I just got back from a ten day stay on Heron Island and now it's my last week in Australia. I may not get my blog entry about the trip up until after I'm back in the States because of all the work I have to do before I leave, but I have put up the first batch of pictures. I can't take credit for most of the underwater shots, but I thought I should share them all the same.
<3 Jessie
http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk130/Jess_E_Rose/?albumview=slideshow
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
From the City to the Outback
I recently spent three nights in Sydney with a couple other girls from my program, Becca and Amanda. Lucky for us, Becca has a close friend, Courtney, living in Sydney at the moment, so we stayed with her for the weekend. She showed us around all the places one is supposed to visit while in Sydney. Of course, our first stop was Circular Quay, which is where both the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are. I was surprised to find that the Opera House is not, actually one big building, but a few buildings positioned close together. As expected, we took lots of pictures in front of Australia's icon from every angle until our cameras tired of capturing the same shot over and over. After we had had our fill of tacky tourism for the day, we went inside some old building close by. I don't know what the name of the building is and if we hadn't been with Courtney, we would have seen no reason to go inside. We followed Courtney assuming we were just going to the lou or something, but to our surprise, there was a mini replica of the city of Sydney sitting a foot or two below our own feet protected by a ceiling of glass.
Courtney took us to Bondi Beach, where she and I ate a full rack of ribs... each! from a restaurant called Hurricanes, a local favorite. We wandered around the city taking in the sights. There was an art exhibit going on throughout the entire city ( I think it was called "Art and About"). Perhaps the most interesting piece we saw was a giant bike, at least 30 ft tall, made entirely out of parts from regular sized bikes. She showed us Manly Beach, which is similar to Huntington. We took the Ferry from Manly back to Circular Quay so we could look at the Opera House from yet another angle. We asked a man to take a picture of the four of us in front of it, but he only managed to get the corner of it in :P. One of our evenings, we went back to the Opera House so we could watch the sunset behind Harbour Bridge. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, but the view was still very beautiful. Another night, we trekked over to Darling Harbour to watch a fireworks show. There were so many fireworks, it would have had Jared saying "is it the grand finale, yet" non-stop. I also managed to meet up with my friend Todd, who lives in the suburbs of Sydney for a coffee and chat.
After Sydney, I made my way into the Outback, sort of. We drove West for ten hours and were still about another days drive from the very beginnings of the actual Outback. Carnarvon Gorge was beautiful and we were lucky to be there during a particularly rainy season, because it meant the weather was not too hot and the wild flowers were blooming everywhere. Speaking of... did you know Australia has a native wild hibiscus species? And it's edible? I sure didn't!
We spent the majority of our time hiking around the gorge. One of the hikes required five or six river crossings each way, which would have been no big deal since there were large stepping stones leading the way across... except for the fact that high rainfall had caused the water level to rise well above the stepping stones. Every time we came to the river, we would take our shoes and socks off and forge through. Everyone moved very slowly since the current was fairly rapid and there were big rocks hiding just out of visibility waiting to stub any unsuspecting toe. At one point the water was nearly up to out butts. Some people slipped and got entirely soaked... and of course, being the kind people that we are, the rest of us laughed at them. We got smart by the time we were making our second pass at all the crossings and just left our shoes and socks off until we reached the end of the trail.
Just like at Girraween, there were kangaroos everywhere. We saw quite a few joeys with their mothers and some huge males. There were pretty faced wallabies and kookaburra. I spent some time waiting patiently by the platypus pool hoping to catch a glimpse of one. After a few attempts, I finally saw one! Actually, I saw the tip top of its head before it ducked quickly below the surface, but hey, that's more than most people can say. :)
One morning we woke up at the leisurely hour of FOUR AM so we would have enough time to hike to the top of Boolimba Bluff for the sunrise. Half of the hike was, quite literally, straight up a huge flight of stairs so that by the time we reached the summit everyone's knees were shaking. Unfortunately, we missed the sunrise by about fifteen minutes, but the morning mist hid the sun from us anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered much when we showed up. Even though we missed the sunrise, we were happy to have conquered such a grueling trail and the view from the top rivaled the view from our sunrise perch in Lamington.
Tonight, at 11:30 pm, I hop on a bus for my final field trip during my stay in Australia. My destination is the Heron Island Research Station where my class mates and I will have the opportunity to conduct our own research projects as well as dive on the Great Barrier Reef. I'll talk to you all in ten days!
~ Jessie
Courtney took us to Bondi Beach, where she and I ate a full rack of ribs... each! from a restaurant called Hurricanes, a local favorite. We wandered around the city taking in the sights. There was an art exhibit going on throughout the entire city ( I think it was called "Art and About"). Perhaps the most interesting piece we saw was a giant bike, at least 30 ft tall, made entirely out of parts from regular sized bikes. She showed us Manly Beach, which is similar to Huntington. We took the Ferry from Manly back to Circular Quay so we could look at the Opera House from yet another angle. We asked a man to take a picture of the four of us in front of it, but he only managed to get the corner of it in :P. One of our evenings, we went back to the Opera House so we could watch the sunset behind Harbour Bridge. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, but the view was still very beautiful. Another night, we trekked over to Darling Harbour to watch a fireworks show. There were so many fireworks, it would have had Jared saying "is it the grand finale, yet" non-stop. I also managed to meet up with my friend Todd, who lives in the suburbs of Sydney for a coffee and chat.
After Sydney, I made my way into the Outback, sort of. We drove West for ten hours and were still about another days drive from the very beginnings of the actual Outback. Carnarvon Gorge was beautiful and we were lucky to be there during a particularly rainy season, because it meant the weather was not too hot and the wild flowers were blooming everywhere. Speaking of... did you know Australia has a native wild hibiscus species? And it's edible? I sure didn't!
We spent the majority of our time hiking around the gorge. One of the hikes required five or six river crossings each way, which would have been no big deal since there were large stepping stones leading the way across... except for the fact that high rainfall had caused the water level to rise well above the stepping stones. Every time we came to the river, we would take our shoes and socks off and forge through. Everyone moved very slowly since the current was fairly rapid and there were big rocks hiding just out of visibility waiting to stub any unsuspecting toe. At one point the water was nearly up to out butts. Some people slipped and got entirely soaked... and of course, being the kind people that we are, the rest of us laughed at them. We got smart by the time we were making our second pass at all the crossings and just left our shoes and socks off until we reached the end of the trail.
Just like at Girraween, there were kangaroos everywhere. We saw quite a few joeys with their mothers and some huge males. There were pretty faced wallabies and kookaburra. I spent some time waiting patiently by the platypus pool hoping to catch a glimpse of one. After a few attempts, I finally saw one! Actually, I saw the tip top of its head before it ducked quickly below the surface, but hey, that's more than most people can say. :)
One morning we woke up at the leisurely hour of FOUR AM so we would have enough time to hike to the top of Boolimba Bluff for the sunrise. Half of the hike was, quite literally, straight up a huge flight of stairs so that by the time we reached the summit everyone's knees were shaking. Unfortunately, we missed the sunrise by about fifteen minutes, but the morning mist hid the sun from us anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered much when we showed up. Even though we missed the sunrise, we were happy to have conquered such a grueling trail and the view from the top rivaled the view from our sunrise perch in Lamington.
Tonight, at 11:30 pm, I hop on a bus for my final field trip during my stay in Australia. My destination is the Heron Island Research Station where my class mates and I will have the opportunity to conduct our own research projects as well as dive on the Great Barrier Reef. I'll talk to you all in ten days!
~ Jessie
Monday, October 25, 2010
Aaaaaaah!
Here's a brief outline of what the last month of my stay in Australia looks like.
I spent the second weekend of October in Sydney, flew back to Brisbane that Sunday morning and left for Carnarvon Gorge the next morning (Monday). After a ten hour bus ride, my class mates and I arrived at the Gorge where we spent five days forging rivers, hunting platypuses, and doing field work. After another ten hour bus ride, this time in the rain, we were back in Brisbane, again. All time unoccupied by lecture during the next week was spent working on a scientific report about the research I had done while on Straddie. That paper was due last thursday. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and today were spent working on a paper for my Australian Studies class, which I just turned in, as well as studying for the Marine Bio final I have on Wednesday. Currently, I'm taking a break from school work to, finally, update my blog. Then it's back to studying. I leave for a trip to Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef late Thursday night and need to have most of my research for a project testing the effects of sea cucumber toxins on bacteria done before then. Then I'll spend ten labourious days snorkeling and diving among the corals; I know, my life really sucks ;) When I get back from Heron on November 7, it's back to the grind stone to spit out a scientific paper on my Heron Island research, write a paper and take a final for my Terrestrial Ecology class and write up a research proposal before Friday the 13. I guess I had to earn those 21 units at some point. haha
My detailed account of Sydney and Carnarvon will be up soon. The pictures are already up, though. So take a look and enjoy!
http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk130/Jess_E_Rose/?albumview=slideshow
I spent the second weekend of October in Sydney, flew back to Brisbane that Sunday morning and left for Carnarvon Gorge the next morning (Monday). After a ten hour bus ride, my class mates and I arrived at the Gorge where we spent five days forging rivers, hunting platypuses, and doing field work. After another ten hour bus ride, this time in the rain, we were back in Brisbane, again. All time unoccupied by lecture during the next week was spent working on a scientific report about the research I had done while on Straddie. That paper was due last thursday. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and today were spent working on a paper for my Australian Studies class, which I just turned in, as well as studying for the Marine Bio final I have on Wednesday. Currently, I'm taking a break from school work to, finally, update my blog. Then it's back to studying. I leave for a trip to Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef late Thursday night and need to have most of my research for a project testing the effects of sea cucumber toxins on bacteria done before then. Then I'll spend ten labourious days snorkeling and diving among the corals; I know, my life really sucks ;) When I get back from Heron on November 7, it's back to the grind stone to spit out a scientific paper on my Heron Island research, write a paper and take a final for my Terrestrial Ecology class and write up a research proposal before Friday the 13. I guess I had to earn those 21 units at some point. haha
My detailed account of Sydney and Carnarvon will be up soon. The pictures are already up, though. So take a look and enjoy!
http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk130/Jess_E_Rose/?albumview=slideshow
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Stradbroke Island
I thought it would be a good idea to spend a little time each evening, during my stay on Straddie, writing about the day's activities so I could post my blog in a timely manner soon after my return to Brissy. ... if only thought was all it took. Anyway, I think it goes without saying, I didn't follow through with my idea so now I have to think back on what I did to give you the full story. I'm going to switch things up a bit this time; the day-by-day mini journal won't really work well for this trip so I'll just give you the highlights.
The first thing we did after setting our stuff down at the Moreton Bay Research Station was hop in a little power boat with our snorkel gear and go exploring around a tiny mangrove island just off the coast of Straddie. The waters of Moreton Bay are interspersed with high latitude reefs which aren't as extensive or colorful as the reefs at lower latitudes such as the GBR, but but are no less beautiful. We all swam about and poked around one of these high latitude reefs for a couple of hours before getting too cold and heading back to the station. I'm sure we were an amusing sight to any onlookers; upwards of forty people all wearing masks, snorkels, and fins swimming in every which direction and occasionally ducking below the surface.
The reef wasn't very deep; only about six feet down, but the difference between what I could see at the surface and what I saw when I dove down was quite surprising. Floating like a dead person across the surface, I could make out shapes and see some really cool brain corals maybe a few larger fish, but once I dove a few feet it was like the whole reef had transformed. There were little fish hiding in crevices and filter feeding tube worms poking their fronds out. I wouldn't say the snorkel was as spectacular as my dive off Straddie a month or so ago (mainly because I didn't see any sharks or turtles), but it was different. There are different organisms living in six foot deep waters versus 40 foot deep waters so it was a great chance for me to see the diversity of Moreton Bay.
Of course, not everything is as hard to get to. We also spent a good amount of time exploring the rocky and sandy shores near the station during low tide. There were tons of nudibranchs, bubble snails and flat worms all over the sandy shore and the rocky shore was infested with crabs. Someone caught an octopus with a net; it was quite small and didn't look like anything too exciting, but it ended up being a blue ring. You can't really tell that blue rings are blue rings until you piss them off... so, naturally, we pissed it off to find out if it was, in fact, a blue ring and it changed from brown to bright blue in an instant. (no scientists or helpless marine creatures were harmed.)
Another great way to see what lives in the sea is to go seine netting. A seine net, at least the one we used, is about thirty meters in length with floats attached to the top and a lead weight on the bottom. Basically, you stick your foot through a loop attached to the lead line then walk through the water for a time. Eventually, you, and heaps of other people to help, drag the net toward the shore and end up dragging marine organisms in with you. The seine net brought up a few small sting rays, a guitar fish, some puffers, sea cucumbers, itty bitty squids, prawns, eels, and tons of other creatures. We collected them all out of the net and after a short while of playing with them, we released them back into the ocean.
This field trip marked the start to my scientific research as a marine biologist. We were broken up into groups to come up with and conduct our own research projects. My group decided to compare the crab population densities and diversities on a rocky shore frequented by people versus a rocky shore seldom visited as well as look at the percent algal cover and number of gastropods, little snails, on each shore. Over the course of four days, my group went down to the rocky shores during morning low tide to count gastropods, estimate percent algal cover, and catch crabs. Each day, we spent one hour catching as many crabs as possible and tossing them in a bucket for safe keeping until we could ID, sex, and measure them. No crevice was left un-inspected and no rock left unturned in our hunt for crabs.
Since it was raining most of the time, we brought the crabs back to the station to sort them by species and gather data on their sex and size. There was a little difficulty at first with identifying some species, but, luckily for us, Peter Davey, the crab expert, just happened to be staying across the street from the station for a few days with his wife. He managed to sneak away to have a look at our crabs and helped us ID the species we weren't sure of. After all our data was collected, we returned the crabs to their home shores then I sat at my computer inputting everything into excel. I spent a large portion of my evenings looking up scientific papers to cite for the paper that I eventually have to write about our mini study. ( I was working on it earlier this evening, but then decided my blog would be a more worthwhile endeavor. Don't worry, the paper isn't due until the 21st. so I've still got plenty of time.)
These projects took up the majority of our time on the Island, but we did manage to play around a bit. A few of us went out for a snorkel over the sandy shore we had previously trampled over during a break in the rain. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but we did get to swim with a huge school of shinny fish. Being mature university students and adults, we pretended to be dolphins and chased the school around for a good half hour watching them move as a body of one. It was big fun indeed! hahaha. Later in the week, about half of us went on a little sand boarding excursion. That was a lot of fun too. I guess sand boarding is kind of like snow boarding or skate boarding, but only in the sense that you stand on a board with one foot in front of the other. Steering is weird; you put all your weight on your back leg and use your front leg to decide where to go, which is extremely difficult. I did manage to ride down the hill standing up on the board quite a few times... so yay!
Our last day on Straddie, we ventured over to Point Lookout to have a wander around the cliffs and beaches. From the cliffs, we saw some turtles and dolphins in the water. And in the distance, we could see whales breeching and spouting. We stopped off at a gelato shop then continued down the beach. After swimming for about an hour, we loaded onto the bus and came back home to Brissy. But only for a short while; I'm flying to Sydney tomorrow afternoon for a three day weekend then on Monday heading to Carnarvon Gorge for our final Terrestrial Ecology field trip. Life in Australia is busy! But I love it.
<3 Jessie
The first thing we did after setting our stuff down at the Moreton Bay Research Station was hop in a little power boat with our snorkel gear and go exploring around a tiny mangrove island just off the coast of Straddie. The waters of Moreton Bay are interspersed with high latitude reefs which aren't as extensive or colorful as the reefs at lower latitudes such as the GBR, but but are no less beautiful. We all swam about and poked around one of these high latitude reefs for a couple of hours before getting too cold and heading back to the station. I'm sure we were an amusing sight to any onlookers; upwards of forty people all wearing masks, snorkels, and fins swimming in every which direction and occasionally ducking below the surface.
The reef wasn't very deep; only about six feet down, but the difference between what I could see at the surface and what I saw when I dove down was quite surprising. Floating like a dead person across the surface, I could make out shapes and see some really cool brain corals maybe a few larger fish, but once I dove a few feet it was like the whole reef had transformed. There were little fish hiding in crevices and filter feeding tube worms poking their fronds out. I wouldn't say the snorkel was as spectacular as my dive off Straddie a month or so ago (mainly because I didn't see any sharks or turtles), but it was different. There are different organisms living in six foot deep waters versus 40 foot deep waters so it was a great chance for me to see the diversity of Moreton Bay.
Of course, not everything is as hard to get to. We also spent a good amount of time exploring the rocky and sandy shores near the station during low tide. There were tons of nudibranchs, bubble snails and flat worms all over the sandy shore and the rocky shore was infested with crabs. Someone caught an octopus with a net; it was quite small and didn't look like anything too exciting, but it ended up being a blue ring. You can't really tell that blue rings are blue rings until you piss them off... so, naturally, we pissed it off to find out if it was, in fact, a blue ring and it changed from brown to bright blue in an instant. (no scientists or helpless marine creatures were harmed.)
Another great way to see what lives in the sea is to go seine netting. A seine net, at least the one we used, is about thirty meters in length with floats attached to the top and a lead weight on the bottom. Basically, you stick your foot through a loop attached to the lead line then walk through the water for a time. Eventually, you, and heaps of other people to help, drag the net toward the shore and end up dragging marine organisms in with you. The seine net brought up a few small sting rays, a guitar fish, some puffers, sea cucumbers, itty bitty squids, prawns, eels, and tons of other creatures. We collected them all out of the net and after a short while of playing with them, we released them back into the ocean.
This field trip marked the start to my scientific research as a marine biologist. We were broken up into groups to come up with and conduct our own research projects. My group decided to compare the crab population densities and diversities on a rocky shore frequented by people versus a rocky shore seldom visited as well as look at the percent algal cover and number of gastropods, little snails, on each shore. Over the course of four days, my group went down to the rocky shores during morning low tide to count gastropods, estimate percent algal cover, and catch crabs. Each day, we spent one hour catching as many crabs as possible and tossing them in a bucket for safe keeping until we could ID, sex, and measure them. No crevice was left un-inspected and no rock left unturned in our hunt for crabs.
Since it was raining most of the time, we brought the crabs back to the station to sort them by species and gather data on their sex and size. There was a little difficulty at first with identifying some species, but, luckily for us, Peter Davey, the crab expert, just happened to be staying across the street from the station for a few days with his wife. He managed to sneak away to have a look at our crabs and helped us ID the species we weren't sure of. After all our data was collected, we returned the crabs to their home shores then I sat at my computer inputting everything into excel. I spent a large portion of my evenings looking up scientific papers to cite for the paper that I eventually have to write about our mini study. ( I was working on it earlier this evening, but then decided my blog would be a more worthwhile endeavor. Don't worry, the paper isn't due until the 21st. so I've still got plenty of time.)
These projects took up the majority of our time on the Island, but we did manage to play around a bit. A few of us went out for a snorkel over the sandy shore we had previously trampled over during a break in the rain. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but we did get to swim with a huge school of shinny fish. Being mature university students and adults, we pretended to be dolphins and chased the school around for a good half hour watching them move as a body of one. It was big fun indeed! hahaha. Later in the week, about half of us went on a little sand boarding excursion. That was a lot of fun too. I guess sand boarding is kind of like snow boarding or skate boarding, but only in the sense that you stand on a board with one foot in front of the other. Steering is weird; you put all your weight on your back leg and use your front leg to decide where to go, which is extremely difficult. I did manage to ride down the hill standing up on the board quite a few times... so yay!
Our last day on Straddie, we ventured over to Point Lookout to have a wander around the cliffs and beaches. From the cliffs, we saw some turtles and dolphins in the water. And in the distance, we could see whales breeching and spouting. We stopped off at a gelato shop then continued down the beach. After swimming for about an hour, we loaded onto the bus and came back home to Brissy. But only for a short while; I'm flying to Sydney tomorrow afternoon for a three day weekend then on Monday heading to Carnarvon Gorge for our final Terrestrial Ecology field trip. Life in Australia is busy! But I love it.
<3 Jessie
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
More photos, oh boy!
I've added some more photos from my camera as well as a bunch that I've taken from my friends... they are now slightly out of order, but i'll put little explanations saying where they were taken.
http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk130/Jess_E_Rose/?albumview=slideshow
http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk130/Jess_E_Rose/?albumview=slideshow
Monday, September 27, 2010
Melbne Not Melbourne
Sorry for not updating the blog for quite some time. I had midterms last week so most of my free time was spent studying. I have nearly filled up the hard drive on my computer and therefore, have no more room for new photos to upload onto photo bucket. I'll sort it out soon so I can share my pictures with everyone.
Anyway... I had four days off from Uni the weekend before last and decided to head down to Melbourne (pronounced Melbne in Aussie) with some of the other EAP kids.
As is tradition, a journal of my explorations in Melbourne...
Day One
My friend Shannon and I left straight from Uni Wednesday the 15th for the airport to catch our flight at 5pm. We got there quite a bit early and ended up being able to switch to the flight at 4. After a little more than two hours, we landed in Melbourne and began the task of finding our hostel in St. Kilda. Luckily for us, a shuttle took us from the airport to the center of the city where we caught a tram that took us right to our hostel. Another stroke of luck; the hostel messed up on our booking and accidently put us in an all girls six bunk room for the first two nights instead of the coed eight bunk rooms we had expected.
After settling into the room, and putting warmer clothes on since it was about 20 degrees cooler in Melbourne than it had been in Brissy, Shannon and I worked on our papers. Yes, papers. We had a short essay on an Australian habitat of our choice due on Friday so we managed to set out a little bit of time each day to work on them. For dinner, we found a hole in the wall Indian restaurant called Lentil as Anything that lets you decide how much you want to pay for your meal. We shared a plate of the most amazing curry ever then went back to the lounge area of our hostel and played giant Jenga while listening to a guy playing guitar and singing until Christina arrived; she had taken a later flight. Once she showed up, the three of us sat and listened to the guy performing then went upstairs to our rooms for an early sleep.
Day Two
Woke up early to do some more work on my paper. I'm such a good student :) Christina, Shannon, and I got some delicious coffee and wandered around the main street of St. Kilda. Once we were done with coffee, we bought a few day passes for the tram and headed to Brunswick St. to do some shopping. Everything was too expensive for our wallets, but we had fun looking through all the clothes. After a eating an amazing panini for lunch, we decided to try and find the Tim Burton Exhibit. We weren't quite sure where it was, but we figured the museum was a good place to start. Turns out, the exhibit was on the other side of the city from the museum so we hopped on a tram and got off at the convention center, which is not where the exhibit was either. We asked one of the ladies who worked at the convention center how to get to the exhibit and her directions took us in the wrong direction. So we got off yet another tram and waited for the one that would take us in the right direction. Then it started raining on us! :P We took shelter in the play equipment at a park right next to us and waited. Fortunately, the rain only lasted about ten minutes. The next tram we got on took us to Federation Square; the heart of the city... and the location of the exhibit! yay! Our next few hours we occupied by Edward Scissorhands, Jack Skellington, and the Mad Hatter along with some lesser known characters spawned by the strange mind of Tim Burton. Our day had made us quite hungry so we headed "home" to the hostel and cooked ourselves some pasta; an inexpensive staple in the diet of anyone traveling on a budget in a foreign country.
I suppose I've made it sound like we spent most of the day helplessly lost in a city none of us had ever seen before, but we took every wrong turn as a new adventure. We even intentionally spent time wandering around the streets of Melbourne taking in all the sights. The graffiti in Melbourne was fun to look at. For the most part, instead of names of gangs or profanities, they are works of art. It became part of our weekend to be on the look out for interesting graffiti everywhere we went. Also a big part of my weekend... coffee; I'm addicted and Melbourne has the best cappuccinos ever!
Day Three
I finished writing my paper right after I woke up and sent it into my professor for grading. Shannon was not quite done yet, so Christina and I made our way to a cafe for a nice cup of coffee. And what did we do while we were at the cafe? We studied for our midterms!!! Shannon met up with us a short while later and the three of us stayed there until about one before deciding to head into the city for some more explorations.
My homestay had suggested that I visit the Queen Victoria Markets during my stay in Melbourne, so that's where we went. It was sort of late in the day, as far as market hours go, by the time we got there so a lot of the vendors were breaking down there stalls, but all of the food vendors were still going full force. Since we hadn't eaten for a few hours, we bought a huge loaf of bread and some fancy cheese and sat outside filling our very happy bellies. We were so full from our little "snack" that we didn't have to eat dinner that night. We did however, have room for some tasty cakes from a bakery near our hostel.
Day Four
Since we missed out on most of the shopping at the markets, we got an early start wanting to get the full experience. Basically, the markets are a massive swap meet and everything sold there is heaps cheeper than in regular stores. So... naturally... we did all of our souvenir shopping there. After far too much time shopping, we visited China town, which was a lot smaller and cleaner than any China town in America.
Our last stop of the day was the Victoria National Gallery, home of the largest suspended stained glass in the world. On our way there, we passed a street performer who looked extremely familiar. We stopped to watch him and later found out that he was the guy staying in the bunk below mine back at our hostel. We also passed Melbourne's version of the Eiffel tour (at least, that's what I'm calling it) and a really cool rainbow high rise; its windows were all different colors. There was a bit of confusion in finding the right streets, because Melbourne doesn't feel the need to use street signs at every corner and they can't decide on just one name for a few of their streets, but at last, we made it to the gallery. The glass was amazing. We entered a large empty hall, walked right to the middle, then lay down and gazed upward. The entire ceiling was covered in a mosaic of glass; it wasn't as breathtaking as the cave of glow worms, but it was pretty amazing to see.
Day Five (sort of...)
Shannon and I had to wake up at 6:30 in the morning so we could get to the airport in time for our 8 am flight; I really do love having to rely on public transportation :P . That's all there is to say about sunday.
Cheers, Jessie
As is tradition, a journal of my explorations in Melbourne...
Day One
My friend Shannon and I left straight from Uni Wednesday the 15th for the airport to catch our flight at 5pm. We got there quite a bit early and ended up being able to switch to the flight at 4. After a little more than two hours, we landed in Melbourne and began the task of finding our hostel in St. Kilda. Luckily for us, a shuttle took us from the airport to the center of the city where we caught a tram that took us right to our hostel. Another stroke of luck; the hostel messed up on our booking and accidently put us in an all girls six bunk room for the first two nights instead of the coed eight bunk rooms we had expected.
After settling into the room, and putting warmer clothes on since it was about 20 degrees cooler in Melbourne than it had been in Brissy, Shannon and I worked on our papers. Yes, papers. We had a short essay on an Australian habitat of our choice due on Friday so we managed to set out a little bit of time each day to work on them. For dinner, we found a hole in the wall Indian restaurant called Lentil as Anything that lets you decide how much you want to pay for your meal. We shared a plate of the most amazing curry ever then went back to the lounge area of our hostel and played giant Jenga while listening to a guy playing guitar and singing until Christina arrived; she had taken a later flight. Once she showed up, the three of us sat and listened to the guy performing then went upstairs to our rooms for an early sleep.
Day Two
Woke up early to do some more work on my paper. I'm such a good student :) Christina, Shannon, and I got some delicious coffee and wandered around the main street of St. Kilda. Once we were done with coffee, we bought a few day passes for the tram and headed to Brunswick St. to do some shopping. Everything was too expensive for our wallets, but we had fun looking through all the clothes. After a eating an amazing panini for lunch, we decided to try and find the Tim Burton Exhibit. We weren't quite sure where it was, but we figured the museum was a good place to start. Turns out, the exhibit was on the other side of the city from the museum so we hopped on a tram and got off at the convention center, which is not where the exhibit was either. We asked one of the ladies who worked at the convention center how to get to the exhibit and her directions took us in the wrong direction. So we got off yet another tram and waited for the one that would take us in the right direction. Then it started raining on us! :P We took shelter in the play equipment at a park right next to us and waited. Fortunately, the rain only lasted about ten minutes. The next tram we got on took us to Federation Square; the heart of the city... and the location of the exhibit! yay! Our next few hours we occupied by Edward Scissorhands, Jack Skellington, and the Mad Hatter along with some lesser known characters spawned by the strange mind of Tim Burton. Our day had made us quite hungry so we headed "home" to the hostel and cooked ourselves some pasta; an inexpensive staple in the diet of anyone traveling on a budget in a foreign country.
I suppose I've made it sound like we spent most of the day helplessly lost in a city none of us had ever seen before, but we took every wrong turn as a new adventure. We even intentionally spent time wandering around the streets of Melbourne taking in all the sights. The graffiti in Melbourne was fun to look at. For the most part, instead of names of gangs or profanities, they are works of art. It became part of our weekend to be on the look out for interesting graffiti everywhere we went. Also a big part of my weekend... coffee; I'm addicted and Melbourne has the best cappuccinos ever!
Day Three
I finished writing my paper right after I woke up and sent it into my professor for grading. Shannon was not quite done yet, so Christina and I made our way to a cafe for a nice cup of coffee. And what did we do while we were at the cafe? We studied for our midterms!!! Shannon met up with us a short while later and the three of us stayed there until about one before deciding to head into the city for some more explorations.
My homestay had suggested that I visit the Queen Victoria Markets during my stay in Melbourne, so that's where we went. It was sort of late in the day, as far as market hours go, by the time we got there so a lot of the vendors were breaking down there stalls, but all of the food vendors were still going full force. Since we hadn't eaten for a few hours, we bought a huge loaf of bread and some fancy cheese and sat outside filling our very happy bellies. We were so full from our little "snack" that we didn't have to eat dinner that night. We did however, have room for some tasty cakes from a bakery near our hostel.
Day Four
Since we missed out on most of the shopping at the markets, we got an early start wanting to get the full experience. Basically, the markets are a massive swap meet and everything sold there is heaps cheeper than in regular stores. So... naturally... we did all of our souvenir shopping there. After far too much time shopping, we visited China town, which was a lot smaller and cleaner than any China town in America.
Our last stop of the day was the Victoria National Gallery, home of the largest suspended stained glass in the world. On our way there, we passed a street performer who looked extremely familiar. We stopped to watch him and later found out that he was the guy staying in the bunk below mine back at our hostel. We also passed Melbourne's version of the Eiffel tour (at least, that's what I'm calling it) and a really cool rainbow high rise; its windows were all different colors. There was a bit of confusion in finding the right streets, because Melbourne doesn't feel the need to use street signs at every corner and they can't decide on just one name for a few of their streets, but at last, we made it to the gallery. The glass was amazing. We entered a large empty hall, walked right to the middle, then lay down and gazed upward. The entire ceiling was covered in a mosaic of glass; it wasn't as breathtaking as the cave of glow worms, but it was pretty amazing to see.
Day Five (sort of...)
Shannon and I had to wake up at 6:30 in the morning so we could get to the airport in time for our 8 am flight; I really do love having to rely on public transportation :P . That's all there is to say about sunday.
Cheers, Jessie
Monday, September 13, 2010
A Cave of Glow Worms
In keeping with the fashion of how I documented Girraween, here is a mini journal of my stay in Lamington National Park. ( and I apologize for taking so long to post my newest entry)
Day One
We arrived at Bina Burra, a camp in Lamington, around 11 Monday morning. After a brief lecture and inadequate lunch of soup we made our first venture into the rainforest. The rainforest is pretty much what you'd expect; wet, green, shady. There aren't many brightly colored plants or animals like what you might find in other parts of the world, but Lamington is no less breathtaking.
Day Two
After breakfast and a short lecture, we were separated into three groups. My group headed off with two of the teaching staff, Michelle and Ayesha, on a 17 K hike through the rain forest. We spent nearly 7 hours walking through the forest which was beautiful, but really made me feel trapped after a while; it was nice to finally emerge from the forest and see the open sky.
One of our assignments over the course of our ecology field trips is to find insects and draw them in our field books with brief descriptions of their behaviors and what we think the function of their physical features might be. Michelle is an entomologist so about every 10 of 15 minutes someone would find a bug and yell "Michelle!! What is this?" then take a picture so they could sketch it later.
Day Three
Again, after breakfast and a short lecture, my group headed off on a 12 K hike with our professor, John Hall. The path we followed took us through rain forest, cool temperate forest, wet sclerophyll forest, dry sclerophyll forest, and heath land. I was amazed at how rapid the vegetation would change; in a twenty minute span of time, we had walked through four different types of forest. I could give you a long explanation as to why this occurs which would be fascinating to me, but most likely boring to everyone else so I'll just say that the reason for all the variation is that nutrient richness varies in different parts of the forest and leave it at that. I am more than happy to give anyone who cares to know a more detailed explanation.
We stopped for a little break next to a creek and John surprised us with some Australian cakes called Lamingtons. We all had a giggle at the fact that we were eating Lamingtons in Lamington then continued on our way. John took us to a cliff in the middle of the heath land for lunch. We pushed through a narrow over grown path until we found ourselves in a little clearing over looking miles upon miles of forest to the right and the ocean in the distance to the left. It was a little cloudy that day so as I ate my lunch, I watched the clouds roll over the mountain tops.
At one point, we came across a massive Gum tree that had fallen to the forest floor. The whole deadwood center had been eaten out by termites so we crawled into the trunk via the roots and took a bunch of pictures. In wet sclerophyll forests, the gum trees are the tallest things around. I guess they're comparable to redwoods, so you can imagine the size of the trunk we were sitting in.
Day Four
Woke up at 4:45 in the morning... yes, MORNING! EW! to take a survey of bird calls during the dawn chorus of the rainforest. We followed John through a dark abyss of trees and vegetation, lit only by the narrow beams of our head lamps until we came to a look out. Again, we could see miles upon miles of mountains covered in forest as well as the ocean in the distance. I camped out on top of a rock as the sunlight started to grow brighter and listened for the distinct call of the Karrawong. There was a dense mass of mist looming over the river down below that slowly faded away as the the sun rose. With each passing moment, the birds grew louder and louder until the sun finally showed itself and blanketed the canopy with its warm beams. And as if a conductor had motioned for the end of a song, the birds became silent except for a few occasional cockatoo.
We had the rest of the day "off" which really means instead of going on a compulsory hike, my group spent the day doing our assessments in our field books. The work wasn't too difficult, though since we're all science nerds and find sciency work interesting.
After lunch, we went on a little walk with Michelle and saw a koala! I had seen koalas at the zoo earlier during my stay in Australia, but it was so much more exciting to see on in the wild. We were super lucky too, because the koala was actually moving around. To give you an idea of just how lucky, koalas spend 20 hours a day sleeping, so we really did walk by at just the right time.
That night, we headed up to the main lodge for a bush dance, which is much like a square dance. It was so much fun; everyone joined in. Afterward, we attempted to have a campfire, but our wood was wet so it never got going. We sat around the would-be campfire passing around a guitar and singing.
Day Five
After spending a week in the rain forest, with sunny skies and a gentle breeze, it finally rained. When we woke up, the whole forest was engulfed in cloud. Walking around was eery. We spent most of the day finishing up the remaining bits of our field books and left around six that night. Everyone was exhausted and very keen to head straight home, but we had one more stop; Natural Arch to see the glow worms. We got off our bus and hiked down a path through the forest in the nearly pitch dark, since light is detrimental to the glow worms. We eventually felt our way down a flight of stairs and ended up in a cave dotted with tiny faintly green lights. I felt like I was in the night sky, completely surrounded by stars. It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced and it was hard to leave. I don't actually have any pictures to show you, because cameras are not allowed in the glow worm (actually, they're glow maggots) cave so you'll just have to take my word that it was amazing.
I'm currently doing research on Australian deserts in the UQ library. I have a paper due Friday, but a few of us are heading down to Melbourne tomorrow (Wed) night for our long weekend, so I would like to have my paper done today and not have to worry about it. If I actually get my paper done today, you should all be immensely proud of me; I don't think I've ever finished an assignment more than a few hours before it was due. :)
Cheers,
Jessie
ps the latest pictures will be up before monday.
Day One
We arrived at Bina Burra, a camp in Lamington, around 11 Monday morning. After a brief lecture and inadequate lunch of soup we made our first venture into the rainforest. The rainforest is pretty much what you'd expect; wet, green, shady. There aren't many brightly colored plants or animals like what you might find in other parts of the world, but Lamington is no less breathtaking.
Day Two
After breakfast and a short lecture, we were separated into three groups. My group headed off with two of the teaching staff, Michelle and Ayesha, on a 17 K hike through the rain forest. We spent nearly 7 hours walking through the forest which was beautiful, but really made me feel trapped after a while; it was nice to finally emerge from the forest and see the open sky.
One of our assignments over the course of our ecology field trips is to find insects and draw them in our field books with brief descriptions of their behaviors and what we think the function of their physical features might be. Michelle is an entomologist so about every 10 of 15 minutes someone would find a bug and yell "Michelle!! What is this?" then take a picture so they could sketch it later.
Day Three
Again, after breakfast and a short lecture, my group headed off on a 12 K hike with our professor, John Hall. The path we followed took us through rain forest, cool temperate forest, wet sclerophyll forest, dry sclerophyll forest, and heath land. I was amazed at how rapid the vegetation would change; in a twenty minute span of time, we had walked through four different types of forest. I could give you a long explanation as to why this occurs which would be fascinating to me, but most likely boring to everyone else so I'll just say that the reason for all the variation is that nutrient richness varies in different parts of the forest and leave it at that. I am more than happy to give anyone who cares to know a more detailed explanation.
We stopped for a little break next to a creek and John surprised us with some Australian cakes called Lamingtons. We all had a giggle at the fact that we were eating Lamingtons in Lamington then continued on our way. John took us to a cliff in the middle of the heath land for lunch. We pushed through a narrow over grown path until we found ourselves in a little clearing over looking miles upon miles of forest to the right and the ocean in the distance to the left. It was a little cloudy that day so as I ate my lunch, I watched the clouds roll over the mountain tops.
At one point, we came across a massive Gum tree that had fallen to the forest floor. The whole deadwood center had been eaten out by termites so we crawled into the trunk via the roots and took a bunch of pictures. In wet sclerophyll forests, the gum trees are the tallest things around. I guess they're comparable to redwoods, so you can imagine the size of the trunk we were sitting in.
Day Four
Woke up at 4:45 in the morning... yes, MORNING! EW! to take a survey of bird calls during the dawn chorus of the rainforest. We followed John through a dark abyss of trees and vegetation, lit only by the narrow beams of our head lamps until we came to a look out. Again, we could see miles upon miles of mountains covered in forest as well as the ocean in the distance. I camped out on top of a rock as the sunlight started to grow brighter and listened for the distinct call of the Karrawong. There was a dense mass of mist looming over the river down below that slowly faded away as the the sun rose. With each passing moment, the birds grew louder and louder until the sun finally showed itself and blanketed the canopy with its warm beams. And as if a conductor had motioned for the end of a song, the birds became silent except for a few occasional cockatoo.
We had the rest of the day "off" which really means instead of going on a compulsory hike, my group spent the day doing our assessments in our field books. The work wasn't too difficult, though since we're all science nerds and find sciency work interesting.
After lunch, we went on a little walk with Michelle and saw a koala! I had seen koalas at the zoo earlier during my stay in Australia, but it was so much more exciting to see on in the wild. We were super lucky too, because the koala was actually moving around. To give you an idea of just how lucky, koalas spend 20 hours a day sleeping, so we really did walk by at just the right time.
That night, we headed up to the main lodge for a bush dance, which is much like a square dance. It was so much fun; everyone joined in. Afterward, we attempted to have a campfire, but our wood was wet so it never got going. We sat around the would-be campfire passing around a guitar and singing.
Day Five
After spending a week in the rain forest, with sunny skies and a gentle breeze, it finally rained. When we woke up, the whole forest was engulfed in cloud. Walking around was eery. We spent most of the day finishing up the remaining bits of our field books and left around six that night. Everyone was exhausted and very keen to head straight home, but we had one more stop; Natural Arch to see the glow worms. We got off our bus and hiked down a path through the forest in the nearly pitch dark, since light is detrimental to the glow worms. We eventually felt our way down a flight of stairs and ended up in a cave dotted with tiny faintly green lights. I felt like I was in the night sky, completely surrounded by stars. It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced and it was hard to leave. I don't actually have any pictures to show you, because cameras are not allowed in the glow worm (actually, they're glow maggots) cave so you'll just have to take my word that it was amazing.
I'm currently doing research on Australian deserts in the UQ library. I have a paper due Friday, but a few of us are heading down to Melbourne tomorrow (Wed) night for our long weekend, so I would like to have my paper done today and not have to worry about it. If I actually get my paper done today, you should all be immensely proud of me; I don't think I've ever finished an assignment more than a few hours before it was due. :)
Cheers,
Jessie
ps the latest pictures will be up before monday.
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