A highlight of working at the wildlife rehabilitation centre was going to the schools on educational visits. This involved learning about a specific animal thoroughly and then talking to the children about it, showing them the animals and answering their questions. I also found it very rewarding to be able to release an animal because you know that you contributed to rehabilitating it and have seen its condition improve such a lot from when it was brought in. I feel I gained valuable knowledge about Australian animals, their behaviour, diet, anatomy, handling and treatment of ailments. This is something I am really interested in and would not have been able to experience in such a hands on way without doing this kind of voluntary work.

Can you describe a typical day? A typical week varies depending on the type of animals that come in and what treatment they require. General morning duties would be to see to all the educational animals (permanent residents). This involves taking out food bowls, sweeping the areas, giving fresh water and replacing food pellets. The other main morning duty would be the bilbies. This involves weighing and maintaining how much food has been eaten, replacing pellets, cleaning the boxes and sifting sand. Also removing waste and debris, raking sand and replacing trees. A volunteer would do one or the other of these morning duties, followed by morning tea around 11am for approximately 45mins. After this I would prepare fruit for the bobtail lizards or clean aviaries/hot boxes. Depending on what needed to be done I would feed birds, help with treatments, do the washing up or clothes washing/drying. The main afternoon duty would be to prepare fruit and vegetables for the educational animals, then weigh out all the food for the bilbies and western barred bandicoots and prepare food bowls for the other animals. This was quite a long process so took some time. Other than that I would help to tube feed birds or help with treatments. Then I would take the food out to the educational animals and then sign out. Saturdays are slightly different as the orphaned joeys are brought in and one of the morning tasks is to bottle feed them. This was one of my favourite tasks.

Sarah Rhodes / Sports Refugee project - Australia / British

I am gaining an insight into different coaching and training styles in Australia, the school system and socio-cultural issues with immigrants in Australia. The best thing about the placement so far has been starting an athletics club at the school for the talented kids whose parents can't afford the time or money to get them to a track. The children really appreciate the opportunity to develop their sporting ability. I would definitely recommend this placement. It would suit someone who takes a pro-active approach to work, it is true that the more you put in the more you get out

Can you describe a typical day? Bus from Wellington street at 8:50 Arrive at 9:40 start classes at 10:00 until morning break at 10:45. Two classes before lunch at 12:30 and two classes in the afternoon. Help the sports teacher to take the lesson, be it demonstrations, helping the children on a 1 to 1 basis or describing how to play a game. Free time over lunch and break unless the kids have practice.

(Sarah is hoping to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics. We wish her every success and we’ll certainly be cheering her on very enthusiastically!!)

Charlotte Dingle / Teaching - Australia / British

Edward Moore / Teaching - Australia / British

Tasmia Alam / Teaching - Australia / British

Although it sounds clichéd, I feel that I am gaining life experience and that I have the ability to associate and mix with children of different backgrounds and nationalities to myself. I have enjoyed having the responsibility to lead various groups of children in doing different activities. I would recommend this placement to those who are contemplating going into teaching for some experience and even to those who are not (like myself) for some life experience. I think this placement would suit people who are obviously good with children. They should have a kind caring nature and a lot of patience

Can you describe a typical day? A typical day for myself would entail going into my morning class which is A4 at about 9.45. They have set work each day which I help them with. During recess I would usually go into the library and perhaps check emails. After recess I would then go into my second class for the day which was D1. The work which they undertook each day was varied so again I would help them with whatever work was set and I would also sometimes lead small groups of the students. Again at lunch time I would tend to use the internet facilities in the library. After lunch I would be with one of the youngest classes, A5. This was an extremely enjoyable class to be in but could be rather tiring! The work would be varied everyday and often I would be given the responsibility of reading to the entire class.

Victoria Smith / Law Work Experience - Australia / British

Nafisa Sayani / TV Work Experience - Australia / British

I would definitely recommend the placement to anyone interested in working in the television industry, as it offers invaluable experience in editing, presenting, as well as an insight into the world of community television. The people try to get you as involved as possible, and encourage you to learn all you can. This placement would be perfect for someone who has a keen interest in television, in particular in the local community. To get the most out of the placement, the ideal candidate should be bubbly, confident and willing to get involved and tackle new challenges

Can you describe a typical day? I started work at 9.15am, unless otherwise informed and started off by going through the organisation's e-mails with Peter, the chairperson of the organisation. We would check to see if anything interesting had come through and print out any relevant information. I spent most of the morning doing administration work (calling people to arrange interviews, replying to e-mails, doing research for upcoming interviews) and then I would have an hour of lunch at 12pm, which I spent in the city centre. In the afternoon, I would often work with the organisation's executive producer, maybe checking through tapes before they got sent off, observing audio recording, or organising arrangements for filming on location. Sometimes I also sat in the edit suite in the afternoon and watched Kelvin, who edited the raw material. High school students came in on certain days for work experience, and I would spend these days supervising them and helping them carry out activities such as filming around Perth city or creating media slideshows. On days when there was professional filming to be done, I often had to come in earlier than usual or stay later. On such a day, we would go to a location to interview people and take shots, and this was when I was allowed the opportunity to present some of the programmes. On Monday evenings, I took part in Peter's Video Drama Club, where he encouraged me to experiment with cutting and switching recorded material of club members performing monologues. These evenings, I would finish at 8pm, but other days I finished around 5pm, unless we were filming on location.

Where would you recommend volunteers to visit? (ie tourist places, restaurants, bars etc)

I would recommend volunteers visit Perth City Centre first of all, and shopaholics will enjoy browsing the shops on Friday night, when most places are open until 9pm. Swan River is a walk away, and beautiful during the evening. Northbridge is definitely an experience at night, and one particular nightspot, The Shed, is a fun place to have a few drinks, because of it's reputation as a typically Australian open-air bar.

Fremantle is a good place to visit during both the day and night, and taking a ferry is a great way to travel there - Make sure you get some gelato on the cappuccino strip and head to Cicerelli's for the best fish and chips. I would also recommend the torchlight tour at Fremantle prison, as it is very interesting, and creates a spooky atmosphere. King's Park is a lovely place to take a walk on a sunny day, as it is huge and there are some beautiful views.

One of my personal favourite places to relax was the beach at Cottesloe, where we watched the sunset on more than one occasion, and it is not far at all on the train. The Burswood Casino is one place to put on your list of places to visit at night, and even if you're not one to gamble, the club there, called The Ruby Room is a lot of fun.

For any British volunteers feeling homesick, there is an English pub in Perth City Centre called The Moon and Sixpence, which does a great roast dinner! Finally, if volunteers want to catch a glimpse of a kangaroo (what better thing to do in Australia?!), they should go for a walk around Harrison Island, and take a camera!

The Lodge is a perfect place for volunteers travelling alone, because everyone there is so welcoming that you settle in straight away. It was also great that I was introduced to the other volunteers when I arrived, so I got to know them. This was very useful, because when I wasn't at work, I visited most places with people that I had met at the Lodge, and I don't think I would have been so adventurous by myself. There was such a multi-cultural mix and I have made friends from all over the world, who I intend to keep in touch with, and maybe even visit in the future.

Carmen Butcher / TV Work Experience - Australia / British

Week ONE: Start the week off by briefing and planning a comedy spoof. Ideas are passed around and the subject turns to that of ‘Australian Idol’- The presenters seem to be very dead pan in their work, the singers very over the top and the conversation tends to base around the fact that they take themselves very seriously. The first day is spent by writing a script, which goes very smoothly.

The second day we spend by rehearsing and using the studio to shoot the production. A lot of fun is had by all, by using karaoke machines and acting out the spoof. It takes the day to shoot the piece. We are informed that the segments we have shot will be used in one of their programmes ‘School’s out’ which is targeted at young people, who will hopefully also be tempted by work experience after watching it.

As the piece is finished by Wednesday, I spend Thursday going out on a shoot with Loretta, who is at the TV station to work as a camera woman. We shoot several locations within Perth city in order to use the footage for an advertisement for the TV station Perth; we have been told that the TV’s icon will be appearing in and out of the shots.

Friday is spent finishing the city shoot. I feel in the first week I have had plenty of practical experience, which I wasn’t expecting to receive within the first week. I am now familiar with being in front of the camera, as well as familiarising myself behind it.

Week TWO: This week we are mainly concentrating on a ‘Market Survey’ in order to help in the application process for gaining a new television license. We help study the questionnaires and some members of the team are sent out to hand them to the public and film this. I take many of the questionnaires back to friends at the hostel, who look over them to discuss what type of television programmes they enjoy, which ones they do not, and also whether they were of community television or not. The planning of the questionnaires and preparation for the application of a new television license takes up most of the week.

However, I do spend one day researching a local Australian artist in preparation for an interview we are going to be holding with her about her art. After researching her work, I think of interview questions to ask her about her art and why she enjoys it. I also contact her to arrange the interview for a segmented piece we can use. A few of the crew members are arranging a shoot at the ‘Swan festival of lights’ and I help them research and call people to interview.

This week I feel I have gained experience in research, planning interview questions, and also the foundation of television and programming from studying the questionnaires drawn up. This week has not been as practical as the last week but I feel I have learnt a good theoretical base in regards to research of the media and also what makes a good interview question.

Week THREE: I have been prepared for this week to be a little crazy within the office- the TV station are applying for a new television license to take over the former ‘ACCESS 31’. If successful, they plan on calling it ‘NEW VISIONS 31’ and will be community based. In order to apply for the TV license, the office need to send out several requests for people who are in general contact with the TV station for their support in the application process. My week is therefore spent doing administration. First, we must type up the letter that we will send to supporters asking for their help. We then go through a list of contacts who we need to send the information to, and email them on a group basis.

However, by the middle of the week, we don’t seem to have received many responses, so tackle it in a more personal matter. We create thorough lists with full contact details of each person we need to contact, and go through the list one by one. We also call each person to alert them of the email we are sending through so that we receive a prompt response from them. Within the new emails, we send out a more personal email so the process ends up taking quite a while up until the end of the week. After approaching each person separately, we receive a much heavier response.

Again, the week hasn’t been as practical, but I have learnt a lot about TV application process, as well as using Microsoft Excel and Word to a great extent.

Week FOUR: My final week at the TV station has proved to be more practical again than the previous two. I start the week off by being shown the editing suite that the TV station uses. The program that the TV station uses is adobe Premiere, and we are shown how to create a new file for specific edits, and we are able to play around with an episode in order to practice how to do it. This proves very interesting and useful, and has created quite an interest with editing for me.

We then look into briefs for projects that we are able to do, and one of the girls suggests looking at the art of street performance within Perth, as it is a very vibrant and cultural city. A day is spent thinking of questions to ask them, and also researching the history of the busker.

We go out to shoot and end up speaking to a street performer; however the weather is looking quite rainy which doesn’t make for good performing conditions. We decide to go back another day and make our way to a community centre that Claudia is at to film a dance and interview a few elderly members about the dancing and music in order to keep up with the community feel of the channel. I interview them on camera.

We spend my final day going out and interviewing the buskers on camera so I gain some presenting experience as well as the rest of the practical experience I have received. I thoroughly enjoy this and also learn a few tricks of the trade via some tips given to me by Claudia, a regular presenter at the TV station.

After sometime back in the UK;

I completed a month's TV work experience in Perth, organised and arranged by yourselves. In the UK, I had struggled to obtain media work experience other than the odd week here and there, and was looking for a way to get some sound media experience whilst travelling, as I had always wanted to travel after University and thought your program was an excellent way to combine the two. The stay arranged by yourselves was great; the accommodation was nice, I had contacts in Perth in case I ran into trouble, and made loads of new friends.  I then went on to travel all of Australia (and a week in New Zealand! ) for an additional 6 months (although I had originally planned to go home waaay earlier than that!). I came back to the UK from my travels in May and in September I was offered a 6 month contract with MTV as their creative intern, and upon nearing the end of my contract, have now been offered a year contract at the BBC as production co ordinator. I just wanted to say a massive thank you for my experience, both work and culturally, in Australia. I would hugely recommend this to anyone, especially those who want to break into media via an alternative path. Even for those who do not want to obtain a career in the media, my employer said she was impressed with the month I did in Australia, because it showed I had the initiative to get out there and do something productive, and it was something that stood out amongst the hundreds of CVs she received! I really hope you continue with your programs across the world, and that people benefit from them as much as I did. It really is something I will never forget. Thanks a million