This week has been completely out of pocket! This week, we have our alumni-funded wine trip a few hours outside of Sydney; nevertheless, I never planned to spend the whole night before the wine tour in the emergency room. The wine trip this week was fantastic! It was so cool to get out of the city and see the rural countryside of Australia (not quite what I expected). What I found most interesting was the convergence of our in-class discussions of wildfires and the indirect impact they have on the economy, as well as the impact they had on the beautiful vineyards we were able to see.
While at the first vineyard, we spoke with our tour guide about black summer. This was an unbelievably devastating wildfire that brought Australia to the forefront of global news as 96,000 hectares were burned and countless animals died. He expressed that the fire did not directly ruin the vineyard; however, the ash from the aftermath settled on the grapes and made the entire crop practically useless.
This was an incredible opportunity to get out of the city and meet folks who live very different lives than anybody we would encounter on a daily basis. This was one of the primary reasons I scheduled a trip to Port Stephens in the latter half of the month, which would become my core Australian memory.