But of course - that only reflects on how awesome the Trek was! :D

 

So, let me share some of the things I loved about trek:

 

 - The opportunity to meet so many passionate, like-minded individuals who were so ready to put there everything into the campaign!

 

 - The awesome speakers we had who came to talk to us about what was going on, and the awesome work of the VGen/WV staff to keep all the delegates motivated and energised - even when they seemed to have had their efforts frustrated!

 

- A chance to develop skills! Trek was an awesome place in terms of getting absolutely pushed outside your comfort zone. From talking to shop owners and random people in the mall, to doing seemingly crazy displays out the from of the very heart of our nation, to even just thinking and discussing issues which other people were passionate about.

What most of the delegates didn't know is that on the Tuesday, when we went into the malls, the ACT crew leading them around the malls weren't actually told that they were doing that until an hour beforehand. We were sitting in the conference centre at the end of one of the sessions and Ben (i think) was talking, and as he was closing up he asked the Canberra delegates to come have a chat with him about leading the buses around the mall. I was sitting there going "what!!!" For myself, Rosie, and one of the WV crew, we spent the trip to the mall trying to figure out what we were going to do with our 25-30 delegates. Talk about working to deadlines!

There were also several oppurtunities during the few days for myself to share not only about where ACT VGen had been and was going, but also to share my own enthusiasm about the topics (of Child Slavery etc.)

 

 - The demostration out the front of parliament house was awesome! But I tell you what - afterwards I felt like one of the slaves we were supposed to be representing. We went for over an hour with a whole series of scenes. The first was of slave boats - so we were all there pretending to row - try that for five minutes at a time, and do that 4/5 times!!!! Then we had a section of miming various scenes - 3 groups were slaves, 1 groups was the desired situation for the people. I had the fun oppurtunity to mime being a teacher, and had a great lot of fun pretending to teach a group of youngsters! :D The third section was a 5 minute march with various chanting - the fourth and fifth times we did the march I was sure that my arms were going to fall off - I had been holding one of the signs... and gosh they get heavy after a while!!! Also, all that screaming totally thrashed my voice :) great times. Finally we did a scene that was supposed to represent freedom! But gosh, the last time was a killer!

After we had all finished we went totally crazy - spontaneous chanting and a massive group hug :)

 

 - The other highlight was discovering a wealth of passion and motivation within some of the new ACT VGen members who had come along! For a year, year and a half, the energy for pushing VGen had been from me, and support from John (World Vision) and Steph (Youth Rep). Yet now I have 3 more like minded, committed VGeners to help me get this show rolling - oh the spledour of it!

 

 

 - Above all, the look on all the delegates faces last night and this morning. I was so encouraged by these - that they were so exhausted - had given 200% of themselves during these few days, and yet overwhelming excitement - this wasn't a bunch of cranky youngsters - this was a group of passionate, empowered, and empassioned VGeners who had hope - hope that what they were doing would mean something - that it would have impact on the minds of politicians, retailers, the Choclate Industry, and people around the world...

 

... the other amazing thing was the amount of hoarse people...

 

... they hadn't simple given all their energy, they had shouted till their voices could stand no more. Voices that will not be unheard in a fight for freedom for those who are voiceless.

 

 

 

We boarded the plane from Melbourne to Hobart after an half hour delay due to the weather. I was tired, sore, and a bit grumpy, but Eva (another TAS girl) and I were trying as hard as possible to keep our spirits alive!

 

We weren't sitting together, and I stopped at row 20 and realised I was the first to get there, so there was no point getting comfy because the person on the window side had to get in! Then a middle aged lady came bustling up the isle with about 5 different shopping bags and coats. She stopped at my row, threw half of her stuff at me and said 'hold this' abruptly whilst she tried to shove it all in the overhead storage.

 

My first thoughts were things like "great, just what I need right now, a self absorbed, loud, grumpy old lady!" Finally I could see again after she got rid of all her soaking wet, smelly belongings from my lap, and she had taken her seat beside me. I decided I needed something to do on the hour long flight so I pulled out my 'Leadership Academy Manual' that I recieved on Thursday. At least I could read something beneficial!

 

The lady looked at me, looked at the VGen logo at the top, and looked at me again, pointing at it and said "what's that?" Although that was quite rude, I decided to tell her all about VGen. I found myself on an excited tangent, telling her about Trek, about the Summit, and everything inbetween. I noticed a smile growing on her face and was EXTREMELY surprised to find it there...

 

I apologised for talking so much, explaining how excitedly tired I was. She told me that the reason she asked was she had heard the beautiful Tim Costello speak a few weeks ago, and he told the audience about VGen, and she said everyone noticed the twinkle in his eye when he did so. She said she had also seen us on the news and in the paper, as she was also from the ACT. She congratulated me, wished my all the best, then we noticed we were landing, and parted ways in Hobart...

 

I guess the moral of the story is don't judge a book by its cover, and always, always take a chance to tell your story!! :D

 

(Sorry it's so long!!)

You know you've had a good trip when it finishes too early and everyone wants more!

Thanks for your responses guys and gals, keep 'em coming!

It's interesting to note that SiobhanMarie didn't enjoy the bus-ride and Random_Nobody would've loved to 'bus-it'...

what did you guys do on the bus anyway?

 

-- But admittedly, our bus ride wa snowhere near as long as Siobhans!! So that might be why it was a little more bareable!

Beyond the bus-ride:

 

What was it like talking to the retailers?

I see that Random_Nobody got a nasty rejection... anyone get positive take-ups?

 

I also really enjoyed watching the Trekers who were under my direction really stepping outside their comfort zones - some wanted to do more Retailer chats (after we ran out of retailers who sold chocolate), others were at first quite nervous about the whole talking to strangers bit, but they warmed up to it.

 

We ended up getting over 150 extra post cards signed - which was awesome! And they were just the ones people handed to me!