Family's conservation and volunteering road trip goes 'beyond a holiday'
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Brisbane-based marine biologists Shane Preston and Fernanda Marcondes de Faria are on a year-long adventure around Australia with their sons Rory, 7, and Luca, 5.
Only it's a trip like no other. The couple has dubbed their tour 'Beyond a holiday'.
The family's environmental philosophy is helping them determine where they want to visit and more importantly, how they can help through volunteering for environmental conservation projects.
"Our goal is for this trip to be more than just a long holiday," Mr Preston says.
"We want to learn more about Australia, teach our kids about various environmental and social issues, stay involved in environmental work, meet interesting people and expand our network and future career opportunities."
After two months volunteering in the Northern Territory, the Faria-Preston clan are the first family to tackle the role of campground hosts.
"We do get quite a few looks saying, 'Are you the campground hosts?'" Mr Preston says.
"[Visitors] are used to a different demographic."
He says the campground host program suited the family for a number of reasons.
"[It] offers us a chance to slow down, to spend a bit more time in one area," he says.
"We're typically moving pretty fast and moving sites every three or four days.
"But with a campground host program, we can stay in a site for two or three weeks, and slow down and really get to know an area."
It was at the Palm Valley campground within the Finke Gorge National Park that the Faria-Preston family set up home for two weeks after a three-week volunteering stint in the Top End at Litchfield National Park.
"It's been really great for us. And the kids are getting involved and helping us clean and really enjoying it as well," Mr Preston says.
Seven-year-old Rory says despite missing his friends at home, he was loving the opportunity to volunteer across the country.
"I like being on the road because you get to experience lots of different habitats and lots of different animals and you can learn a lot from nature," he says.
Rory enjoys helping his parents with the daily jobs around the campground.
"It's usually cleaning the bathrooms and fire pits and other usual things," he says.
The family believe it's been a great experience.
"I thoroughly recommend that if you're travelling around Australia, it's just the way to slow down, experience a park," Mr Preston says.
"You get to speak with a lot of people meet a lot more people than you would just passing through."
The family have so far passed through Queensland and Northern Territory, working on weed eradication on K'Gari (Fraser Island), learning low-impact farming methods, and collecting marine debris at Redcliffe.
The Faria-Preston family plan to take in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania before returning home to Queensland.
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