In which I hug a wombat!! (and a possum and a koala and a baby croc and some skinks)

So my last trip of September was a field trip. That week was lecture recess, so no classes. However, my Animal adaptation class decided to have a field trip from Monday to Friday.

Alicia, Kathy and I left Monday morning so we could have some time at the beach before meeting the rest of the class at 5. After dropping our stuff off at the camp, we walked the block or two to Picnic Bay beach. Picnic Bay has a great view of Castle Hill, as well as this jetty that use to be where the ferry came in. The water was warm and clear, the sun was shining, and it was absolutely gorgeous. The rest of the week we escaped to the beach as often as we could. When we got back to the camp, we found out that we were all in separate groups, but that was ok, because we were able to branch out and meet new people. We all slept in the same cabin though. My group was the Bush Turkeys (Kathy was in Happy Possums, Alicia in Death Adders).

Castle Hill from Picnic Bay

My group got started soon after dinner with a nocturnal walk up the Forts trail. I was able to hear some koalas make noise, and it was described to me as a mix between a pig and donkey. I’d never thought about koalas vocalizing, but I don’t think I would’ve guessed they sounded like that! Our professor caught an old female off a tree close to the path. He hooked a rope over her and tugged gently and then placed her in a sack. He demonstrated giving it valium, weighing and measuring things like head length, checking for microchip, getting a blood sample, etc. Afterwards we got to touch her. She wasn’t doing well though, so we tried to disturb her as little as possible. We saw a lot of spiders, when you shine your flashlight there are all these blue sparkles which are their eyes reflecting back. We saw some other koalas, including a mama and a joey, and some possums, and some microbats. The most exciting for me was seeing an echidna in the wild! He was burrowing for ants when they found him, so they pulled him up and he was curled up on his side. He was covered in dirt and ants, so cute. We tried to be quiet to get him to uncurl, but there were just too many people.

Echidna!!!

The next day my group woke up at 5 and was on our way at 5:30. Not a lot of sleep that night. We had mammal day! We started out with possum traps. The traps had been set the afternoon before. My half of the group went up a hill while the other half were in the mangroves. My half caught 6 or 7 possums if I remember correctly. We would place a bag at one end of the trap, open it up, and chase the possum into the bag by tapping or blowing at it. The first possum that we caught that the leaders demonstrated on walked right into the bag. They’ve been trapping in that area for 15 some odd years, so the possums are pretty use to it and are practically tame, they just want to get it over with. After the possum is in the bag, someone would hold the possum (still covered by the bag) belly-up with the shoulders securely pinned in their knees. Another person would measure the head length, testes if it was a male (fun fact, possums have really big testes relative to their body size), and look for a microchip. If there wasn’t a microchip then Damien, our grad student would put a microchip in and take a DNA sample. The possum would be weighed in the bag and then let go. After watching it be done a couple of times, I gave it a go. First I measured a possum, and then the next one we caught I held him. The possum I held definitely peed on me. Also, that spot was where the march flies (absolutely GINORMOUS biting flies) got really bad. I still bear the scars from those bites haha.

How NOT to handle a possum, they'll run away

In addition to adult possums, we caught one wallaby. They freak out in the cage and have a tendency to lose control of their muscles. Bad for their health, and if they have a joey in the pouch the joey tends to fall out. So Damien crept up and after looking to see if there was a joey, he opened the cage door and let it out. If there was a joey that had fallen out, he would’ve put it in the pouch and taped the pouch shut. The tape would stay long enough for the wallaby to get control of its pouch again. We also had one cage with a mother and a joey possum. We opened the cage door and the mom ran out without the joey, but we could see her keeping an eye on it from a distant. We went away but where we could still watch. Eventually the joey left the cage and went up a tree but mom was still hiding. We left two people to watch while we checked some other cages (don’t want to leave the possums in the cages too long, because if it gets too hot they get dehydrated), and eventually they got to see the mom grab the joey.

We got back at around 9:30-10 am, grabbed some breakfast, had a bit of break, then a discussion about different kinds of tracking and trapping and ethics, like what to do if you find an injured animal in your cage. Then we had lunch, and then a skull lab where we learned how to look at a skull and determine if its marsipual or placental, carnivorous, omnivorous or herbivorous. We were given 10 skulls and had to identify what species they were. Then Kathy and I went to the beach, we had dinner, and by 9:30 I was asleep!
I had bird day next, which meant another 5 oclock wake up. We went on a walk in the neighborhood, up a steep hill (way too steep for before breakfast!!) to a lookout, and then down to the beach. I’m sure we saw some really cool birds, but I was not awake yet and was pretty much just walking, trying to keep my mind off of the walking.

After brekkie we spilt up into small groups to bird watch. I went with some new friends I'd made before. They made the field trip a lot of fun. We saw a nesting pair of figbirds, a greenwing parrot, some bee-eaters, and some adorable sunbirds, and some kingfishers. The bee-eaters were so gorgeous. The sunbirds were hovering over flowers, and we saw a mating par of them too. One kingfisher was on a power line, and he was grooming himself because he was all wet, muddy, and bedraggled. After birdwatching for a while we got ice cream and went for a swim. After lunch we had a lab of measuring preserved bird wings, and then beach for the rest of the day!

Female Sunbird

The next day, Thursday, was reptile day so we got to sleep in (7:30) until breakfast. After breakfast we learned how to identify lizards using pickled specimens. A little before lunch we headed out to a creek. There we caught skinks until lunchtime. I hunted about 6 skinks in one little area for a good hour or two. I caught one eventually. They were driving me CRAZY, I’d see them sunning themselves, and then I’d chase after them and keep almost catching them and sometimes have them in my hand only for them to escape and disappear for a bit. There were plenty of march flies around, so we used those to fish for the skinks. We kill/stun a fly and tie it to a stick with a piece of our hair and dangle it in front of the skinks. I had a couple grab onto it and hold onto it while air borne, but most of escaped with the fly. I actually got one to get into my plastic bag (that’s where we held the ones we caught), only to escape!!  I did eventually nab one though, so I was happy. We identified the skinks and then had a picnic lunch.

Skink

After lunch we measured the skinks and then raced them. We measured their temperature with a temperature gun, placed them on a track, and timed how long it took them to run a meter. Then we placed the same skinks in an esky for a bit, repeated the racing, then placed them in the sun and repeated the racing.

After that, we had time to (you guessed it!) go to the beach before dinner. I think that was the day I suffered my big barnacle injury. No, actually, it was bird day. Anyway, I know everyone says that Australia has all these deadly animals that can kill you. While that may be true, let me tell you, you don’t need to be looking out for all those venomous creatures. It’s the barnacles that are out to get you! I was just swimming along when all of a sudden I bumped into a boat ramp, and a barnacle took a big CHUNK out of my leg. Barnacle wounds tend to infect too. Barnacles 2 (if you remember my infected hand, that was #1), Lara 0.

Barnacle injury

After dinner was a meeting where the profs and grad students all gave a seminar about their current jobs and how they got there. We all went to the pub afterwards. We left the next morning.

October has mostly been writing assignments. But I’ve also been hanging out with the people here a lot. I have a close knit group of friends that I absolutely love to death. They have made this trip so much fun ☺ I’ve also been continuing to learn to cook, a goal that coincides so well with spending time with friends. Yay food!

Of course the big news is that I finally got to hug a wombat!! Saturday a group of my friends and I went to Billabong wildlife sanctuary and I FINALLY got to hug a wombat!!! And it was as wonderful as I thought it would be :) The whole day was great. It was perfect weather, sunny but cool, and the grounds were quite pretty, quiet and relaxing. I also held a koala. In one of the exhibits there was also a wombat that was right up against the fence and I was playing with him. I had a kookaburra almost take off my ear. I had some fun with the kangaroos like usual. There were these adorable rufus bettongs hanging out in a log. After wandering around looking at the exhibits there was a series of shows. Wombats were first. We got our pictures taken with Tonka. Chloe, a northern hairy-nosed wombat was fed with a bottle and then wandered around saying hi to everyone. She was so cute and so soft. Then the reptiles. I held a baby croc, and put a bearded dragon on my head. We fed the turtles and had a turtle race, and then watched the crocs get fed.

HUG A WOMBAT!!!!!

In which I sandboard down dunes and play with Echidnas!

Oh yeah. Hello blog of mine! Don’t worry dear readers, I have not forgotten about you, I have just been super busy enjoying my semester. I’m finally taking the time to talk about my amazing Brisbane trip.

View from Southbank side of the Brisbane River

Brisbane was… AMAZING. I did so many unique things and had so much fun. My gorgeous and snarky travel partner, Savannah (also known as Sav, Savvy, or Savage), flew the hour and a half flight to Brisbane on Thursday the 16th. We arrived around 1, got settled in the hostel, and then caught the shuttle to Roma Transit center and from there walked over to Southbank. Southbank is on the other side of the Brisbane River, so we went over one of several pretty bridges. We went to the museum of modern art, and enjoyed laughing at all the horrible exhibits. We did like the Douglas Kirkland gallery—I especially liked his Marilyn Monroe pictures. We went up the ferris wheel right as the sun was setting, and got a great view of the city. Brisbane is a great city, picturesque, clean, modern, and fun.

View from Ferris Wheel

 We hadn’t eaten all day (common theme on this trip, we were too busy packing in the experiences to do mundane things like feed ourselves!), so we treated ourselves to dinner at a Greek restaurant. Yummy yummy kebobs! We sat outside and had a good view of the lagoon, which is a man-made salt-water pool. There were some lights under the water, and children playing nearby. Before leaving we walked around the lagoon. Savvy spotted a fruit bat in a tree, and while she was pointing it out to me, a bat nearly flew into our faces from a nearby branch! It turns out the tree was full of fruit bats. I thought of Narea and tried really hard to get a picture with limited success. We walked all the way back to the hostel, through Queenstreet Mall, basically a pedestrian-only shopping center.

The next day we went to Moreton Island, which is the 3rd biggest island made entirely out of sand. Only 4-wheeled drives are allowed on it because the roads are all made out of sand. We saw one car get stuck at a sharp turn that was particularly soft. Our tour was in a 4-wheeled van, and it was awesome! The tour consisted of me, Savannah, and a girl from Holland, and 7 stereotypical Asian tourists, 6 girls and one guy. They took pictures of EVERYTHING and had the funniest, happiest reactions. After arriving on the island from the ferry, we went snorkeling at a shipwreck. There were 15 retired ships that had been sunk to make a harbor for small boats. We fed the fish, that was quite fun. They were very tame and got close and followed us around. The highlight of that was catching a glimpse of a boxfish, my favorite ever since one nibbled on my ear in the aqurium.

Shipwreck on Moreton Bay Island Beach

After a delicious picnic lunch we went sandboarding down a big dune! We went to a place called “the desert,” one of the places on Moreton Island where natural erosion has left sand dunes. I loved it, what a rush! I went the furthest on the flat part at the bottom then anyone else. While sitting on the ferry before leaving, I looked out at the beautiful bluegreen water, and I could see schools of fish the water is so clear. Savannah pointed out a sea star. And then we realized this large blob was a stingray! We could see this 6 or 7 foot ray swimming up close to the beach. On our way back we saw dolphins!

 We met up with the other three girls, Alicia (Hi Alicia!) and Zel, and Alicia’s friend Alysha. We walked down towards Southbank, getting dinner and doing some shopping at Queenstreet Mall. There was a lot of performers out, a guy doing that spray paint art, and a group of people salsa dancing. Eventually we made our way to Southbank and caught the tail end of a market. That part of Brisbane felt like it had a fun active community.

Brisbane at night

The next day, Saturday, we went to Starbucks for breakfast. There are no Starbucks in Townsville so we were thrilled to find one. Then we caught a tour bus to the Australia Zoo, home of Steve Irwin! First was the show at the Crocoseum. There was Bindi and her jungle girls, some reptiles, a bird show (one of the birds landed on a guy a row back from me and Sav.. oops!), little Bob Irwin came out and sang the Australian national anthem, and there was an impressive croc feeding. After that Sav and I went into the echidna enclosure and were able to play with the echidnas and feed them! Echidnas are monotremes like platypus, which means they are mammals that lay eggs. Unlike the platypus, they have spines and eat ants. They were so ridiculously cute. Really tubby and such adorable waddling! A lot were hiding out in their box, but one of them, Fatty, was really curious and came out to say hi immediately. A couple more wandered out to get fed too. Fatty almost climbed all the way into my lap while I was feeding her.

Echidna!!!

Gorgeous tiger

Then we wandered around the zoo, trying to see as many of the animals and feedings as possible. Bob Irwin ran right past us at one point, clad in manpris (capris for men. I was obsessed with them as Savvy will tell you), security guard chasing after. We saw a really awesome tiger show. They convinced the females to jump into the water and swim around a bit. The whole zoo was really amazing, I felt like I was really close to all of the animals, and the tiger enclosure was no exception, with floor to ceiling windows. One of the tigers leaned right next to the window. We also fed an elephant, it wrapped its wrinkly trunk around my hand. We saw a baby koala. And one of the dingos was right up next to the cage and totally licked Savannah. We also hung out with the kangaroos for a bit. I was trying to get one to take a picture with me, but they kept hopping away or moving their heads. Finally I walked up to one and said “Excuse me, I am an American tourist, can I please take a picture with you?” And immediately one posed perfectly for me and I got this great shot. We didn’t eat lunch that day, Sav and I were too busy packing everything in. We had ice cream. Later that day, we went to a pancake manor for dinner and I had waffles with ice cream, so not a nutritious day hahaha.

"meh, tourists"

Sunday was whale watch day. Unfreakingbelievable! We saw a lot of pacific humpbacks and their calves. They were very calm, just floating there for long periods of time at the surface. I really got a sense of what huge creatures they were. One of them went under the boat and surfaced right next to it! The captain (the only female whale watch captain of the southern hemisphere) played Elvis for them, which really cracked me up. That boat is only one of two that is able to go into that park, so it was just a really special whale watch. Defintely the best I've ever been on.

Mother and Calf

Humpback in front of Moreton Bay Island

That afternoon Sav and I went to starbucks and did some schoolwork and had dinner at subway. Monday morning we flew back to Townsville, and I had just enough time to shower before class.

After that week of classes, it was lecture recess, but Kathy, Alicia, and I had a field trip for our animal adaptation class on Maggie Island.

I have a blog about that written up, so I'll post that in a day or two, I PROMISE. Its just too much to throw at y'all at once, you'd get bored haha.

In which I have spectacular adventures!

   September has been a very exciting month for me! Every weekend has brought an even more amazing trip. The first weekend I went to Maggie Island again with some friends. It was rainy on Saturday so we hung out at the hostel and read. And then on Sunday we went to the beach, Alma Bay, the same as last time. We napped on the beach, went swimming, explored the nearby rocks. It was very relaxing. Magnetic Island is just so beautiful, and it was really nice to get off of campus and be reminded that we’re in Australia.

 

   The next weekend, on the 11th, Kathy and I, as well as Trish, and 5 other girls from JCU went on a tour to Paluma. Paluma is north of Townsville, inland, and up a mountain. Unlike the more arid Townsville, Paluma has a lot of wet tropical rainforest, like Cairns. Our first stop was Crystal Creek, just inside of Paluma. It was such a pretty spot, with falls, and rather deep pools. We went swimming in it, and the water was refreshing, but not too cold. There was a pretty brick arch bridge, and a natural rockslide that emptied into one of the deeper pools.

Kathy and Trish get used to the cold Crystal Creek

Trish going down the rockslide

   We continued up the mountain, on a rather twisty road, and went to Paluma Rainforest Village. Once we arrived we took a hike on the mountain top. That was interesting because once we went across the crest of the mountain, you could actually see the change from rainforest to sclerophyll forest (sclerophyll is a type of water resistant vegetation with hard leaves, sclerophyll forests have a canopy of eucalyptus trees which are an example of sclerophylls). This sharp change is due to how mountain ranges affect rainfall. We didn’t get much of a view at the lookouts unfortunately, as a cloud had settled. We headed back, and ate lunch at an Inn in the Paluma Village. We also stopped to see a pottery place located in the village. There was a big clay kiln where the potter fires up 2-3 months work in one go. I asked him if it was scary when he fires it up since there is so much invested time at stake, and he said it was. I can only imagine waiting to open it and hoping that nothing went wrong.

    Our next stop was a hike to Birthday Creek to see the bowerbirds! We saw a toothbilled bowerbird and a golden bowerbird, both of which are endemic (only found) in mountain rainforests of Northern Queensland so it was quite special to see them. Male bowerbirds make structures to attract mates. Tooth-billed bowerbirds are lazy and their bower is just laying leaves on the ground with the underside facing up. Golden bowerbirds, however, make more complex bowers out of sticks. They look like huts, or like Eeyore’s house in Pooh’s corner. We were able to see both the birds and their bowers. When we made it to the falls we spotted a water dragon.

Golden Bowerbird

    On our way out of Paluma we stopped at a Rose Gum (if I remember correctly) by the side of the road. That stretch of road was surrounded by Rose Gums, which are rather tall eucalypts. It was an open forest, very sunny and happy. We stopped at that particular tree because it had been hollowed out by fire and when we stepped into it and looked up we could see a circle of sunlight.

Me inside a tree!

    We continued on our way more north and inland and to Hidden Valley. Hidden Valley use to be a tin mining town, but there isn’t much left there now, just a bit of what looked like a ghost town, some cattle, and Hidden Valley Cabins which is where we stayed that night. Hidden Valley Cabins was Australia’s first solar power resort, and it is owned by our tour guides parents and staffed only by them, and him and his wife. It was very charming with cute cabins, a grumpy cat, and an adorable Australian cattle dog named Goondi who insisted on playing fetch with us. After we were settled in we made our way to Running River. We sat on the banks in silence for over an hour and a half. When the light was almost completely gone, we were rewarded with a sighting of a female platypus! She surfaced a couple times so we got some glimpses, although we couldn’t see her very well. Platypuses are a lot smaller then I thought, she was only maybe a foot long. Although my understanding is that they are a lot bigger further south.

   After dinner was my favorite part of the weekend. The tour guide’s dad, Ian, took us on a nocturnal walk! The stars were so gorgeous; we could see the milky way. That of course made me think of the stars at camp! Anyway, Ian shone a spotlight up into the trees so we could see some of the nocturnal animals. We saw bats, both micro and fruit. Microbats use echolocation to catch bugs mainly, while fruit bats don’t have echolocation as they use smell and visual to locate fruit. We saw several greater gliders, and some brush-tail possums, including a mama and a joey! We also had a really great sighting of a Rufous bettong, also known as a rat-kangaroo, a very small macropod (macropods are kangaroos and wallabies).

A brushtail possum

    We woke up early the next morning to try to spot another platypus, but no look. After breakfast we started the three-hour drive to Wallaman falls. Most of the drive was on a dirt road, there were hardly any cars, and not much but a couple of farms. It was cool to see some of the emptiness and space of Australia. On our way out we spotted a pair of Wallaroos, which are (size wise) inbetween kangaroos and wallabies. We stopped at a great view of Mount Fox, a long ago extinct volcano. We also stopped when we spotted a Frill-neck lizard. They have a large frill around their head that they flare when they are frightened to appear intimidating, and they can run super fast on their hind legs. We saw this one sitting on the road and then when we got out he scampered up a tree. It was really amazing to see one!

Mount Fox

    Wallaman falls is the longest unbroken fall in Australia, with a 305 m drop. It was absolutely gorgeous! We hiked from the top of it all the way down to the bottom where we had lunch before heading back up. It was a little rainy, but while we were at the top the sun peeked out just long enough to give us a rainbow :) After that, we headed home through Ingham, a sugar cane town, and had a quick stop at the Frosty Mango for ice cream.

Wallaman Falls

    I was only on campus for a couple of days before leaving that Thursday for Brisbane. But that’s a post for another day, I need to go to bed! G’night!

Week 7 (I think? I can't actually remember how long I've been here). In which the adventures just keep happening!

Hi everyone! I’ve been pretty busy lately, started having some assignments to write, have had field trips and other excursions with the girls, continuing to learn to cook (so much fun!), and other such things.

Lets see, all the way back on the 8th, a Sunday, Kathy and I had a field trip to Rowe’s Bay. Basically we got to explore the rocky intertidal in Australia. So cool comparing it to the rocky intertidal in the Gulf of Maine! I was in heaven, poking around, harassing the wildlife (as Steve always says I do). Definitely the coolest things I found were the conches (see the video below, its of a conch turning itself rightside up).

Unfortunately, in the process of sticking my nose under every huge rock I could still roll over, I scraped my hands up a bit. Didn’t think anything of it, until about a week later my hand was unbelievably itchy and then got this huge blotchy rash. Lo and behold, its not all the poisonous animals I needed to be watching out for, it was the bacteria. If anyone would like to send me Neosporin, that’d be wonderful, because you need to get a prescription to get it here, and I’m always getting minor scrapes and bumps :) The good news is, it’s about 97% gone, after a couple of days of awful itchiness and swollen fingers.

Ewgross. The bump on my index finger got bigger, and my fingers were way more swollen before this got better

We’ve also had two field trips to Reef HQ. I love aquariums, but going to this one 3 times in one month is a bit much.. The lab I had last Friday was much more interesting, involved sawing a fish into sections so we could compare the distribution of red and white muscle. Alicia, Kathy and I were pretty fabulous at sawing fish, if I may say so!

Alicia, Kathy, and the Fish. Or his head at least.

On Sunday, the 15th, we walked up Castle Hill. Some great views of Townsville, an invigorating walk.

Kathy and Savannah are up in the front, followed by Trish and Rachel. Castle Hill is on the right

This past week mostly involved writing some papers, and not sleeping. So this weekend mostly involved sleeping, however on Friday we also went to Cape Pallarenda Conservation Park. The international office put on this free trip for all the international students. It was really great to have the chance to get to a part of Townsville that we wouldn’t otherwise have easy access too. I loved it there, the beach was gorgeous, a nice mix of sandy and rocky. We went on a walk that went up a hill, past a gun emplacement and a quarantine station (now a little museum) and then back down the hill to this gorgeous beach. I was quite proud of myself, I got myself onto the roof of the gun emplacement and then back down, all by myself, without getting stuck like I normally do, haha! My favorite part of going to Pallarenda was seeing familiar sights in a slightly different perspective. For example, we saw Castle Hill from a slightly different angle, and Magnetic Island was so much closer then we’re use to seeing. Anyway, keep an eye on my facebook for pictures from that day coming up soon.

I’ve been involved in the Christian Union group here on campus. I was vaguely aware of its existence before coming here, but I didn’t know anything about it, and I didn’t know how I was going to go to church, but my philosophy was that God will supply what Christian support I’ll need. And how He has! The people in CU have just been so warm and friendly and have really made me feel apart of the bible study, and right away found my lifts to church. So thanks guys, I really appreciate how welcoming you’ve all been!


Everyone back home.. I love and miss you, keep in touch!

Frog Sneak Peek

More blog and pictures on facebook coming really soon, but until then, I wanted to share a couple of the many pictures I took of this really bitty, super adorable frog we found at Pallarenda Park on Friday. Enjoy!

Preview

Australia - 1 month down!

Hey all!

Sorry I've been slackin' with the postings, but I figured Lara was on top of it.. I gotta say, I'm definitely loving Australia!!!! :) It's absolutely gorgeous here, pretty much every single day, I still can't get over that it's technically their winter right now, lol...crazy! Classes are interesting, I'm taking Invertebrate Biology, Aquatic Animal Ecophysiology, Biodiversity of Tropical Australia, and Animal Adaptation to Environmental Change.. The first two I'm taking because they count towards my major, yayyy, so I should be set when I go back to UNH next semester. Not sure how I feel about them yet, I'm not so much into the inverts, I'm more of a large mammal kinda gal, but unfortunately I've already taken classes in that, and I had to do what was best for my graduating on time next spring. We'll see how it goes, could be interesting, I just know that Invertebrate bio will be really intense and will take up a lot of time. :/ ugh.

Compared to last semester however, this semester can only be better...I hope, lol..... As much as I love being here, it's extremely hard because of missing and worrying about Derek. The second week I was here, I discovered that as long as I'm outside the U.S., he's not allowed to contact me via phone or letter :/ That was a huge blow, I honestly didn't think it could get harder until that moment hit, and I realized it still could.. But I'm managing, one day at a time..and I was able to talk to him online for a little bit last week which was amazing :) It's a hard balance though, because I want this semester to go at a good pace because I'm in Australia and that's amazing and possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity, but at the same time, I also want this semester to speed by so that I can be with Derek finally.. I already have a countdown, lol.....

But no matter how hard it gets at times, I'm thankful I'm here and I'm trying to enjoy each and everyday and just get through it all with a smile on my face. I'm lucky to be here, and I'm so lucky to have met such awesome people already and have such amazing friends here! :)

Week 3. In which I start classes.

So I've had a week and two days of classes so far! I've been enjoying them all, they seem pretty easy and interesting. I'm taking:

Marine Conservation Biology. I'm most looking forward to this class. I took a conservation class last semester and really liked it, so I'm looking forward to focusing on marine. Professor is cool. Seems like it's not too hard and not too easy.

Biodiversity of Tropical Australia. Easy, fun class, mostly just "these are the animals and plants of Australia." Been super boring so far because its all been basic ecology while he catches us up to speed, but should get interesting in the next class or two when we start talking about marine critters! Lots of fun field trips, professor is this hilarious english guy.

Animal Adaptation to Environmental Change. Ok, the subject matter of this seems really interesting, but the actual class seems like it will be a bit of a pain. It's a video conferencing class, the professor is actually in Cairns. The real pain is that we have to pay for a field trip that takes up most of the lecture recess. Hopefully the field trip will be really interesting, I think thats what is going to make or break this class because a big portion of our grade is based off the trip.

Aquatic Animal Ecophysiology. Professor is hilarious, very down under, very casual, very energetic. I think this is going to be my hardest class. I hope there isn't too much biochem involved, but I suppose really I should hope for more biochem because I know I test well with that sort of material.

In the States, as we all know, the norm is that classes either meet MWF for 50 minutes, or TR for 80 minutes, and the class will meet at the same time each of those days, and in the same room. Well, things are a bit more sporadic down under. Just about all the classes are 50 minutes long and meet at random times and places and days. For example, Ecophysiology meets at 2 on Mondays in one room, and at 9 on Thursdays in another room. Very random. And that class has a practical (a lab) but it only meets 5 times this semester. Thats the major difference between classes here and class back home. The other big one is that here each class only has one test (a final at the end) thats worth at least 50% of the grade, and only a few assignments making up the rest of the grade. It makes the semester easier, except for the last couple of weeks.

Despite always having to look at my timetable to figure out when and where my classes are, my schedule is actually pretty easy. I have lots of free time, which is just what I wanted, because this is my semester to relax! It is also my semester to stop worrying about grades and focus on enjoying the content. All my classes interest me, so I'm excited for this semester!

Lets see, have I done anything interesting other then classes... Kathy's friend from back home came for a couple of nights (Hi Kari!). She was in Sydney last semester and has been traveling ever since. On Friday, the three of us took a walk out of campus (45-60 minute walk I suppose) to a nearby river and had a picnic there. There were gorgeous huge trees hanging over the river, and a botanical garden nearby. On Saturday we went into Townsville and looked at some of the shops and went to the beach (and got gelato of course! There is a great gelato place on the Strand).

Man, my posts are always so long, hope I'm not boring y'all! I'll be back next week!

Week 2. In which I become a redhead.

Man, it feels like I have been in Townsville forever! I guess I’ve been here for a week and a half, but for simplicity sake, lets just call it “Week 2.” What a week and a half it’s been! Trish, Savannah, Rachel, Emily (friends of ours from the Australearn orientation), Kathy and I have spent a lot of time hanging out, meeting other international students, and exploring Townsville.

Kathy, Emily, and I are living in the same dorm, but in different blocks. There are 7 dorm rooms (all singles, apparently outside of the US its rare to have a roommate in college), a common room, bathroom, kitchen, and balcony on each floor. We are pretty far out on one end of the campus, which means a bit more of a walk, but also means more wildlife. There is a kookaburra that lives near Kathy’s building, big cane toads hiding, shy wallabies, and lots of geckos and tree frogs. I’ve also heard about kangaroo, possum (fun fact that Kathy taught me: there are possums in Australia, and opossums in America—the term “possum” for the animal living in the states is technically incorrect), and curlew sightings.

I haven’t been homesick too much, just about two days soon after arriving. Now I’m getting use to the bus system (not quite ready to brave it on my own yet though), and making all my meals, so the first wave of culture shock is past. We’ve been pretty busy too, which helps!

On Saturday the 17th the 6 of us went to the Strand, which is the Townsville beach. It was absolutely gorgeous, be sure to check out my pictures on facebook (ask me for a link if you’re not on facebook). There were no waves, just little swells, because the reef protects it. The water was nice and warm, there were lots of palm trees, and a great view of Magnetic Island. Oh, and delicious Gelato nearby. We spent most of the afternoon taking pictures, relaxing, swimming, etc, and had dinner there. It was dusk when we were waiting at the bus stop, so we were treated to a large flock of parrots flying around, roosting on nearby trees, and squawking their heads off. All the birds here seem to squawk or scream, not chirp, like they’re all determined to be loud and obnoxious as can be. That’s what I wake up to every morning!

Orientation week started on Monday, with a small barbeque. It was probably the most useless orientation I’ve ever been too. Most of the sessions were geared towards freshman, obviously, but were more informative if you’ve never been to university before. We attended all the sessions we needed to on Tuesday and Wednesday, so Wednesday night we treated ourselves to some Australian’s Next Top Model, and henna hair dye! Trish, Savannah, and I all became redheads, making Kathy the only non-redhead left out of the 6 of us. I officially really love being a redhead.

On Thursday we went to Reef HQ, the nearby aquarium. They had a giant tank with a large reef ecosystem that was open at top to the natural sunlight and temperature. It is essentially a natural ecosystem except for some food they throw in, and some protein skimming. We went on a behind the scenes tour, the highlight of which was the Turtle Hospital! There were a handful of turtles, some healthier and thus more active then others. There was one really big one that had been kept as a pet and fed unnatural food. He was about twice the size a turtle in the wild would be at the same age.

This weekend we went to Magnetic Island, known to the locals as Maggie Island. On Saturday we caught the ferry, it was about a 20 minute ride from Townsville to the Island. We stayed at a hostel right off the beach, so we spent most of Saturday morning exploring that beach and climbing big rocks and looking for critters. That afternoon we went on a walk near Horseshoe Bay that had lots of gun encampments from WW11 (edit: Steven, the grammar police, has informed me that I actually mean WWII. Thanks dear :) Edit 2: COMMA COMMA, STOP BEING SUCH AN ADORABLE PAIN IN THE BUTT!). We spotted several wild koala bears, two of which were pretty much right off the path. It was so amazing to see them up so close and in their natural habitat. They weren’t concerned by us at all, just continued their sleeping and sitting there. The walk ended in a lookout tower, and provided some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. Magnetic Island has some gorgeous bays. We’d reach a clear spot, maybe climb up on a rock a bit, and I’d just stand there, completely speechless. Today we went to one of the bays, Alma bay, and had a relaxing last day of summer break!

Well, its time for bed, so I’ll be rested for the first day of classes tomorrow! Keep in touch guys, leave me a comment letting me know what you’re all up to.

Blog Exclusive Videos

Didgeridoo playing

Mamaby licking her joey

Taken from the boat on our way back from the reef. Sorry for the loud wind!

The gecko I rescued from a friend's room

Week 1. In which Australia is amazing.

    Ok, I’m finally sitting down to blog. I keep meaning to every night but keep getting distracted by random things, like rescuing a gecko from a friend’s room (still not sure if I was rescuing the gecko, or Emily…), or putting up pictures instead.
    So this one will be about my first week here. It was an orientation for the program I came here through. It was located in Cairns, which is a 4 hour drive north of here (for those of you who don’t know, I am on the northeast coast). Cairns is a rainforest, absolutely gorgeous! But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, I was going to talk about the flight a bit first.
    The 14-hour flight was not as a bad as we were dreading. We ended up sleeping for the majority of it except for a little bit in the beginning and end. It was a great airline, decent food, and they gave us hot chocolate with a big marshmallow! We then had a stop in the Sydney airport, went through customs and all that, and then a 3 or 4 hour flight to Cairns. We got ice cream on that flight! Our first glimpse of Cairns was… I’m running out of adjectives to convey my experiences… gorgeous, unbelievable, etc, all apply. Green mountains, right up until blue green water, waves crashing, reef. Wow.
    We were pretty much rushed right into our first session almost straight off the plane. No time to shower, we just dropped our bags off in our rooms (at a hostel/resort. It was really nice, pool, clean, more resort then hostel), and went to dinner and a welcome session that we were all falling asleep during. Besides wanting to go to bed super early the first night, jet lag wasn’t really an issue for me. Kathy and I were up for 24 hours and then slept for the 14 hour flight so that pretty much got us on the right time zone. Anyway, I was so confused as to what time it was, I was ready to adapt to any schedule presented.
    The next morning we were off to the Rainforestation! We saw Aborigine demonstrations, dancing, spear throwing. We threw boomerangs (Kathy’s came back to hers, my throw was.. lets say less dismal then I expected). We saw didgeridoo playing. Basically termites hollow out a tree and the Aborigine cut it down, clear out all the termites, smooth it out and put beeswax on the mouth piece. It has this crazy deep sound when played correctly, but when played incorrectly (like all us tourists on our first couple of tries) its basically just the longest fart noise ever.
    The Rainforestation was also a wildlife park, so we held a koala bear, fed some wallabies and kangaroos, saw dingoes and crocs and weird birds, and held a python. We also tried green ant butt. There are these ants with a green abdomen, and when that abdomen is licked or eaten, there is a tangy taste that’s pretty good if you can get over how gross it is that there is an ant in your mouth. We also went on a DUCK tour where we discovered that even the plants want to hurt you in Australia. There are vines that attach themselves to you and grow every-which-way, and a stinging berry that when you brush against it you get its hairs embedded in you and they’re like needles burning for anywhere from a week to six months.
    The next day (Sunday), was “adventure day” where we broke off and went on different tours offered. Kathy and I went on one that drove us up north, stopping at various places. First stop: Rainforest Wildlife Habitat. It was a lot like the Rainforestation, but this one had wallabies with joeys! Next stop was Mossman gorge where we went on a little walk through the rainforest and ended up at the Mossman River where we went for a dip. A chilly dip. After lunch we went on a croc cruise in the Daintree River and saw wild crocodiles. On our way to Cape Tribulation we saw a wild cassowary! Cassowaries are big, black, flightless birds with a colorful crest on their head. They are capable of killing a human by kicking them with their big claws. They are very important to the rainforest because they spread many seeds, but they are quickly becoming endangered so it isn’t too common to see one in the wild.  The Cape Tribulation beach was wonderful. It was flanked by mangroves and wonderful mountains. There was soft coral reefs forming tidepools with all sorts of critter in there.
    Monday was community day. We helped plant and pot trees that were specifically picked to extend the cassowary habitat (loss and fragmentation of habitat is the main reason they’re becoming extinct). Later that day a small group of us went hiking through botanical gardens and up a hill with a view of Cairns.
    Tuesday we went to the Great Barrier Reef!! Unfortunately I had a cold so I couldn’t dive, but I was snorkeling as much as they allowed us in the water! I can’t even describe the reef to all you. It was beyond words. It was so peaceful being in there. I had so much fun seeing all these fish I recognized from interning at the aquarium. I also saw a sea turtle (a complete “woaaaaaah!” moment), he wasn’t very large, he was just floating around and then swam up to surface not too far from me. And of course I found a nudibranch!
    So that was my first week. Wednesday I rode the bus to Townsville, and settled into my dorm room.
    Miss you all! Thinking of my family all the time!

Hi! I'm in my dorm room in Townsville! Later I'll write later about this past week's activites, they've been amazing and numerous. Right now though, I want to acknowledge Uncle Bob, because I haven't had the chance yet.

For those of you who don't know, last week my Uncle Bob had a sudden heart attack and passed away. I found out on my layover in San Franscico, thankfully my parents were able to contact me before my flight to Sydney. I felt like I really didn't have time to properly make a decision about whether to still continue on or not, so I went ahead and got on the flight to Sydney. The moment the plane moved away from the gate was very emotional for me as it all hit me, and I realized I wouldn't get to say good-bye at the funeral, that I wouldn't be there for my family, and my family wouldn't be there for me (in person, that is). It has felt strange all week because I didn't actually know when the funeral was until it was over, and I haven't been able to be in any real contact back home all this past week. I've been trying to make the most of it, and still enjoy and appreciate this week because I know that is what Uncle Bob would want.

I was thinking about Uncle Bob, and the main memory that kept popping into my head was of him pushing me on the swing and playing with me when I was little. It just impressed on me how much he loved his kids and neices and nephews. It made me stop and really appreciate all the love and sense of family my aunts and uncles have given me. I am so thankful I was able to see Uncle Bob on the 3rd and give him one last hug. I miss him a lot, and I can't wait to see him again some day.

Scallion family, you have been in my thoughts constantly, I love and miss you all.

Introduction

Hi everyone! I just wanted to give a little introduction for those of you who know Kathy but not me (Lara) or vice versa.

Kathy and I are both Seniors majoring in Zoology. We met during Freshman orientation and decided to keep an eye out for each other the first day of classes since we had similar schedules. First day of classes came around and we sat together during our very first class, Walker's freshman bio. We sat too far back and we couldn't hear a word he said, so we sat in the front in every class for the year! Anyway, we were lab partners that year, and bonded over the next two years through many study sessions. Junior year we became roommates and have had a ton of fun with that :)

Within the first few weeks of Freshman year, we realized that we both wanted to study abroad to Australia, so we decided to go together. We have now gotten each other through many a test and a semester by looking forward to this trip, often telling each other "remember, next (semester, year, etc) we'll be hugging wombats!!" We've looked forward to it for so long now, personally I can't even wrap my brain around the fact that we're actually going, so I'm waiting for when the excitement really hits! I still have so much to do to get ready (pack, a couple of errands, some cleaning!) so right now I'm focused on that, but I'm sure I'm going to be jumping up and down in my seat, giggling, on the way to the airport (Kathy can't wait, haha!).

We'll be leaving in two days, on Wednesday morning. We will be flying to San Francisco (where we have a rather long layover) to Sydney, to Cairns where we will have an orientation week before taking a bus to Townsville, our final destination. We will be writing about our adventures as much as we can, as well as posting pictures, and maybe the occasional video blog if we figure out how to post it, so you can see our smiling faces :) We'll miss you all much, but I hope this helps us keep in touch!