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Woodard: Trip to Australia was 'chance of a lifetime'

By Rose Hooper
Leanne Woodard Herald photos by Rose Hooper

Leanne Woodard, a rising senior at Smoky Mountain High School, second row, second from right, joined other high school students on a 22-day People to People Student Ambassador trip to Australia and New Zealand. Pictured behind them here in Sydney, Australia, is the famous harbor opera house.

Leanne Woodard bushwhacked through the Australian Outback, snorkeled nose to nose with the Blue fish, ran on the 2000 Olympic track, explored the remote, uninhabited Lady Musgrave Island, basked on the glamorous Sunshine Coast resort, danced with Maori tribal members, climbed in a volcano and embraced a live kangaroo.

This rising senior at Smoky Mountain High School just returned from a People to People Student Ambassador Program to Australia and New Zealand.

Woodard, who had always wanted to visit those countries, called her 22-day adventure "the chance of a lifetime."

"For part of our trip we stayed in people's homes - that gave us a perspective tourists don't get," she said. "And we went places and did things mainstream tourists would never do."
Leanne Woodard with kangaroo Herald photos by Rose Hooper

"Cute little fellow, isn't it?" decides Leanne Woodard upon her encounter with this kangaroo.

After an extensive application and interview process, Woodard was selected as one of 10 delegates to represent Western North Carolina. In Los Angeles, the WNC delegates joined 10 other youth from St. Louis. Five adult leaders, equipped with lap-top computers for easy back-home e-mailing, supervised the group.

People to People sprang into existence through Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, as he sought a new path to international understanding. He believed that if people could visit each others' homes, attend their schools, and see their places of worship, then the misunderstandings and misconceptions would disappear. Eisenhower wanted people to know and understand that "while we are all very different, our values, goals, and day-to-day issues are very much the same."

Discovering that firsthand for herself, Woodard said, "The teenagers in Australia and New Zealand were pretty much like we are. They listen to our music. But one thing different - they wear uniforms to school."

In one of her home stays, Woodard stayed with a math teacher and went to school with her. "They don't offer as many classes as we have at Smoky Mountain, and they only offer calculus in college. They have five years in high school, and you spend like two years in the 12th grade. It's weird."
Leanne Woodard Herald photos by Rose Hooper

Been there; done that. Leanne Woodard, daughter of Poker and Regina Woodard of Dillsboro, has already set foot on the track at the 2000 Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia.

In all of Australia Woodard said she never saw one overweight person. "They don't have a problem with cholesterol, either. I think it's because they don't put sugar in anything and they walk everywhere they go."

Interacting with the native tribes like the Aborigines and the Maori, Woodard discovered a world of cultural diversities. "The Maori served us a hangi dinner, where they cooked the meat - sheep and chicken - in an underground pit using hot stones. To me, it tasted like dirt, but I still tried to act polite and eat it."

In New Zealand she learned there are 80 million sheep to 3.8 million people. Australia, on the other hand, has an abundance of cattle and horses, noted this avid equestrian. On one of her farm stays she rode, using an Australian saddle.

"It has two extra flaps that go over your thigh," said Woodard, who helped round up cattle. "A farm stay there is similar to a dude ranch experience in the states."

From the farm they went to the city of Sydney, Australia, site of the 2000 Olympics. "We got to go in the Olympic stadium and on the track. The Australians are still trying to figure out where to place the Olympic torch." In Sydney they also toured the famous opera house on the harbor.
"They have lots of shops like we do, but not the same kind of brands... and there were no malls," said Woodard, who was happy that in New Zealand the value of the dollar was doubled. "I got so many great deals that I went over my weight limit coming back and had to divide out my stuff between the rest of my group." Woodard came away from her trip with a new environmental awareness. "In New Zealand they are trying to preserve the bird population that's suffered such damage because of the ozone problem. It's right next to the hole in the ozone, and there are even time limits for people to be outside... and even in the winter, it never gets below 40 degrees."

She tried out the hot pools but found they were too mineralized with sulphur for her liking - "they were salty and they made my hair frizzy."

On the other hand, the Great Barrier Reef with its sparkling clear waters delighted the young snorkelers who encountered an underwater world of color swimming with "Blue fish, Angel fish and big sponges."

Equally fascinating for Woodard was the Outback sky. "You could see different stars than you see here at home. I saw the Southern Cross and a new view of the Milky Way."

The dingoes running wild, the highly poisonous snakes and those fearful funnel-web spiders did not dampen her Outback experience one bit. What enhanced it was those lovable kangaroos and koala bears, which she actually got to touch up close and personal.

The personal friendships she developed with other delegates "will probably last a lifetime. The 10 of us from WNC are already planning to get together for a party," she said with anticipation.

Woodard was asked to apply as a delegate following her nomination to Who's Who Among American High School Students. "I encourage anyone who receives an invitation to apply. It's a great opportunity and a lifetime experience," said this senior, who earned one credit of high school social studies for her trip and subsequent journal.

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