This May I took a trip to Australia with a group of 30 other students from the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences. This was my first international trip and it was an incredible experience. Some of the biggest highlights from the trip include snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, touring the Sydney Opera House, trying fresh papaya and passionfruit, learning how olives, coffee beans, and papaya is produced, and petting koalas and kangaroos. We started by flying across the Pacific Ocean from Los Angeles to Melbourne. We spent the first few days touring the National Wool Museum, the Great Ocean Road, the Twelve Apostles, Midfield Groups Meat Processing Facility and Dairy Farms, Baanga Beef Farm, Pepperton Sheep Farm, Billabong Ranch, and Oasis Olives in the state of Victoria. I learned so much about how those areas of agriculture differ in the Australia compared to the United States. Victoria has a climate similar to the northern Midwest areas of the United States. We then flew from Melbourne to Cairns where we toured Skybury Tropical Plantation, Carpentaria Downs Angus Ranch, Millaa Millaa Waterfall, Mungalli Creek Dairy Farm, Mount Hypipamee National Park Crater, the Great Barrier Reef and Hartley's Crocodile Adventures. Cairns is located in the far north part of the state of Queensland. The climate in that area is similar to that of Florida, very tropical, warm, and humid. To end out or trip we flew from Cairns to Sydney were we spent the final 3 days touring the Blue Mountain National Park, the Three Sisters Monument, Featherdale Wildlife Park, the Sydney Fruit and Vegetable Markets, the Sydney Harbor, and the Sydney Opera House. We also met with Meat and Livestock Australia, which is the governing body the uses producers' check off dollars to conduct research and promotion for the industry. Finally we flew from Sydney to Los Angeles then back home.
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