Conservation Volunteers Australia work at Red Rocks by the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia.

 A team of ten workers revisited Red Rocks, the site of our June planting with Quiksilver as sponsors.  The aim of the follow up November 19 day, was to re-mulch the area in preparation for the anticipated Summer of occasional 40+C degrees heat and drying winds. For the Red Rocks day of work, there was one CVA volunteer who was Australian, Scott McGregor but most were international volunteers: Sun Ho Park & Young Soo Kim from Korea,
 Simon Pullen & Nathan Colquhoun from United Kingdom,
Giovanni Morales from Columbia and Casper Boerema from Holland.  They were under the direction of Andrew Quick, who was their able CVA team leader for the day. Local people from Torquay Landcare, Angair and ParksVic joined the workforce.
The CVA network is wide and offers a range of opportunities for
volunteers; for instance, Simon, from the UK has organised to spend 12
months with CVA, working 10-15 weeks in each of the three South Eastern
Australian states.  Another, Casper from Holland, had been a Commerce
student in Sydney; and having enjoyed such a good time there, said he
wanted to give something back to Australia, so worked in our vicinity
for a week of his holidays.  
The day involved a team of seven wheelbarrows, loaded with mulch, from indigenous vegetation, (provided by the Surf Coast Shire) being pushed along a 100 metre path emptying out the mulch and spreading it around the closely planted coastal plants of Red Rocks; then returning uphill to get another load of mulch... repeated over and over, over and over.  If the going got hard, there was always the wide blue-green expanse of Southern Ocean to gaze at - while planning for a swim at the end of the job.
For the June planting, hail had been forecast; for the November
re-mulching, 38 degrees Fahrenheit, was anticipated.  Neither day fully
lived up to its forecast but they were demanding enough days,
especially for people not used to working outdoors.   It is thanks to the Surf Coast & Inland Plains Network, and Greg John, in particular, who connected Torquay Landcare, Angair, Friends of Point Addis and Friends of Jan Juch Creek for the week of CVA work.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MORE ABOUT CVACVA, is a national not-for-profit, community organisation with offices in every state and territory of Australia. For more than 25 years Conservation Volunteers Australia has been involving community volunteers in projects by including both the local and international community in managed teams of between 6 to 10 volunteers accompanied by a trained CVA team leader.  CVA undertakes projectsseven days per week, ranging from one day to several weeks duration. For more information about CVA in the vicinity of the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, contact Samantha Granger 0428598417 or the Geelong office 03 5221 0300 or the web <http://www.conservationvolunteers.com.au>CVA can also be found on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44012147447