I'm back!! Break was absolutely incredible - I wrote about mostly everything in my journal, so I'm going to use that to write this entry, since my memory is forever failing me.
Thursday, 9/4/09.
Woke up at 6 am to go to Fraser Island. It was really stupid because we had to be at the bus stop at 7 and we didn't leave until 8, and it didn't take nearly an hour to pack up the 4WDs. Anywho, we drove all morning, with 2 stops - one at a rest stop and one before we got on the ferry so we could let air out of the tires for beach driving. I think we finally got to Dilli Village on Fraser around 3 pm, and we were all exhausted! We had free time for the rest of the day, so we walked to the beach and played frisbee and stuff. It was pretty sweet. I skipped trivia and went to bed realllyy early that night, so I could get up early and run the next morning.
Friday, 10/4/09.
Woke up at 5 45 to run on the beach with my friend Sarah. It was mad hard but really good. We got out just after sunrise, and it was beautiful. After breakfast we went out in project groups to do a beach transect...so we basically just had to identify plants and record our data. Not too bad. We went back for lunch, then drove for a while to Eli Creek. We went to a ship wreck on the way, which was really cool. The creek was pretty but we were disappointed because we were expecting a good swim and it wasn't exactly conducive to swimming...but it was alright. So basically it was an afternoon of mostly driving around in the 4WDs, getting bounced around in the backseat.
Saturday, 11/4/09.
Woke up again at 5 45 to run, but it was raining a little bit so I decided not to. We had breakfast at 7, then headed out for another morning of work. My group went to the schlerophyll forest to do pollination/dispersal stuff. I ended up finding flower and bud samples with Brynne and Sarah, which wasn't too hard. We had about a 3 km walk to the forest, which was really pretty. Afterwards we came back for lunch and then set out for a 6.3 km walk to Lake Boomanjin. We thought it would be a decent walk and we would have a lot of time to hang out at the lake - WRONG. We walked for probably an hour and a half, and the tutor who led the way was absolutely booking it. We got to this place where there was a HUGE sand dune and we weren't sure if it was the way to go, but the tutor said he thought it was so we all climbed up (which basically meant falling all over yourself in the sand on the way up) and it was really cool, but not the way to the lake! Basically it was a huge expanse of sand dunes. So we climbed back down, and had to walk a bit farther to the lake. We finally got there, and it was kind of grassy/again not conducive to swimming, so another disappointing afternoon. I walked back to the car park with our tutor and we had to wait probably an hour for my professor and some other people to come back from playing on the sand dunes, because they had all the car keys! In the meantime, one kid from our group tried to break into the cars to get afternoon tea (he managed to get into about half of them). Also, we saw a bunch of Australians that were shitfaced and camping by the lake - three of them were dressed as the Village People, and a bunch of kids from our group were hanging out with them and had them sing the YMCA. They were so drunk they could barely sing it. It was pretty hilarious. When Steve (our prof) finally got back, we had a nice, long, bumpy drive back to Dilli.
Sunday, 12/4/09.
This was my group's day for rainforest work. We had a long, bumpy drive out to the rainforest where we did some work with arthropods. Basically we looked for spiders and trapped ants using tuna and honey as bait. It was really pretty out in the forest, and the work wasn't too bad. We went back for lunch and then headed out for Lake Birrabeen - which was finally the kind of lake we expected! The water was really nice so we swam for a bit and then layed out - it was incredibly nice. Unfortunately we weren't there for that long, but it was sweet anyways.
Monday, 13/4/09.
Had an earlier wake-up than usual, and it was rainy/yucky. I couldn't be mad about it though, because we lucked out with weather for the rest of the time we were there. We had to pack/clean up our rooms after breakfast, and then we headed to Lake Wabby. We had yet another long, bumpy drive there. We expected to be at the lake when we got there, but alas, we had a 1.8 km walk from the cars. It was really nice though - we walked through some forest and then some sand dunes. Finally got to the lake, and it was gorgeous - Sarah and I ran down the dunes and dove in the water, and it was perfect temperature and just amazing. It was one of my favorite things I've done since I've been in Aus. It rained a little bit while we were in the water, and it made the coolest noise and looked really cool splashing in the water. After, we went back to Dilli for lunch, then left about 1 pm and drove to the ferry, and a bit after the ferry we got to switch to a bus! Unfortunately there was a lot of traffic, and we got home around 7 30 pm. I was absolutely exhausted, and had to pack for trip #2. We had to be at the bus stop at 11 30 pm for the next trip, but some people were late so we didn't leave until about 12 30 am. Apparently some of them thought we were leaving the next day....So it was a long night of travel.
Tuesday, 14/4/09.
On the bus from about 12 30-8 30 am. We had to wait for the ferry for about 2 hours, just laying in the wet grass outside...and it was really buggy. Not the greatest time of my life. We got on the ferry at about 11 am and it took about 2 hours. It was a really nice boat and really comfortable, unlike the bus! We got lunch at the research station when we got there, and it was pretty good. After lunch we got fitted with our snorkel gear and went for our first snorkel! It was awesome, even though I was exhausted. We came back for dinner, and a bit later one of the tutors took us out to look for baby turtles on the beach. We saw a bunch, and they were sooo cute! I went to bed really early, and it was really nice to have a bed to sleep in...
Wednesday, 15/4/09.
Woke up at 5 30 am to go running on the beach with Sarah. It was kind of a failure because the sand was really soft and hard to run on, but it was worth it because the sunrise was amazing. There wasn't really anywhere good to run on the island - it is such a tiny island there isn't really anywhere to go. I didn't realize just how small it was until the last day I bought a postcard that shows the island from above, and I could see part of the beach I had been going to most days was on the opposite side from where I thought I was. Madness. Anywho, we had time to go for a nice walk in the woods before breakfast as well. After breakfast we had some free time, then went for a boat snorkel at 10 am. They boated us out pretty far and dropped us to snorkel for about an hour - it was AMAZING. After we were out there for at least a half hour, one of the staff people started screaming MANTA RAY!!! So everyone swam out to where it was, and I swam my ass off to catch up to it - it was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I followed it for a bit, but it was going really fast. It was so freaking cool. I didn't see any turtles and some of the kids in my group did, so I was kind of disappointed, but I'm just so glad I saw the manta it doesn't even matter. So we went back, had lunch, then went out for a reef "walkel"...walk/snorkel. Basically we just walked on the reef flat and used our snorkels to look at stuff - I thought it was a lot of fun, but most people didn't really enjoy it (probably because most of them cut themselves on the coral). I found a bailor snail, which was basicaly a snail that was as long as my tutor's forearm - it was sooo cool. Google image it or something. We also saw some sea hares, which are really cool/cute. On our walk back to shore, we took a "new" way, which was probably the worst idea ever because people were stepping all over the coral. My heart died a little inside. We saw a sand shark on the way back, and it was really sweet. You could barely see it because it camouflaged so well. After the walkel we made our project groups, then I went out and watched the sunset. I put some photos on facebook...most of them are very similar, sorry, but I did cut out a lot! After dinner everyone went on a night snorkel, but I skipped out because I wasn't feeling very well. Apparently everyone saw lots of turtles and it was a lot of fun, but I got to do one the last night so it wasn't such a big deal I missed it.
Thursday, 16/4/09.
I am mad tired, and going to finish this some time tomorrow.
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