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