We truly are living in the ‘lucky country

 


We truly are living in the ‘lucky country’

By Maddison Lawrie

Like so many have stated, it was incredibly difficult selecting one event, one photo, one memory of significance to capture the trip. Upon reflection, for me, it is a selection of memories that have evoked a strong sense of gratitude that will be hard to convey in an image. However, I feel that the photograph from Arnhem Land best encompasses this feeling.

We are more aware than ever of what is happening around us. The climate we are currently living in is one many of us have never experienced before. I can’t help but reflect on our study tour without confirmed belief that we truly are living in the ‘lucky country’. The ability to travel from state to state, or in our case state to territory, is something others around the world are currently not fortunate enough to do. However, this is just the beginning and it goes beyond the opportunity to travel, it is about the place we travelled to. In our own backyard, we were so fortunate to be exposed to rich culture, history and geography that provided us all with knowledge, understanding and appreciation that many of us had not encountered before; this we appreciated more than ever knowing others elsewhere, for one reason or another, would not have access to. Whilst immersing ourselves in an opportunity that we were so privileged to have, we together shared an experience that will always remain a significant one for various reasons but overall, the group will reaffirm, to really understand you just had to be there.

Thank you to Malcolm and Jodie for all their organising and hard work to pull off an incredible Top End adventure - you are both outstanding! To Bob, thank you so much for filling our backpacks with more tricks and skills to tackle the challenges that life throws at us. To Bec, thank you for being my partner in crime, always on the same page. To the team, you are a wonderful group of individuals and I thoroughly enjoyed being on the ride with you.

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