perched in the sand

Today’s lab consisted of snorkeling and taking photos of all the fish we saw. Not sure exactly how this qualifies as a lab or even a class, but I am not complaining. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a morning. I saw literally thousands of fish, including this little guy – a speckled sandperch – lying in wait for the perfectly sized prey to crawl, scurry, or drift past. Tonight I wandered out to the jetty with Kristen, Patrick, Beckie, and Sam, and watched as the sun set over the open sea, ripples of red reflected in the tiny waves undulating across the reef. Now we are busy studying for the final exam, and three more units are almost done. It is crazy to think we are almost at the halfway point of our time in Australia. It’s been unreal so far, and I can’t wait to see what else is coming.

-N-

Hello Heron!

After half of us spent a blissful 3 days in Port Douglas, soaking up the white sand beaches and scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, we joined up again with the other group on Monday. The other half of the group stayed back at Wetherby station and diligently worked on their Targeted Research Projects, relaxed, or helped out around the ranch. It was great to be back together again and after lounging on the beach for one more day, you could feel the tittering of excitement about the upcoming adventure we knew we were about to embark upon: Heron Island.

The crux of this trip for many of us in Australia, Heron Island is the manifestation of why we picked our abroad program over some of the others. That's not to say getting here was easy. First came the 22 hour train ride from Wetherby to Gladstone; in truth, time does fly by when you're watching Anchorman, hanging out with friends, and getting into that book you've been meaning to read (*ahem* Game of Thrones). We passed by lengthy stretches of indistinguishable Australian countryside; although the train moved with no apparent urgency at about the same pace as sea mollusk on vacation, it was incredibly clear how much space, open land, and nothingness lay in the undeveloped portions of this upside down country. It rained on our way, and we saw a couple of bushfires. In truth, if you have the stamina to look out the window instead of at your computer screen, the train is a pretty neat way to check out the countryside.

We eventually made it to the Heron Island ferry, but the trip was far from over. Two and a half hours of the most rambunctious waves and aggressive seasickness you could imagine left us green and gasping for fresh air when Heron Island finally came into view, but it was well worth the wait. The most beautiful white island awaited us, one that exceeded even my wildest imagination. We were shown our rooms, given the safety spiel, and fed a meager lunch before hopping into the water to pass our snorkeling proficiency test - there's one we all aced. After a day of settling in, we met some of the other students staying at the research station from the Australian Uni, Southern Cross. With 96 students in total, some staff, and a resort, it's clear the island is not huge. However, with Research Projects in swing, the coral reefs beckoning, and the weather [hopefully] clearing up, the potential for adventure is indeed grand. Whenever we get the chance to stop for a moment, look around, and take in the reality of what we're experiencing, I know that PB&J lunches instantly fades to the back of my mind. Heron Island, we have arrived!

Beckie

Scuba Video!

Here's the link to an awesome video that Libby Burch made using her Flip camera while we were diving yesterday. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Z_g_Ile8ZPg

Time flies in paradise

It's been a little quiet on the blogging front, probably mainly due to the fact that we've been kept extremely busy the past couple weeks. Between doing field work, climbing rainforest mountains, caving in the outback, swimming in waterfalls and hanging out with baby wallabies, we hardly had time to think during the CFET (Coastal Forest Ecosystems Terrestrial) class, let alone have the patience to sit and wait for Wetherby's internet to work. All in all, it was a week far beyond any of our expectations. From John and Kathy's amazing hospitality to gourmet 2-course meals every lunch and dinner, we could not have asked for a more perfect base than Wetherby Station. We all got well acquainted with the ants in our tents and the frogs in the shower but loved every minute of it. And going out and learning in the field every day is just the way it should be. For the last three days about half the group stayed at Wetherby, some to do research for their TRPs and the rest to help out and spend a few extra days in the rainforest.

The rest of us have spent our free time in a little coastal town called Port Douglas which is hopping distance to the Daintree Rainforest as well as the Great Barrier Reef. 'Chaperoned' by Skye, one of our tutors, we've spent the last few days at the beach, going swimsuit shopping, biking around on beach cruisers and the definite highlight - diving the Great Barrier Reef. Thanks to Marcus, we got a good deal with one of the local operators here so headed out first thing yesterday on the Calypso boat. After traveling for about an hour, the water began to turn that tell-tale turquoise blue and we started to see different reefs all around. For the certified divers of the group (most of us), we got to do three amazing dives. Others got to snorkel and even got to try scuba diving too. It was definitely money well spent, and the Great Barrier Reef deserves the amazing reputation it has. Every site had incredible coral gardens and scenery that made your jaw drop around every corner. We saw some cool stuff like pufferfish, eels, giant clams and a stingray, but the coral and vibrant colors were definitely what made it so memorable. A couple pictures from the day:

Most of the Port Douglas crew on the way to the reef.

One of about 250 pictures that I took yesterday. Underwater housing for my digital camera = best investment ever.

Tomorrow morning we board our overnight train from Cairns to Gladstone which is where we then take the ferry to Heron Island. We're all so excited to get there and especially after seeing the reef yesterday, can't wait to learn all about Coral Reef Ecosystems and the underwater world!

Life is good.

Sunsets in the Land of Oz

Chris Douglas scaled the outcrops of Chillagoe...in flipflops!

Sunset at Wetherby Station

the wonderful world of wetherby

We arrived at Wetherby Station yesterday afternoon after a dusty, windy drive from the airport in Cairns in heavy-duty, animal-themed, 4-wheel drive vehicles. Rather appropriately, I ended up in the gecko-mobile which was skillfully driven by one of our TAs named Skye who also happens to study geckos. So anyways, we arrived at the Station and made our way over to the two dozen tents lining the lawn like big green hedges. After throwing our bags in our new homes and checking out the new digs, we got debriefed and oriented on our surroundings by our prof Claire Baker and a man on a horse who was distractingly herding steers around at the same time. Long story short, turns out the Station is an charismatic old cattle ranch house that has changed hands several times since its creation, until finally landing with its current owners (a.k.a. the man on the horse) who dedicated the ranch and its facilities to science.

For dinner the staff set up an amazing picnic in the forest at Platypus Creek, so we hopped back in the off-roaders and were ferried over to a dark forest trail that was lined, rather romantically, with glowing candles in glass teacups. The food was amazing, and we dined by candlelight by a bend in the creek. Overall it was a magical experience, made more magical for one special birthday girl – Annie Smartt! The staff had made a cake so we wrapped up the picnic with a celebratory song and more munching. But the night was far from over. Once back at Wetherby, we gathered around a blazing campfire, where we sang, danced, and played Convergence as people slowly faded away to their tents.

This morning, slightly bleary eyed from our first night of camping on an uncharacteristically cool night, we had some tasty brekkie and settled down in the recently finished classroom for some Terrestrial Coastal Forest Ecosystem lectures by the (in)famous Claire. Her enthusiasm was infectious and she soon had us nearly jumping out of our chairs with excitement to hike around the tropical rainforests, sclerophyll forests, grasslands, and countless other ecosystems that currently surround us. Fortunately, we spent the afternoon doing just that. We went for an educational nature walk around the neighboring property that is soon to be made into a national park, and at the very end got to meet one of the wallaby babies that Claire rehabilitates. It was unbelievably precious and I think we all had a hard time tearing ourselves away from its bottomless, round eyes and inquisitive, twitching nose.

Just before dinner we counted, sorted, and measured probably around 2000 leaves we had collected while out in the field for a habitat comparison study, but we were broken into groups so it was a bit more manageable than it sounds. After a seriously phenomenal dinner and peaches with fresh ice cream for dessert, we find ourselves back in the classroom listening about the projects of the dozen students doing their independent research projects here at Wetherby. Everyone is in high spirits with the promise of spotlighting later tonight (shining lights around in the bush looking for glowing eyes and the large mammalian bodies that surround them). Tomorrow we head further into the wilderness to a site called Chillagoe where we will be studying deciduous vine thickets. There is a highly tricky trivia quiz on the schedule for later tonight that promises some sort of additionally luxurious accommodations in Chillagoe to the winner. The last competition we had gave first class train tickets to the winners, so I for one am not underestimating the potential of this quiz. Let the games begin!

-N-

3 units...nearly done

Greetings from St. Leo's college at the University of Queensland! We're here all day giving and watching group presentations for our first course - Coastal Resource Management. We've been super busy all week with our new friend and professor Ron Johnstone, having lectures and traveling around Brisbane and Bribie Island learning about flood mitigation, canal estates and how best to manage our valuable coastal resources. Between 9-5 class, packed lunches with juice boxes and rowdy bus behavior (Batlle *cough*) this week has felt almost like a flashback to middle school. But add in some hard work and group stress-outs over this project and it feels like college again. The only shame is that the first time it rained since us getting here happened to be the day we were supposed to have lunch on the beach at Bribie Island. Largely unprepared clothing wise, we huddled in a little chip shop for our break until making a run for it back to the bus. Apart from that, days have been a little blustery but gorgeous and sunny on the whole - the big green quad at UQ makes a beautiful spot to have a lunch break.

Thanks to Sammy, we got a live stream going of the Stanford vs. UCLA football game yesterday in our lecture room during our lunch break (7:30pm on Saturday in CA was lunchtime for us on Sunday). So we haven't totally been missing out on the Cardinal football glory, although seeing friends in the stands definitely made us a little homesick.

I think we were all pleasantly surprised to find that our morning tea ritual from orientation week has lived on. Every morning at 11am the admin staff pop up magically with a spread of potato chips, cookies, fruit and drinks. This morning we were set up by the lake outside St. Leo's when two people approached us awkwardly...turns out that they had come all the way from Melbourne to visit a bench that was placed as a memorial for their grandfather...that bench happened to be the one that we'd laid a picnic blanket out on and was surrounded by 50 hungry Stanford kids. Oops. Awkward moment.

CRM Exam tomorrow and then we're off to Cairns first thing Wednesday morning. Stay posted!

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sasha Najera :)