CONSERVATION Volunteers Australia and International Student Volunteers have joined forces for the eighth consecutive year so international students can experience the Australian bush by assisting in the restoration and protection of the endangered Kurnell dune forest.
The group recruits American and Canadian volunteers for teams in Australia and New Zealand for two-week periods to help with tasks such as weed removal, seed collection and planting. Tony Wales, team leader and Sutherland Shire resident, said the students' work played an important part in the Australian ecology. Alex Gibson, the project leader from North Carolina, said the students wanted to make a difference.
"They feel doing work like this is the best way of doing that; they get to see another country, another culture and just the whole experience is what they are after,'' he said.
The students then did a two-week adventure tour with activities such as abseiling and white water rafting.
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