes an in-depth overview of the itinerary and program, as well as a question and answer period. If you are interested in learning more, please stop by!

If you can’t make it, please contact Dr. Vogelsong (vogelsongh@ecu.edu) who will meet with you to discuss the project.

Recruiting for 2013 Program has started!

piratesabroad — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:53:56 +0000

It’s hard to believe, but we’ve started recruiting for the Summer 2013 program! This is our fifth year working with American Universities International Programs (AUIP) on study abroad opportunities in the South Pacific. This year, we return to North Queenland to learn about sustainable resource management on the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree Rainforest, and the Outback.

Ms. Eleanor Mitchell

Ms. Eleanor Mitchell from AUIP is in town this week (October 1-5) to spread the word about this exciting opportunity. Ms. Mitchell, along with faculty from ECU, will host information sessions where you can learn more about the 6 credit ECU program to Australia, as well as an exciting 3 credit opportunity to study in Fiji!

If you want to learn more, please attend one of the information sessions we’re holding at 1503 Belk Building (across from the track and athletic fields) on Wednesday (10/3) and Thursday (10/4). Each session starts at 6 pm.

Information Sessions at 1503 Belk Building:
–6 PM on Wednesday, October 3
–6 PM on Thursday, October 4

The buses run to Belk and there is plenty of parking too. We hope to see you there!

NPR Feature on Indonesia’s Troubled Mangroves

piratesabroad — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:03:23 +0000

Photo: Reuters

While in Australia, we’ll discuss the ecological value of Mangroves to North Queensland, and specifically the Great Barrier Reef. Learn about some of the challenges faced by Indonesia as they try to protect their Mangrove system. This is a good introduction to the Rainforest unit in Australia.

NPR Morning Edition Report from April 30, 2012

Reuters article on Indonesian Mangroves

Where do we go, what do we do?: The itinerary in descriptive narrative

piratesabroad — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:15:27 +0000

Field lecturer, Paul O'Dowd, leads class in the Daintree Rainforest

Australia – G’Day from North Queensland!

There are three major portions to the Australia program in North Queensland. First, we recover from jet lag and get oriented to Australia on beautiful Magnetic Island. We then head to the N. Queensland Outback and Atherton Tablelands to understand human impacts on these resources and the current state of Agritourism in this area. We finish the trip on the northern N. Queensland coast with trips to the Great Barrier Reef from beautiful Port Douglas followed by four days and three nights in the world’s oldest rain forest, the Daintree. The program wraps in Cairns, where students take their final exams and enjoy one last night in North Queensland.

The schedule at this writing is tentative, but we can provide a description based off of last year’s experience. You may also want to look at the course syllabus. The course syllabus can be useful for sharing with your academic advisor or department head.

Magnetic “Maggie” Island

Looking at Balding Bay, Magnetic Island

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The first week of the Australia program starts in Townsville on the middle coast of North Queensland, where we head to Magnetic (aka “Maggie”) Island. At Maggie Island, we’ll be staying at the Island Leisure Resort from which we will base field projects and receive lectures from experts in Marine Biology, Cultural Anthropology, and Sustainable Tourism. There is a hike out to Balding Bay, which allows students to observe some of the common terrain of the region. A trip to Reef HQ provides a first look at the Great Barrier Reef and the park authority that manages it. A free day is built into the itinerary, and this is a good break to explore Maggie Island and take in some of the local culture. The Forts Walk is a great hike on the island where students can snorkel at Florence Bay, and then hike up to the gun turret sites from WWII. Magnetic Island allows students to recover from jet lag, while providing some much needed orientation to North Queensland. We leave Maggie Island and proceed to Yungaburra, where we’re off to the Outback and Tablelands of Far North Queensland.

The Outback & Atherton Tablelands

A break in the Outback bush

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Yungaburra is a good five hour drive from Townsville. We’re headed to On the Wallaby backpacker resort in Yungaburra. Yungaburra is a beautiful town located in North Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands. The stay in Yungaburra amounts to a night, as we are on our way to the Outback for the next several days. Our first stop in the Outback is Tyrconnell (pronounced Ti-connell), where we venture to a gold mine. At the gold mine we discuss the impacts of gold mining on North Queensland, and explore the natural areas in and around the gold mine. While in Tyrconnell, we meet with the owners of the Mount Mulligan Station to discuss farming in the Outback, and some of the strategies farmers use to protect the resources in the area.

Accommodations in Tyrconnell occur at the Tyrconnell Outback Experience. It’s “boutique camping” at the gold mine area. Padded floors and fixed tent sites are our homes for a few days. The evening sky in Tyrconnell is absolutely beautiful with fantastic views of the famous Southern Cross. Showers and bathrooms are just steps away from your tent, and your alarm clock is the sound of Kookaburras.

The program then heads to Malanda for farmstays. We stay with farmers in the Atherton Tablelands. In past years, students have stayed on farms that raise fish, buffalo, and cattle, as well as fruit and vegetable farmers. The farm stays come at a perfect time in the trip. Most of our students are a little ‘road worn’ from hiking and being out in the heat of the Outback. Our farmstay families treat students like family, providing a nice place to sleep and eat, while teaching students about the work they perform and the history of the Tablelands. It’s one of the major highlights of the program.

We leave our homestays and return back to Yungaburra, where Dr. Jack Grant introduces the group to an upland rain forest, which is distinct from other rain forests we visit later in the trip. While with Dr. Grant, we perform a reforestation service project. Night activities include didgeridoo making and a tour with Aboriginal elder, Phil Barlow. We spend another night at On the Wallaby and then head to beautiful Port Douglas from which we’ll explore the Great Barrier Reef.

Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef

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Port Douglas is a beautiful seaside village located about 70 miles north of Cairns and about 35 miles from Cape Tribulation. While in Port Douglas, we will be staying at the Lychee Tree Apartments. The Lychee Tree is just a short walk to the beach and downtown Port Douglas. Our first morning in Port Douglas is spent at the Rainforest Habitat, where you can take photos with Koalas, interact with Kangaroos and Wallabies, observe a Cassowary without fear, and see other indigenous Australian wildlife. Following the trip to the habitat, we head to Mossman’s Gorge and take part in the Kuku Yalanji Dreamtime Walk in the rain forest. This is a fascinating interpretive walk led by a member of the Kuku Yalanji clan. The Walk concludes in the late afternoon and a discussion and review of module materials from the Outback.

Port Douglas also serves as the staging area for our trips to the Great Barrier reef. We take two day trips out to the reef on the Calypso. We get to snorkel off the Great Barrier Reef and perform science projects that examine the effects of human and environmental disturbances to the reef. We observe how the practices of the Great Barrier Reef Marine park allow tourism and game fishing to occur while maintaining the delicate balance needed to conserve the reef and protect the marine life that depend on it for survival.

A welcome free day in Port Douglas also occurs. This is a great day to get your laundry clean, go to the beach, and take in the many attractions within Port Douglas–a perfect break before four nights in the rain forest!

Daintree Rainforest and Cairns

The Daintree Rainforest is the oldest living rain forest in the world. We will spend four nights in Cape Tribulation staying at the Cape Trib. Beach House. Our field instructor, Paul O’Dowd, is an excellent interpretive leader with incredible knowledge of the rainforest and the major role it plays across N. Queensland’s ecosystems. Paul will guide us through the rainforest on day and night walks, and lead a science experiment that examines the intricacies of the ecosystem within the mangroves of this area. The rain forest portion of the trip also includes a canopy walk at the Daintree Discovery Centre, and a ride in a canopy crane at the Canopy Crane Research Center where we will perform service for another reforestation project.

We depart the rain forest and head to Cairns to wrap up the program. In Cairns, there is free time to catch up on laundry, get a look around town, and study for the final exam. On the second-to-last day, the final exam is administered, and this is followed by a farewell group dinner and celebration for participants in the program. We depart back to the US early the next morning, leaving the beautiful Gondwanan landscape of Australia behind.

It’s a whirlwind of a program, and this narrative only scratches the surface. Several of our students tell us this was their best experience at ECU; one that they’ll not forget. We hope to continue this trend in 2012.

Cairns, Port Douglas among Top 25 S.Pacific Destinations

piratesabroad — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:55:04 +0000

Overlook on the James Cook Hwy between Cairns and Cape Tribulation

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Cairns and Port Douglas, two of the locations we’ll be visiting in Australia, were ranked among the 25 best South Pacific travel destinations by Trip Advisor.

Port Douglas is a beautiful coastal village that is just south of the Daintree Rainforest. Port Douglas serves as a staging area for our trips to the Great Barrier Reef, and also marks a point where some much needed rest and relaxation occurs. Some of the nicest shops, restaurants, and beaches are found in this quaint seaside town.

We finish the program in the city of Cairns. Cairns is often thought of as a ‘starting point’ for visiting Far North Queensland. We choose to end the program here, as it offers students a chance to acclimate back into the ‘real world’ after stomping around the bush and snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef.

Cairns nightlife and easy access to the Great Barrier Reef attracts many international visitors. Opportunities for sky diving, day trips to the Cairns botanic gardens, and the Kuranda sky rail are all popular activities students pursue following the final examination. It’s a great way to end the program before departing home.

Study Abroad in International Sustainability: Queensland, Australia

piratesabroad — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:49:21 +0000

Aargh! For a fourth year, we are returning to Australia to study issues related to environmental and cultural sustainability. Our course of study represents a unique collaboration between the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies (RCLS) at East Carolina University, and American Universities International Programs (AUIP). We encourage you to apply for these exciting study abroad opportunities in the South Pacific.

Our courses explore the dynamic cultures and natural environments of the region, traveling extensively as a group with local field experts.
Credit is available for up to 6 semester hours in RCLS, which can be applied as general electives, restricted electives, or cognates toward coursework in your major
The programs are suitable for students of all backgrounds and majors
There are no prerequisites for the Study Abroad Australia Programs
Students need a 2.0 GPA, and also need to have a record clear of major disciplinary issues
Credit from our study abroad program may be applied to a Certificate in Global Understanding, a Certificate in Global Understanding with Distinction, or a Minor in International Studies as part of that degree’s specialized concentration

Studies in Australia focus on sustainable tourism and natural resource management issues. These two areas of focus can be classified under concentrations focusing on international environmental problems and population/demographic issues as described in the guidelines for the Minor in International Studies.