I'm sorry...I'm way behind on my personal journal. But I'm trying to catch up! Here's a little more...
Thursday was our first boat trip to go snorkeling off the island. The water clarity was perfect; I could see straight down 15ft to the bottom! It was gorgeous. The coral was so much more interesting than it was right off the island, and the fish were way bigger! We saw several sea turtles and a HUGE 8ft. Manta Ray! The adventure was really cool, until…CELP! Little jelly-like ciphonophores with plenty of stinging cells filled the water around us. Though their sting wasn’t awful, it was definitely unpleasant, and it made me end my snorkeling adventure early. Good thing, though, because when I hopped back into the dingy, I got to see dolphins playing in the wild! They were so cool! They jumped right out, just like they do in the movies! It was exciting :-) The rest of the day was just more fishy research.
Friday was more research, in preparation for our presentations the next day. We took another boat trip for snorkeling, just in another place of the ocean. We saw some more cool fish, and let the current just float us back towards the island. Later, while we were ashore, I was getting ready to catch som sun when I heard someone yell “WHALES!” I thought this to be kind of strange, because the whale migration had already passed by Heron Island, and we had missed it. But sure enough, as I made my way to the beach, I could see a Humpback whale breeching! (Breeching is when they come out of the water). We watched them (there were 3, probably young males looking for mates) swim all the way through the channel. Not only did they breech a couple more times, but we also got to see the characteristic tail-slap and pectoral fin slap as well! So awesome!
That night, Glen organized a night snorkel for us, where we’d swim all the way off shore to the wrecked boat that greeted guests to the island...in the dark. Everyone was extremely nervous, but I was a little more so than others. Armed with snorkeling gear as well as glow sticks and “torches” (torch=flashlight), we headed out to the beach. I was really REALLY scared, but I remembered my Australian mottos and decided to have a go! We swam out towards the wreck, and immediately were greeted by huge sleeping sea turtles! They were so cool. There were a couple of Loggerheads, and several Greens. As we got further from the shore, I got more and more nervous. Everyone seemed to be kicking so quickly, they were pulling away from me! I tried to kick & kick to keep up, but it just wasn’t working. I couldn’t breathe out of my snorkel, and I felt myself start to hyperventilate. I looked around me. “Guys, will someone go slower with me? I can’t keep up…it’s hard to breathe.” Everyone ignored me, too enthralled in the sea floor. I could feel myself freaking out. I was either going to drown, or get left behind, I thought to myself. I started yelling for people to slow down, hoping Glen would here my begging and wait for me to catch up. He did, and he grabbed my hand and calmed me down (I was crying like a baby at this point :-( ) and stayed with me for the rest of the snorkel. I felt like such a 5-year-old then, being brought in front of the class and laughed at for being scared, but I was really glad that Glen stayed with me, or else I would’ve been much worse off. The rest of the group had made it ashore, but Glen and I were slowly making our way back in, as calmly as possible. I saw a flash in front of me. It was something…BIG. “What was that?!” I yelled, fear in my voice. “Oh, just a shark. No big deal. Just keep swimming,” Glen told me nonchalantly. “A SHARK?!” A huge, 6 ft. black tip reef shark swam by us, only 10 ft. ahead! I was really hoping it would just leave, but nope, it swam by us again. Even though I was terrified at the moment, I look back now and think it’s really cool that I’m the only one in the group that was so close to the shark. It was actually the biggest shark anyone saw during our stay on Heron Island! So, I finished the terrifying night snorkel, saw some cool stuff, and decided that night snorkeling will never be an aspect of my career.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
I’M GONNA BE ON TV! (Wednesday, June 3, 2009)
So we got up this morning for an early snorkel on the Reef, and Glenn informed us that a camera crew was going to be following us around for a popular Australian children’s show called “Totally Wild.” Of course, no one was opposed. They got some sweet footage of us walking out to the beach in our snorkeling gear, setting up transect lines for project work in the ocean, and even a little of us learning during lecture in the classroom.
I recently joined a new research group when we came to this island, and the show’s producers chose me & my new group to do an interview! We had to sign a talent release form and everything, and they told us that they’ll email us 2 weeks before the show airs! Since we obviously won’t be in Aussie when it airs, they told us they’d mail us each a copy & everything. Pretty awesome!
We spent the rest of the day basically doing research. Our project for Heron Island is to explore the density & diversity of reef fish in three different areas on the island. There are some really cool fish out there! I really like the damselfish because there are such a wide variety of them; they come in so many colors and patterns!
Later, we were scheduled to have lecture after dinner. When it came time for dinner, Glenn said “Lecture tonight has been cancelled. We’re going over the resort for a very important experience in your Australian education.” What kind of educational experience could be present at an island paradise resort? Turns out it was the first game in the State of Origin rugby tournament, and he just really wanted to watch it, lol. So he taught us a little about the game, which is similar to American football. They don’t use padding, but they still get just as rough as in football. The ball can only be passed backwards, not forward. Everything else pretty much went over my head. Surprising. So we were “barracking” for the Queensland team, which was up against New South Wales. The reason I say barracking is because “rooting” for a team (as we would say in America), in a nationally accepted way of saying “sexual intercourse.” My Uncle Roger taught me this before I left on the trip, and I never thought I would have to use such advice. Hahaha but I’m sure glad he told me! Anyways, so we ordered fancy (& expensive!) drinks at the resort bar while we watched a bit of the game. Queensland ending up winning (yay!). I really love that my crazy professor considers a rugby game more educational than a lecture. This rocks!
I recently joined a new research group when we came to this island, and the show’s producers chose me & my new group to do an interview! We had to sign a talent release form and everything, and they told us that they’ll email us 2 weeks before the show airs! Since we obviously won’t be in Aussie when it airs, they told us they’d mail us each a copy & everything. Pretty awesome!
We spent the rest of the day basically doing research. Our project for Heron Island is to explore the density & diversity of reef fish in three different areas on the island. There are some really cool fish out there! I really like the damselfish because there are such a wide variety of them; they come in so many colors and patterns!
Later, we were scheduled to have lecture after dinner. When it came time for dinner, Glenn said “Lecture tonight has been cancelled. We’re going over the resort for a very important experience in your Australian education.” What kind of educational experience could be present at an island paradise resort? Turns out it was the first game in the State of Origin rugby tournament, and he just really wanted to watch it, lol. So he taught us a little about the game, which is similar to American football. They don’t use padding, but they still get just as rough as in football. The ball can only be passed backwards, not forward. Everything else pretty much went over my head. Surprising. So we were “barracking” for the Queensland team, which was up against New South Wales. The reason I say barracking is because “rooting” for a team (as we would say in America), in a nationally accepted way of saying “sexual intercourse.” My Uncle Roger taught me this before I left on the trip, and I never thought I would have to use such advice. Hahaha but I’m sure glad he told me! Anyways, so we ordered fancy (& expensive!) drinks at the resort bar while we watched a bit of the game. Queensland ending up winning (yay!). I really love that my crazy professor considers a rugby game more educational than a lecture. This rocks!
Oohh Heron Island (Tuesday, June 2, 2009)
I woke up this morning soo excited for our journey to Heron Island, and all I could think about was how fabulous the week ahead of me would be. But I tell ya, every single day has some sort of surprise twist, and it never ends up being as it seems. We pulled up to the ferry that would take us the 2 hour 15 minute journey to the beautiful coral cay; no one seemed nervous, and most everyone was just excited for some stability & sun. About 15 minutes out of the harbor, the waves started getting really rough. I was originally writing in my scientific journal, but I noticed the drop in my stomach (that darn roller-coastery feeling again) and stopped writing immediately. Someone around me asked, “Ashley, do you normally get seasick?” probably in response to the greening in my face. How was I supposed to know? Of course I don’t get seasick on the speed boats we use for tubing around our little freshwater lakes in Michigan, so how was I to compare? One of the hostesses aboard the boat came to my side, asking if I’d like to head down to the lower deck, where the ship would feel more stable. I went with her willingly as the boat rocked violently from side to side in the open ocean.
When I reached the lower deck, I was the only person out of our group of 21 people to come down. But slowly the number grew, each individual looking greener by the minute. My strategy was to look out the window at the horizon, focusing my entire body on that line where the ocean meets the sky. The boat continued to rock violently, and my stomach was convinced I was at Cedar Point, NOT Queensland, Australia. The mantra that went through my head was “Mind over matter, mind over matter,” and apparently I had myself convinced, because I made it all 135 minutes without getting sick! Now, the others on the boat were a different story. 5 people out of our 21 got sick, and plenty of others that weren’t in our group did as well. Ewww. Soo glad that wasn’t me.
When we finally arrived on Heron Island, we put all the boat trouble behind us. Bright clear-blue waters welcomed us on shore, and we jumped into our first nature hike. The island is tiny; only 800x400 meters! We walked out to the crystal-clear beach to have a look in the water, and we came across a pile of at least 50 stingrays, just feeding on the substrate. As Glenn talked a little more about the Island, someone spotted a dorsal fin sticking out of the shallow water. “SHARK!!” someone yelled. Sure enough, a 10 meter-long Hammerhead shark was feeding on the stingrays, right in front of our eyes. It zipped back and forth along the sand, not even caring that a huge group of people were standing feet away. It was soo cool! I’ve never seen anything like that before, and Glenn even said that we were very lucky to have seen such a feeding, as it is a rare occurrence so close to shore. God I love this place :-)
When I reached the lower deck, I was the only person out of our group of 21 people to come down. But slowly the number grew, each individual looking greener by the minute. My strategy was to look out the window at the horizon, focusing my entire body on that line where the ocean meets the sky. The boat continued to rock violently, and my stomach was convinced I was at Cedar Point, NOT Queensland, Australia. The mantra that went through my head was “Mind over matter, mind over matter,” and apparently I had myself convinced, because I made it all 135 minutes without getting sick! Now, the others on the boat were a different story. 5 people out of our 21 got sick, and plenty of others that weren’t in our group did as well. Ewww. Soo glad that wasn’t me.
When we finally arrived on Heron Island, we put all the boat trouble behind us. Bright clear-blue waters welcomed us on shore, and we jumped into our first nature hike. The island is tiny; only 800x400 meters! We walked out to the crystal-clear beach to have a look in the water, and we came across a pile of at least 50 stingrays, just feeding on the substrate. As Glenn talked a little more about the Island, someone spotted a dorsal fin sticking out of the shallow water. “SHARK!!” someone yelled. Sure enough, a 10 meter-long Hammerhead shark was feeding on the stingrays, right in front of our eyes. It zipped back and forth along the sand, not even caring that a huge group of people were standing feet away. It was soo cool! I’ve never seen anything like that before, and Glenn even said that we were very lucky to have seen such a feeding, as it is a rare occurrence so close to shore. God I love this place :-)
Rainbow Beach (Monday, June 1, 2009)
Soo we woke up this morning to a somewhat overcast sky in Tin Can Bay. We all search in the trip itinerary to see what we’ll be doing today, and 18 pairs of eyes spot “Rainbow Beach.” 18 growls follow. “Seriously, it’s cold outside and it looks like it’s about to rain. Are we honestly going to go to the beach?” It’s pretty obvious that we’d all rather just sleep on a 4 hour bus ride than take a nature walk down another beach. Little did we know that our day @ Rainbow Beach would be one we wouldn’t forget!
We jump off the bus and immediately hike into a eucalyptus-dense forest. After about 15 minutes of climbing up hills and fending off forest plants, the sky opens up, and we’re in the middle of the biggest sand blow anyone has ever seen. It’s extravagant! How can there be so much piled sand all in one area? And so close to the ocean? It was beautiful. Glenn says “Race you to the top!” And half of the group takes off up the steep slope. Others of us start walking toward the ocean (or what we thought was the ocean). It feels like we’re almost to the beach when we stop only feet away from a HUGE cliff. “About 300 feet down to the beach,” Glenn tells us, “Go on, have a go!” He wants us to what? Go down that 300 ft. cliff? STRAIGHT DOWN?! Everyone was a little overwhelmed. My fear of heights took over my body, and I froze up. There was no way I’d make it down without some sort of panic attack. But Glenn took my hand and led me down the sandy “cliff,” and you wouldn’t believe it, but I made it all the way down, all 300 feet. That was a huge accomplishment for me! I looked back up at that mountain and laughed. I still can’t believe I did that!
The cliff run was pretty much the highlight of our day, and after our adrenaline levels came back down to normal, we went for a little stroll through the actual town of Rainbow Beach. It was a nice, quaint little town where we had lunch and bought some goodies for our long 4 hour bus ride to Gladstone. On the way to Gladstone, we watched a couple of movies, one of them being Toy Story 2! We all claim to be independent adults, but the children in us tend to seep out when it comes to our movie choices, apparently. Nevertheless, it certainly helped the long ride to our next stop on this amazing trip go a little faster.
We jump off the bus and immediately hike into a eucalyptus-dense forest. After about 15 minutes of climbing up hills and fending off forest plants, the sky opens up, and we’re in the middle of the biggest sand blow anyone has ever seen. It’s extravagant! How can there be so much piled sand all in one area? And so close to the ocean? It was beautiful. Glenn says “Race you to the top!” And half of the group takes off up the steep slope. Others of us start walking toward the ocean (or what we thought was the ocean). It feels like we’re almost to the beach when we stop only feet away from a HUGE cliff. “About 300 feet down to the beach,” Glenn tells us, “Go on, have a go!” He wants us to what? Go down that 300 ft. cliff? STRAIGHT DOWN?! Everyone was a little overwhelmed. My fear of heights took over my body, and I froze up. There was no way I’d make it down without some sort of panic attack. But Glenn took my hand and led me down the sandy “cliff,” and you wouldn’t believe it, but I made it all the way down, all 300 feet. That was a huge accomplishment for me! I looked back up at that mountain and laughed. I still can’t believe I did that!
The cliff run was pretty much the highlight of our day, and after our adrenaline levels came back down to normal, we went for a little stroll through the actual town of Rainbow Beach. It was a nice, quaint little town where we had lunch and bought some goodies for our long 4 hour bus ride to Gladstone. On the way to Gladstone, we watched a couple of movies, one of them being Toy Story 2! We all claim to be independent adults, but the children in us tend to seep out when it comes to our movie choices, apparently. Nevertheless, it certainly helped the long ride to our next stop on this amazing trip go a little faster.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Catching up...(Sunday, May 31, 2009)
Wow a lot has happened since I wrote last time, and it’s just been so ridiculously busy that I just haven’t had a chance to sit down and write about it! It also has a little bit to do with my computer and how stupid & slow it is…it won’t hold a charge, && it takes 20 minutes to load when I turn it on, so the battery dies before it gets started up. Fabulous. Anyways…
Thursday we went dugong searching. A dugong is similar to a manatee, except instead of a paddle-shaped tails, they have dolphin-like tails. They feed on sparse regions of seagrass and are often spotted in the Moreton Banks near Moreton Island. So a group of 9 of us got into a little inflatable dingy and sped away from Straddie toward the open ocean. SCARY!! This dingy—I kid you not— was metal on the bottom, but other than that, it pretty much looked like a glorified Life Saving ring. At first I thought my professor, Glenn, was just going to putter out into the channel and we’d go slowly in search for these sea cows. Oooh was I wrong. He hit the gas and we FLEW through the ocean toward Moreton Island, every ocean “bump” leaving our stomachs thinking we were on a roller coaster! Now, those of you who know me know I HATE roller coasters, but this journey was sooo much fun! Of course I did my normal Ashley scream & cackle, and I may have shouted “We’re gonna die!” a couple of times, but all in all it was a blast! We ended up spotting 2 dugongs: a mommy & her calf! They were beautiful. I’m hoping I successfully took a good picture of them coming up to take a breath, but i won’t know til I get back to the states. Also on our journey, we spotted several stingrays; some were HUGE! We also spotted a loggerhead turtle, and my professor told us to jump in and get on the turtle’s back. We thought he was kidding. Nope. Wrong again. He was dead serious, and for the other group, he literally jumped in onto the turtle’s back & held him up for everyone to see. Jumped right into the open ocean! He said they call it the “Turtle Rodeo,” and I’m fairly certain it’s illegal haha. The guy is nuts I swear!
Friday was the day we presented the research we’d been doing all week to the class and to the professors. In the morning we went to Cylinder Beach for some good ‘ole R & R. The beach was soo beautiful (pics up on facebook). It was nice to get out of the research center and just have some real downtime. In the afternoon, we presented. I think everything went alright with my project, and everyone else’s was very interesting to listen to as well. Then after dinner we went down to the Little Ship’s Club (one of two bars in Dunwich, lol). The whole group came, and we proceeded to take shots of tequila with our professor! Ahhh, good times. Glenn (our prof) also tried to pimp me out to the hot bartender! He must’ve had a little too much Jose, lol.
Saturday we went up to the north tip of Straddie & checked out a place called Point Lookout (also pics on facebook). It was sooo beautiful. We took a hike all around the rocky headlands. I am scared half to death of heights, but I faced my fears and climbed with everyone else. I even posed on a couple rocks for some good pics! Our group shot was awesome too. It’s so unreal how places this gorgeous can even exist. My pictures definitely don’t do it justice. After our hike we pretty much just relaxed on the beach again until it was time to say goodbye to Straddie & head back to Brisbane. Once we were back into the city, we went out to a super nice place for dinner called JoJo’s before doing a little bit of souvenir shopping. One of the girl’s was friends with a guy who goes to school not far from the city, so later on he came into town and we hung out with him & his friends at a small bar. It was a blast! I went to bed super early, though, because these long days are so exhausting.
Today we went to Underwater World! OMG it was soo awesome (notice I’m running out of adjectives to describe all of my adventures. I apologize. You have to be here to understand!) We took a guided tour of all the aquariums. As neat as it was, I’m just really looking forward to seeing it all in person when we snorkel on the reef this coming week. The BEST part of Underwater World was for sure my seal swim! I got into the tank and swam with the awesome seals. One of them even gave me a kiss :-) They were so much fun. They’re favorite game is tug-o-war, and man are they strong! Pulled me right off the rock I was seated on. They are literally the most fabulous creatures—they’re so intelligent & relatively easy to train, too. They do the coolest tricks, and most of the time they’re very friendly! I just had sooo much fun in general. Well, we’re going to be spending the next couple of days traveling, and then we’ll be on Heron Island. I don’t really think there’s a lot of internet access there, if any, so this may be my last post for at least another week. Well at least I got you caught up!
Thursday we went dugong searching. A dugong is similar to a manatee, except instead of a paddle-shaped tails, they have dolphin-like tails. They feed on sparse regions of seagrass and are often spotted in the Moreton Banks near Moreton Island. So a group of 9 of us got into a little inflatable dingy and sped away from Straddie toward the open ocean. SCARY!! This dingy—I kid you not— was metal on the bottom, but other than that, it pretty much looked like a glorified Life Saving ring. At first I thought my professor, Glenn, was just going to putter out into the channel and we’d go slowly in search for these sea cows. Oooh was I wrong. He hit the gas and we FLEW through the ocean toward Moreton Island, every ocean “bump” leaving our stomachs thinking we were on a roller coaster! Now, those of you who know me know I HATE roller coasters, but this journey was sooo much fun! Of course I did my normal Ashley scream & cackle, and I may have shouted “We’re gonna die!” a couple of times, but all in all it was a blast! We ended up spotting 2 dugongs: a mommy & her calf! They were beautiful. I’m hoping I successfully took a good picture of them coming up to take a breath, but i won’t know til I get back to the states. Also on our journey, we spotted several stingrays; some were HUGE! We also spotted a loggerhead turtle, and my professor told us to jump in and get on the turtle’s back. We thought he was kidding. Nope. Wrong again. He was dead serious, and for the other group, he literally jumped in onto the turtle’s back & held him up for everyone to see. Jumped right into the open ocean! He said they call it the “Turtle Rodeo,” and I’m fairly certain it’s illegal haha. The guy is nuts I swear!
Friday was the day we presented the research we’d been doing all week to the class and to the professors. In the morning we went to Cylinder Beach for some good ‘ole R & R. The beach was soo beautiful (pics up on facebook). It was nice to get out of the research center and just have some real downtime. In the afternoon, we presented. I think everything went alright with my project, and everyone else’s was very interesting to listen to as well. Then after dinner we went down to the Little Ship’s Club (one of two bars in Dunwich, lol). The whole group came, and we proceeded to take shots of tequila with our professor! Ahhh, good times. Glenn (our prof) also tried to pimp me out to the hot bartender! He must’ve had a little too much Jose, lol.
Saturday we went up to the north tip of Straddie & checked out a place called Point Lookout (also pics on facebook). It was sooo beautiful. We took a hike all around the rocky headlands. I am scared half to death of heights, but I faced my fears and climbed with everyone else. I even posed on a couple rocks for some good pics! Our group shot was awesome too. It’s so unreal how places this gorgeous can even exist. My pictures definitely don’t do it justice. After our hike we pretty much just relaxed on the beach again until it was time to say goodbye to Straddie & head back to Brisbane. Once we were back into the city, we went out to a super nice place for dinner called JoJo’s before doing a little bit of souvenir shopping. One of the girl’s was friends with a guy who goes to school not far from the city, so later on he came into town and we hung out with him & his friends at a small bar. It was a blast! I went to bed super early, though, because these long days are so exhausting.
Today we went to Underwater World! OMG it was soo awesome (notice I’m running out of adjectives to describe all of my adventures. I apologize. You have to be here to understand!) We took a guided tour of all the aquariums. As neat as it was, I’m just really looking forward to seeing it all in person when we snorkel on the reef this coming week. The BEST part of Underwater World was for sure my seal swim! I got into the tank and swam with the awesome seals. One of them even gave me a kiss :-) They were so much fun. They’re favorite game is tug-o-war, and man are they strong! Pulled me right off the rock I was seated on. They are literally the most fabulous creatures—they’re so intelligent & relatively easy to train, too. They do the coolest tricks, and most of the time they’re very friendly! I just had sooo much fun in general. Well, we’re going to be spending the next couple of days traveling, and then we’ll be on Heron Island. I don’t really think there’s a lot of internet access there, if any, so this may be my last post for at least another week. Well at least I got you caught up!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Sun, Research, & Soldier Crabs (May 27, 2009)
So in case anyone was wondering, we didn’t catch any sting rays in our net :-( That’s probably a good thing since all 16 of us girls probably would have shrieked in fear if we did, lol. Well, it was a fun adventure nonetheless.
Yesterday we dove head first into our project work, and for the past 36 hours that has been my main focus. We set up two experiments with our Soldier crabs: one with varied water salinity and another with varied water temperature. Both have produced interesting results, and now we really just have to crunch some numbers in preparation for our presentation on Friday. FUN!
Today has been ridiculously beautiful! We were up before 6am to catch the low tide, and as the sun came up, we knew it was going to be glorious. After a couple hours of grueling research, I decided to take some “me time” and head to the beach to lay out under the Australia sun (no worries, I applied 30 spf beforehand). It was so serene—I just soaked it up and read a bit of Breaking Dawn (the 4th book in the Twilight series!) Ahhh, this is seriously the life.
I got some really cool pictures today too. For whatever reason my computer won’t upload them to facebook, so I’ll probably have to wait until I get back to the states. But I took some pictures doing field work so everyone can see my pretty little soldier crabs, and I also got a picture of a rainbow! This rainbow was HUGE…you could literally see from one side to the other. I’m surprised no one went in search for a pot of gold :-) Honestly, I think just being here in this country and on this island and with these awesome people is the best "pot o' gold" anyone would want to find.
Yesterday we dove head first into our project work, and for the past 36 hours that has been my main focus. We set up two experiments with our Soldier crabs: one with varied water salinity and another with varied water temperature. Both have produced interesting results, and now we really just have to crunch some numbers in preparation for our presentation on Friday. FUN!
Today has been ridiculously beautiful! We were up before 6am to catch the low tide, and as the sun came up, we knew it was going to be glorious. After a couple hours of grueling research, I decided to take some “me time” and head to the beach to lay out under the Australia sun (no worries, I applied 30 spf beforehand). It was so serene—I just soaked it up and read a bit of Breaking Dawn (the 4th book in the Twilight series!) Ahhh, this is seriously the life.
I got some really cool pictures today too. For whatever reason my computer won’t upload them to facebook, so I’ll probably have to wait until I get back to the states. But I took some pictures doing field work so everyone can see my pretty little soldier crabs, and I also got a picture of a rainbow! This rainbow was HUGE…you could literally see from one side to the other. I’m surprised no one went in search for a pot of gold :-) Honestly, I think just being here in this country and on this island and with these awesome people is the best "pot o' gold" anyone would want to find.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
STRADBROKE ISLAND (May 25, 2009)
So we’ve been here on Stradbroke Island for about two days now. It’s gorgeous! Seriously, like a scene right out of a movie! The water isn’t as clear as it usually is for this time of year because of all the rain they’ve been getting, but today was absolutely beautiful. Yesterday we began a little bit of fieldwork, heading out to the mudflats during low tide & exploring the area’s biology. I saw some things I’ve never seen before, including a blue-ringed octopus! These octopi are only inches big, however a single bite will kill you. I was only inches away…Scary! We spent most of our time just becoming familiar with the Moreton Bay Research Station, which is supposedly one of the nicest facilities we’ll use on this trip. The rooms are kind of cramped, but other than that, the food is great and the researchers are all really nice.
Today we went out into the mudflats for more fieldwork. We pulled a huge net into the ocean and did some fish sampling. Found a few cool ones, including some puffers and some with poisonous fins (one of them spiked my friend! ouch!). We decided that tonight we’re going to go out and try to catch some stingrays in our nets—btw, stingrays are what stabbed Steve Irwin through the heart, killing him. Yes, it’s semi-dangerous work we’re doing out here, but as my hilarious instructor Glenn said, “Biologists must put themselves @ risk sometimes for their work.” Guess I really am a true biologist, eh?! I’m not too worried, though. Stingrays get scared if anyone comes near them and they run away as long as they haven’t been threatened. Trust me, I don’t plan on irritating a stingray anytime soon!
Tomorrow I begin research with my group on our own project: studying the response of soldier crabs to different types & levels of stress. The soldier crabs are the coolest things I’ve seen here on Straddie (that’s what the locals call the Island!). They are small, light-blue crabs that burry in a corkscrew-like fashion into the mud upon approach. Sometimes they burry clockwise, sometimes counter-clockwise. I’m interested in discovering how & why they decide to burry the way they do. They’re so cool! And you can just pick them up right into your hand. They try to pinch you, but instead it only tickles! Oh, and the reason they’re called soldier crabs is because they form huge “armies” of crabs and all walk along the mudflats together. Today, the mudflats were literally covered with soldier crabs in some parts! Crazy!
Ok enough biology. I’m sure I’m the only one who is truly crazy about this crap anyways, lol. Welp, I’m gonna go squeeze into my wetsuit and see what kind of stingrays we can catch in that net! Wish me luck!
Today we went out into the mudflats for more fieldwork. We pulled a huge net into the ocean and did some fish sampling. Found a few cool ones, including some puffers and some with poisonous fins (one of them spiked my friend! ouch!). We decided that tonight we’re going to go out and try to catch some stingrays in our nets—btw, stingrays are what stabbed Steve Irwin through the heart, killing him. Yes, it’s semi-dangerous work we’re doing out here, but as my hilarious instructor Glenn said, “Biologists must put themselves @ risk sometimes for their work.” Guess I really am a true biologist, eh?! I’m not too worried, though. Stingrays get scared if anyone comes near them and they run away as long as they haven’t been threatened. Trust me, I don’t plan on irritating a stingray anytime soon!
Tomorrow I begin research with my group on our own project: studying the response of soldier crabs to different types & levels of stress. The soldier crabs are the coolest things I’ve seen here on Straddie (that’s what the locals call the Island!). They are small, light-blue crabs that burry in a corkscrew-like fashion into the mud upon approach. Sometimes they burry clockwise, sometimes counter-clockwise. I’m interested in discovering how & why they decide to burry the way they do. They’re so cool! And you can just pick them up right into your hand. They try to pinch you, but instead it only tickles! Oh, and the reason they’re called soldier crabs is because they form huge “armies” of crabs and all walk along the mudflats together. Today, the mudflats were literally covered with soldier crabs in some parts! Crazy!
Ok enough biology. I’m sure I’m the only one who is truly crazy about this crap anyways, lol. Welp, I’m gonna go squeeze into my wetsuit and see what kind of stingrays we can catch in that net! Wish me luck!
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