Eive | Camp Augusta

WOW HELLO! Okay, I am so beyond the moon to be back at camp.

I’m Eive (pronounced Ava, Ay-vaah) it has the funky spelling because I’m Lithuanian.

I mostly grew up in Tucson, AZ. In the desert at the base of Mt Lemmon.

Desert landscape with tall saguaro cacti, green shrubs, and rolling mountains under a pink and purple sunset sky with scattered clouds.

I LOVE to go camping and on backpacking trips, I basically grew up in the outdoors. In fact all of my earliest memories take place there. Either in the forest, crouched in a creek, or lifting old fallen logs to discover what magical critters were hiding beneath.

Creepy crawlies and reptiles are my favorite. I think they’re all adorable.

A person with short, light hair and glasses smiles while gently touching a lizard inside a glass enclosure filled with rocks and plants.

Some of my previous non human family member include: A ball python named Ellen, countless arachnids (even a goliath bird eating tarantula!), garter snakes, Asian sunbeam snake, armadillo lizard, dumpy tree frogs, kingsnake, green anole lizards, leopard gecko, desert hairy scorpion (the cutie pictured above!), giant prickly stick bug, praying mantis, bunnies, dogs, cats, button quails, budgies, rats, and madagascar hissing cockroaches!

I was also a summer camp kid, but at Camp Whispering Pines in my home town. I was a camper for about 8 years, then graduated to our CIT (counselor in training) program. I was asked to return as a junior counselor and mainly focused on our arts, crafts, and theater programs. Few things are exciting as spreading creativity and curiosity.

I have also worked with other children’s art programs through elementary and middle school, and lead school groups on wildlife walks outside of camp.

So where have I been since camp last year?

Lets see….

First a National Parks themed road trip through the states!
(With more than a few bumps in the road with our sad sick car.)

A person wearing a red hat and a backpack walks alone across a vast sandy desert toward distant dunes under a clear blue sky.

A person stands near a picnic table at a desert campsite with a tent, a green SUV with open doors, and a white camper van. Large sandstone cliffs rise in the background under a clear blue sky.

Next a hop, skip, and a jump to Thailand and Cambodia!

We navigated Bangkok with a compass, drove 1,000 km down the South West coast of Thailand, only to get scratched by monkeys requiring a painful round of rabies vaccines.

A person wearing a purple helmet and sunglasses stands next to a parked black and red scooter on a dirt road, with green fields, trees, and mountains in the background under a partly cloudy sky.

A woman in a dress sits on a tiled ledge, relaxing and gazing at a calm sea through a large arched window. The sky is overcast, and a lone boat is visible on the water in the distance.

A person with short hair and glasses looks at a monkey lying and resting under a concrete step on an outdoor stone stairway. The person is holding a blue-capped bottle.

A person with short hair and glasses, smiling and wearing an orange life jacket, sits on a blue boat with green water and rocky, forested cliffs in the background.

Next on the agenda… Project move to Australia!

Plain ticket, check.

Buy a car, check.

Get a job, check.

Get my Working Holiday Visa, ummm, wait…. Not check….

I had some issues with my work visa, so after camping for two months in the Otways Rainforest I had to leave the country (which was the perfect excuse to visit my aunty in Hawaii) for it to finally finish processing. Success!

A person wearing glasses, a black jacket, and bright shoes sits on the ground near a campfire in a forest. A blue tarp is strung between trees in the background.

Back to Australia!

Start working as a zipline and nature walk guide in the Otways Rainforest.

Camp some more.

Now I’ve upgraded from only a hammock and tarp to a real tent though. Slightly more bearable in the rain.

Throw in some road trips and camping adventures~

(and poking holes in search of critters)

A person wearing a wide-brimmed hat crouches near the ground beside an open car door in a sunlit forest clearing. The black car is parked on a dirt path with trees in the background.

Next BACK TO CAMP! Lots of jewelry smithing and blacksmithing, and everything crafty as per usual.

Here’s some airport pickup silliness.

Four people in animal costumes smile at the camera; one holds a blue sign that reads, HAVE YOU SEEN OUR UNICORN? They are indoors on a tiled floor.

Back to Australia! Oh but first quick detour to Hawaii (:

Okay, fly into Sydney and drive 30 hours up to the next location. Cape Tribulation Queensland to work at another zipline course, and more nature walks! Jungle house, no windows or screens, can’t go swimming in the ocean because of crocs, and 2 hour drive to the nearest grocery store plus a ferry ride thrown in there.

A smiling person with short, light hair and glasses stands by a roadside, holding a turtle shell in one hand and giving a thumbs up with the other. They wear a shirt with a green snake design. Trees and sky are in the background.

Three people pose with their faces through cutouts of cartoon koalas on a colorful board featuring Australian animals like a kangaroo, crocodile, parrot, and bat at Yatzies Cafe in Lavers Hill.

Some exciting Australian animal sighting include: Koalas, kangaroos, swamp wallabies, echidnas, all sorts of cockatoos and other exotic bird life, tree snakes, cassowaries, pademelon, white tip shark, crocodile, tiger snakes, emus, brown snakes, giant huntsman spiders, oh and the ferocious carnivorous black Otway snail, to name a few.

It sure was a challenge at times, and also a blast, but time to go back home… AND TO CAMP!

I’ve grown so much since my last summer, as well as a bit more hair (if you remember me as the blondie with a buzzcut last year). I’ve traveled to countries across the world, met beautiful people from diverse cultures, learned about the unique and complex ecosystems of Australia, and barreled through the struggles (and breathtaking magic) of living in and with the rain forest.

So let’s smith some jewelry and knifes and end this summer with a bang hand in hand!

Four people in colorful wigs and vintage-style dresses pose indoors; one sits on a hoop, the others stand beside her. There’s a stone fireplace and wooden walls in the cozy background.

A group of young people stand outdoors among trees; in the foreground, one person is playfully flipping another person upside down over their back. Others watch and smile.

Six people dressed as pirates pose playfully in front of a yurt and trees in a sunlit outdoor setting, some holding fake swords and wearing hats, scarves, or eye patches.

A group of people dressed in colorful, vintage-style costumes pose outdoors among trees, holding glasses and surrounded by foam bubbles, with a vacuum cleaner in the foreground. Wooden cabins are visible in the background.

A person stands inside a large, handmade costume resembling the open mouth of a shark, flashing a peace sign. The scene is indoors, in a workshop or garage with shelves and tools visible in the background.

Wondering what comes after for Eive? Well I’ve nipped my travel bug in the butt (for now), so I’ll be sticking around for postseason. Next home base will be Hilo, Hawaii. Making lots of art, working with kids, and pursuing my career as an art teacher(:

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