Retreat: A Time for Exploring and Reflecting

My Cleo's family, aka the study abroad students from University of Portland headed North to Kalbarri National Park. My home University funds a retreat at the end of the semester, a chance to bond and reflect on the experiences we have shared in the past few months.

We got on the road as the sun was rising, with all 18 of us piled on a rented bus. We were armed with pillows, blankets, music, and friends.

We started the 7 hour drive.

We had many stops along the way, the first one being the Pinnacles. They are these crazy things formed from limestone that stick up out of the ground. No one really knows the cause of them, but they are pretty darn cool to be in the middle of.

Back on the road, we headed to a town called Geraldton. This town is home to the HMAS Sydney Memorial. It remembers the 645 people who died aboard the submarine after attacks from Germany during WWII. It was such a cool memorial and was of great significance to Australia and its history.  Plus it had an amazing view of the coast from the top of the hill.

We camped in Geraldton, spending the night playing many rounds of Corn Hole (you know, the game where you throw the little bean bags through the holes? It provided hours and hours of entertainment.) We also had some time to reflect- the question of tonight was how studying abroad had met our expectations.

The next day we drove the last few hours to Kalbarri National Park. We checked into our hotel and then spent the day wandering and exploring the town. We headed out to see some of the National Park- Nature's Window, probably the most famous attraction in the region, and the Z- Bend.

Z- Bend

Nature's Window

Family Photo <3

That night, we had reflection- we all sat in a circle on the beach (like what is real life, just casually hanging out on the beach...) and talked about how studying abroad has changed our outlook on life, and how it will affect our lives from here on out. Don't worry, I'll answer these questions in the next post. Answering here doesn't give me enough space to ramble and ramble about how it was the best thing to ever happen to me. We headed up to a look out and watched the sun as it set over the ocean- one of my favorite moments from the trip. All of the people I loved, in a magical place with a spectacular view.

This whole trip was planned for us by out Hall Supervisor- we didn't have any idea what we were doing, where we were going next and the next day was a really great surprise. She took us all canoeing with Kalbarri Wilderness Canoes. Our guides were these two older men who were some of the nicest and most fun loving people we had encountered. We canoed down the Murchison River, which runs right through the National Park. My canoe group decided to call ourselves the Z's because we were the last one in the long line of canoes, and we could not figure out how to keep our boat straight- so we zig zagged all the way down the river, laughing and laughing about how awful we were at canoeing... We made many stops as we moved up and then back down the river- and we able to get out and explore the area.

The Z's in action

Murchison River- Kalbarri National Park

We spent the rest of the day hanging out and enjoying the time we had together. We watched a classic Aussie movie "Red Dog" which is full of emotions, and we all ended up crying in the end.

The next day we packed up and headed back to Freo, the retreat coming to an end.

This trip was one of the best ones we had in our semester abroad. I was able to spend a few days with some of the best people I have ever met, and seeing a part of the country I hadn't gotten to experience yet. Australia is a country that has so many amazing places to see and things to do, and Kalbarri is definitely high on the priority list.

Cleo's Love