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May 23 – May 31, 2026
On this journey, you’ll explore how Indigenous knowledge connects to sustainability today—from food and farming to architecture and rights movements. Through workshops, walks, and conversations, you’ll experience stories, practices, and places that reveal new ways of thinking about how people and the planet thrive together. By the end, you’ll have your own reflections on what Indigenous knowledge can teach us about sustainability.
Considerations: Long travel time required.
Board your flight from Los Angeles to Sydney and begin your adventure to the other side of the world.
Travel across the international dateline. Don’t worry, you’ll get this day back when you return.
Arrive in Sydney and meet your Insight facilitator and guide. After breakfast and rest, step into the Royal Botanic Garden for an Aboriginal Heritage Tour where you’ll learn how native plants were used for food, medicine, and tools. Hear Gadigal stories of tradition and connection to Country before a welcome dinner overlooking Sydney Harbour.
Walk on sacred Dharawal Country with Uncle Shayne, a respected Elder of the La Perouse Aboriginal community. As you journey through Kamay National Park, the site of Captain James Cook’s landing in Botany Bay, Uncle Shayne will share powerful oral histories, ancestral stories, and the deep connection his people maintain with this land and sea. This 1.5-hour guided walk invites you to see the coastline through Aboriginal eyes and reflect on Australia’s shared history and first contact. After lunch at a local café, visit the Whale Watching Platform to see the striking Whales and Canoes bronze sculptures, honoring the Gweagal people’s enduring relationship with the ocean. Keep an eye out for humpback whales on their annual migration north.
Walk with an Indigenous guide through Barangaroo—Sydney’s newest precinct with 75,000 native trees—while learning about a powerful Cammeraygal leader.
Travel to Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park for an Aboriginal Heritage Walk guided by a Traditional Custodian. See rock engravings, axe grinding grooves, and ochre prints that hold stories thousands of years old. Discuss how custodianship continues today, then enjoy lunch at Manly Beach. Return to the city by ferry for dinner and group reflection.
Start the morning with a private wildlife experience—meeting kangaroos, koalas, platypus, and more—while discussing conservation through both scientific and Indigenous perspectives. Then head to the Sydney Opera House for a behind-the-scenes tour with Indigenous storytelling woven into its history, architecture, and sustainability initiatives. Travel to Canberra in the afternoon.
Spend the day at the National Museum of Australia exploring the Great Southern Land gallery and reflecting on power, connection, life, and change. Join a workshop on Indigenous rights and freedoms, tracing the campaigns that shaped Australia’s history and its links to global movements. At Parliament House, hear Indigenous voices through art and stories. End with a walking tour of Canberra’s embassy district.
Take part in an Indigenous-led city tour guided by a cultural advocate from the Ngunawal people. Visit sites of Aboriginal occupation and learn about bush foods, grinding grooves, shield and canoe trees, and the region’s living culture. Stop at Regatta Point and enjoy some time for souvenir shopping.
Travel back to Sydney and board your flight to Los Angeles, carrying with you new perspectives on culture, sustainability, and connection to Country.
Insight has delivered international trips for a wide variety of audiences, including both adults and youths, since 2013. Our top priority from start to finish is the health and well-being of our participants. In the event conditions change while on trip, Insight may need to adjust the itinerary to ensure participant health and safety.
As with all trips, risks do exist and participants will need to complete Acknowledgement of Risk documentation prior to departure. Insight will take every precaution to ensure this experience is truly unforgettable, all for the right reasons. To learn more about our health and safety practices, please contact us.
Please refer to instructions sent by your school.
We take students out of the classroom and challenge them to learn about how the world really works in different places, delivering truly unique travel opportunities around the world.