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CERES Global

Vic & NSW Roadtrip

Information We’re heading off on a road trip adventure, connecting to indigenous, sustainable, and

alternative communities, to land, and our incredible environment.

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The information in this booklet is aimed to prepare you as much as possible for the trip. Please read it carefully.

However, please try to nurture a sense of openness and flexibility as plans can change at the last minute and life

on the road very much flows on from moment to moment.

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WHO YOU WILL BE TRAVELLING WITH CERES

CERES Community Environment Park is located on 4.5 hectares of land on the banks of the Merri Creek in

Brunswick East, Melbourne and is a place where people come together to share ideas about living well together,

and directly participate in meeting their social and material needs in a sustainable way. Since CERES was

established in 1982, the efforts of our community have transformed the site. Once an old dump and desolate

wasteland, today CERES is a place of nature and beauty, inhabited by a vibrant and diverse community. We

attract around 400,000 visits each year through our on-site education and training programs, our retail plant

Nursery, the Organic Market & Grocery and our cafe. We also partner with a wide variety of organisations to

bring about mutually beneficial outcomes, and reaches across the planet with CERES Global.

CERES Global

CERES Global is a project within CERES aiming to engage with the issue of global inequities and the well‐being of

all people on the planet and the environments in which they live. It has a special focus on working with

communities to find solutions to environmental and climate change challenges. It also works to improve

economic and social sustainability within these communities.

As part of this, we invite you to join us on cross-cultural, socio-environmental exchanges. These are unique

participatory educational and skill sharing travel programs.

Experiencing other cultures and communities, witnessing the world in new ways, meeting people gentle and

humble and with generosity so big that it moves and stirs us – it challenges and changes us. This is what makes

our trips so powerful. Sophie Edwards (CERES Global Coordinator).

For more information visit www.ceres.org.au/global

HOW THIS TRIP CAME ABOUT CERES Global has for over 10 years been building important relationships with communities globally. As we

continue to foster those relationships and understand how best we can work alongside communities to tackle

environmental and social challenges, we’re realising how important it is to engage our local sustainable

communities back home.

In April we’re heading off on our first sustainability road trip, visiting communities, people, places, and sharing

discussion on approaches to sustainability, living in community, indigenous traditions, and anything else we can

think of. We’ll get our hands (a bit) dirty but really we’re looking for some interested and enthusiastic people to

join us on the journey, have a few laughs, some great chats, and learn from people who are living in a sustainable

way.

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FACILITATORS

Ben Walta - CERES Global Area manager and coordinator: Ben has facilitated over

40 trips internationally and at home in Australia and brings with him a gentle

and contagious warmth and laid back nature. As well as being a 5 star facilitator

Ben is also an incredible networker and manages to pull connections and great

conversations together wherever he goes. He is passionate about experiencing

and being with the world in new ways, getting our wings out, gaining global

perspectives on sustainability and the environment, sharing journeys and

connecting with our own human stories.

Don Butcher & Biodiversity: We’ll be joined by Don Butcher who is a living legend,

having worked in sustainability and conservation for many years - Don’s knowledge

and experience on the trip will be gold, he’s mad about the Great Forest National

Park, the Coorong, watersheds, leadbeater’s possums, … you name it!

Here are a few words from Don:

I am passionate about connecting people to the natural world facilitating

its observation and the use of storytelling. Australian landscapes are well

endowed with stories, along with my own observation I use stories from

numerous sources, at times firmly grounded in academic research while many flow from the cultural

landscapes of indigenous and settler Australia.

Our landscapes have uniqueness and amazing biodiversity. What is biodiversity? I believe a unique

tapestry of place – the web of plants, animals and fungi, survivors of a journey through deep time (firmly

Gondwanan for Victoria’s Wet Forest), I argue biodiversity is the natural world’s ability to deal with

stresses like drought, flood, wildfire, insect plagues, storms, etc. We need to connect to and understand

these landscapes! We need advocates that can educate an increasingly disconnected society with the

ecosystem services these landscapes nourish us with. I acknowledge the elders past and present for the

lands upon which I educate.

A NOTE BEFORE TRAVELLING WITH CERES GLOBAL Remember, this is not a tour and our facilitators from CERES are not tour guides, but facilitators or enablers –

working alongside you to achieve insight and understanding of the communities we visit, and to engage

discussion within the group and with community members on social and environmental issues. It is expected that

you will show some initiative and make a contribution to the journey, through sharing of your own knowledge

and experience, and working within the group to ensure a cohesive and insightful experience is shared by all. But

most of all, enjoy this trip and embrace it.

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ITINERARY

2017 Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun

April 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd

camp breakfast camp breakfast camp breakfast camp breakfast camp breakfast camp breakfast camp breakfast camp breakfast

7:30am Early depart

from Cretin

Brothers Car Park near

CERES

Morning session on

tools,

techniques, tasks, and what

we can

contribute

Pack up and head to

Castlemaine (2

hr drive)

tree

propogation,

food forest, and whole

farm design workshops

Pack up early and head to

Abundance

farm

Head off early

to

Yackandandah and TRY

community centred energy

project, all

morning drive

(4hrs)

early start and

big day drive to Bega (5 hrs)

Intro and discussion on

the Bend in

Bega

head off early to get to

Traralgon by

lunch Morning pack-

up & head to Moora Moora

(2hrs)

8:30 AM

9:00am-

12:30pm

Morning chat with residents

about living in community

3.5hr drive Drive up to

Toolangi and talk GFNP

Get our hands

dirty

Arrive mid

morning (1.5hr drive)

12:30-1:30pm Lunch in

Toolangi

Lunch at agari

farm

Lunch at

Yandoit Farm

Pumpkin pie

for lunch

Lunch at

Abundance

Lunch in

Wang

Lunch on the

road

Lunch at the

Bend

Lunch at

Wurruk'an

Lunch at

Moora Moora

1:30-5pm

Afternoon

drive to Kinglake and

Agari Farm

after lunch

feedback and

planning Afternoon lap

of Yandoit farm,

permaculture

and

community

discussions

Afternoon

biodiversity,

permaculture, hands dirty,

tree planting,

dehydrating …

2 hr drive to Boort

Afternoon visit

and chat with Matt, Ali, Lisa,

and Jack

talking energy and

sustainability

with Totally Renewable

Yackendandah

Mid arvo

aquaponics

and Tiny House

discussions

with Django,

swim at the

beach if it's

hot.

Afternoon

drive to Goongerah for

walk and talk

with Jill

Redwood

(3.5hr drive)

living in community

discussions

with Wurruk'an

residents

Liam, Sam,

Beth, and

Rachel.

Working Bee and get busy.

Early afternoon

Moora Moora

lunch, cuppa, and

reflections.

Intro to Living in Community

discussion

with founder, Peter Cock.

Big afternoon

working on Victoria's first

council permitted

earthship

mid arvo walk

with Jida, herittage, scar

trees, mounds,

waterways. Early evening

canoeing along

traditional waterways

Mid afternoon

drive back to

CERES, aiming to be

home at the

CERES/Cretin

bros carpark

by 6pm.

5-6pm set up camp Set up camp Evening pizza

cookup set up camp

Set up Yack

camp ground

set up camp @

the bend in Bega

set up and stay

at Jill's place

evening

dicussion and feedback

6-7pm Dinner Dinner Dinner Dinner Dinner Dinner @ the

pub Dinner Dinner Dinner

7-night

Earthship

discussions,

community,

fire, get up to speed on the

build so far.

Night walk

Go deep

ecology and micrology

discussions

with Michael

outdoor

cinema -

sustainable living docos

Indig dance

with Jida and

Camp by the lake

evening

meeting with

Lubosh to talk tiny houses

outdoor

cinema -

sustainable living docos

old growth

night walk

reflection &

dreaming

Overnight: Kinglake Kinglake Castlemaine Castlemaine Boort Yackandandah Bega Goongerah Wurruk'an

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Map Showing places we visit

Map showing Indigenous Languages of South East Australia

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Community Partners Agari Farm – Kinglake: Agari Farm are building the first

council approved Earthship in Victoria, and we’re heading

out there to help out! There will have been a team

working away on it for a while so we’ll have to see where

they’re up to closer to the time, but we’re really excited to

get out there and get involved. http://agarifarm.org/

Yandoit Farm - Castlemaine: Yandoit Farm is a

beautiful 140-acre natural farm in Central Victoria focusing

on diversified small scale animal husbandry, annual and

perennial food systems and broad scale regenerative

agroforestry. Ian Lillington who is involved with the

Permaculture ‘Next Big Step’, is coordinating our

Castlemaine region engagements in an effort to introduce

a startup social enterprise of “hosting”to the permaculture

movement.

http://permaculturenews.org/2014/10/30/broadacre-

farm-design-regenerative-agriculture-work-australia/

DjarDjar Wurrung - Boort: Our CERES indigenous

educator Jida Gulpilil is very excited to show us around his

country, and share with us some very special stories of the

scar trees in the Djar Djar Warrung region of Boort. After a

recent controlled flooding of the wetlands from the

Loddon river, Jida is looking forward to having us stay by

the lake, and is especially keen to show us some

indigenous dance moves around the fire at night!

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/into-the-aboriginal-

world---victorias-secret-emerges-from-lake-and-creek-

20161229-gtjok8.html

Abundance Farm - Raglan: Is an educational

cooperative that supplies with healthy, fresh and chemical

free food grown with love by people who care. We’ll pop

in and visit Abundance for lunch and a walk to see how

things are going out there.

https://www.facebook.com/farmingforabundance/

Totally Renewable Yackandandah (TRY): A

community group bringing together people passionate

about the notion of powering their town with 100%

renewable energy, and aiming to achieve “energy

sovereignty” for Yackandandah by the year 2022 through

community owned energy that will decarbonize,

decentralize and democratize their energy supply

systems. http://totallyrenewableyack.org.au/

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The Bend – Bega: An eco-neighbourhood in a small

town on the far south coast of NSW, Australia. Bend has

been designed using permaculture principles that

values environmental sustainability, social diversity,

food production, and energy conservation. As a

community they share conservation areas and certified

organic agricultural land, as well as neighbourhood

fire-fighting, photovoltaic, and greywater recycling

systems. http://bend.org.au/

Goolengook & Jill Redwood: Goolengook forest in

the far eastern corner of Victoria was the centerpiece of

a campaign to protect all of the regions old growth in

the 1990’s to early 2000s. Jill Redwood lives in

Goolengook and for the last 30 years has lived a

completely off grid life. Living on around $80 a week,

Jill has over sixty animals and an abundant garden

right outside her doorstep. Generating all her own solar

power and collecting water from the local creek Jill

lives a totally self-sufficient life.

http://www.naturalhomes.org/permahome/offgrid-jill-

redwood.htm

Wurruk’an Traralgun – Gippsland: Wurruk’an is a

humble but beautiful body of land, water, and forest in

the Gunai district of Gippsland. In recent years it has

become an inclusive gathering space for

people seeking to pioneer and demonstrate a ‘simpler

way’ of living based on permaculture principles.

Although these are still early days, the emerging vision

is aglow with promise and potential. As a strategy for

social change, their small and evolving community

is trying to build a new world from within the shell of

the old. Wurruk’an signifies an act of defiant positivity.

http://www.wurrukan.org

Moora Moora - Yarra: Made up of a diverse group of

about 50 adults and 20 children the Moora Moora

community deliberately choose to live together in six

small hamlets located on a beautiful co-operatively

owned 245 hectare property situated at an altitude of

700 metres on Mt Toolebewong. We’re chatting with

Elisse and founder Peter cock on our way through over

lunch and a cuppa.

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WHAT TO BRING: Please take essentials only as we will also be carrying things like food, cooking equipment, extra water, car repair

tools etc. Soft bags are better for packing than hard bags/cases.

Essential gear includes:

Small tent with fly

Sleeping mat

Light sleeping bag or blanket

Personal cutlery, plate, bowl and mug

Long sleeved shirts (for sun protection)

Shorts and light pants

Warm tops for nights

Sandals or thongs that are easy to slip on

Basic sneakers or sturdy shoes for tramping around the bush.

Personal first aid kit (mostly to deal with insect bites, cuts, abrasions, splinters, headaches and menstrual

cramps). We will also take a first aid kit with basic bandages, bandades etc (however we cannot administer any

drugs, including even Panadol, so you will need to bring your own supply of these).

Head torch and spare batteries

Notepad and pen

Day-pack or bag

Water bottle

Broad brimmed hat

Sunscreen

Insect repellent

Toiletries – small quantities and biodegradable wherever possible.

Hand sanitizer and toilet paper (if you want a private stash for your bag, if not we take plenty)

Adequate prescription medications - please advise us discretely if you have serious medical considerations, joint

problems, or are on medications etc.

Towel or sarong

Board shorts and bathers

Small and low to the ground camping chair or back rest or a small pillow could be used for comfort while sitting

down.

FOOD AND DIETARY REQUIREMENTS: Where possible we’ll organize meals with our host

communities as an income generator for them. The meals will

be made to last and nurture. We will also take lots of travel

proof fresh fruit and veggies like: spuds, pumpkins, carrots,

watermelons, oranges, apples etc and try to minimize

packaging.

When we are cooking it will be very basic vegetarian legume

based meals over an open fire or in the community camp

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facilities generally with a grain such as rice, quinoa or pasta and lots of veggies. Breakfasts and lunches are simple

e.g. fresh fruit, muesli, powdered milk, salad wraps etc. All meals are vegetarian, so please bring tinned meats if

you feel you’ need a bit extra of something.

Please let us know if you have any dietary requirements or food-related allergies. Lists of foods you can’t eat

would be very useful and we will do our best to accommodate you in our menu planning.

ACCOMMODATION: Participants will need to bring their own small tent and

sleeping gear to sleep in.

FACILITIES: We’ll make sure we have access to toilets throughout

the journey, and we will constantly be on the search for

swimming spots but we might not have a shower every

day.

Insurance

We recommend that you get travelers insurance and/or ambulance insurance. The latter will cover you in case of

an emergency evacuation.

TRAVELLING IN A GROUP We expect to have between 10 and 20 people travelling with us on this journey. Because of this it is important we

are mindful of everyone else’s needs as well as our own. This trip relies on us working together as a group. Things

run smoothly when everyone contributes and helps out. We will put together a cooking and cleaning roster.

There are recipes to follow for all the evening meals.

You will also need to be mindful of your own resilience dealing with discomfort (especially on the drive between

communities) and a lack of personal space. It is important to be aware of your own needs and develop personal

strategies in dealing with this.

MONEY Your contribution fee covers food and transport, as well as facilitation and coordination of the trip. There’ll be

one meal along the way at the pub in Yackandandah which you will need to pay for yourself. There might also be

an option to upgrade from your tent to a cabin or guesthouse as well, so you might need some extra cash for that

should you wish. We’ll likely drink a few beers or wine along the way where appropriate, and you’ll need to cover

any associated costs for alcohol.

We’re really happy to be taking this amazing journey with you. Keep in touch during your pre-departure

preparation and ask any questions as they come up.

THIS WILL BE SUCH A GREAT ADVENTURE!