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!