I finished schoolwork shortly after the last post, and spent the next few days with SFS having fun unwinding. We had a free day where we went to Atherton for the last time and played 'sport'. We usually played sport on our Friday afternoons out, and over the semester I'd become a decent ultimate frisbee player. Then our interns planned a 'magical mystery tour' day for us, including Nandroya Falls, Mongali Dairy, and the Millaa Millaa lookout. At the falls, we got into the freezing water and swam the short distance to under the falls. Unfortunately it was so cold that a friend had an asthma attack- good thing a classmate Laura and I were close to pull her over to shore. The view and hurricane-like experience was amazing though. Mongali Dairy had a fantastic teahouse and at the lookout we enjoyed the beautiful views and had fun taking pictures of us jumping off the fences. The next day was a debrief and we had a goodbye dinner- two of our classmates made a fantastic video with pictures and music and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. That night I stayed up until 3 friends who were leaving on the early flight. I flew to Sydney the next day (Friday) with several SFS students.
So far, my travel buddy Nathan and I have walked all over central Sydney and seen the sights. On Saturday there was a fantastic (free) walking tour with a University student that ran it off tips, Nate and I were the only people who showed up, so we had a personalized 3 hours of Sydney facts and trivia. We went to a guided Opera House tour and went inside the concert halls and did some more exploring of the city. On Sunday we went to the Australian Museum of Natural History- my favorites were exhibits on skeletons (including marsupials) and dinosaurs. Then we headed to Chinatown and walked the bontanical gardens. Okay, maybe took a nap there too. Today we went to the Aquarium and Wildlife World, saw all sorts of animals including jellyfish, sea cows (we stood in a tunnel and they saw over), eels (big ones, Dad), koalas, and my personal favorite when a Cassowary chased a pademelon. This afternoon we went to Manly Beach (named because Captain Cook apparently thought the rocks were 'manly') by ferry. Each night we've been meeting up with the other 8-10 SFS students for supper and hanging out in the city, it's been really nice to reconnect with them after each day. One more day to finish exploring and then I'm on my flight home!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Reef Trip #2 and DR Wrap-Up
Last weekend I had my second experience on the Great Barrier Reef, and it was as fantastic as the first! We arranged to spend our open Sunday on the Reef- we booked as a 27ish person group on a ship that held over 100 day trippers. The ship took us out 60 nautical miles to two different locations. I had arranged (along with a lot of the other students) to do an 'intro dive' as well as snorkeling. The intro divers were split into several groups and I was in a later group so I went snorkeling first. I was a little gutsier this time around and was more willing to hold my breath and go under than I was in the Whitsundays. The fish hanging out in the reef were a little different from the Whitsundays too- individual fish were the same, but instead of schools of large yellow fish, there were schools of tiny sparkling blue fish. Cool all the same. After some snorkeling, my scuba diving group was called up. We had received a basic briefing on techniques and what the 'tests' would be.
They just strapped the gear on us, helped us sit down on the back of the boat, our instructor popped out of the ocean, told the four of us to put our regulators in and had us jump in. We knew from the briefing that there was a bar for us to hold on to right under the ship. The first breath under water was so weird, as were the bubbles that came out of the respirator as I breathed out. We were warned to not hold our breath under water- because of the pressure on the air in our lungs- I think it also helped me stay calm to keep taking slow breaths. We hung on as the instructor had us do the 'tests'- what to do in case water got in our masks and respirators. Then we were asked 'the $60 question'- an okay sign to keep scuba diving (or get a refund and just be charged the snorkel price). Of course I said okay- it was too cool to back out.
We started off with the instructor in the middle with the 5 of us linking arms. This was because it was a little difficult at first to control our buoyancy at first- the tanks made it all a little strange. After a few minutes, and although Elizabeth on one side of me kept sinking, our instructor let us go, and motioned for us to follow. It was unbelievable to stay underwater for 30 minutes, just slowly paddling around with our flippers. We got to touch coral (carefully) and the sand on the bottom of the ocean. We probably went 8 or 9 meters down. The dive company had an underwater photographer, and we posed next to a giant clam and an anemone with Nemos. When we were getting to come back up, I really didn't want to and would have rather stuck around under the boat- tons of fish were just hanging out where it was warm. Plus, the tank was a lot easier to handle when I was in the water.
I'm pretty sure this is me...
The second site one of the staff guys gave a snorkeling tour- image 50 or 60 snorkelers swimming after one guy with a lifesaving tube- which acted as a kind of tour 'umbrella' to gather us all. It was totally worth following him around like a... guppy? because I got to hold two sea cucumbers (image a giant dark cucumber, except an animal), one of which was spiky. I also volunteered to stick my hand in a giant clam (I wasn't really thinking...). The tour guy swam down to the bottom with my and stuck my hand in- the giant clam (a meter long?) shut. Don't worry, it didn't hurt. The inside of the clam is made of soft muscle, so it just felt velvety and creepy. All in all, the day on the Reef was a huge success!
This is Spencer, one of my fellow students, next to Wally. Wally is a Wrasse who hangs out at the second site. I got to pet him when he rammed up against my legs when I was sitting and putting on my fins. Don't worry- doesn't eat humans.
As for the rest of the week, the Directed Research projects have been in full swing. I was finishing up the rough draft of my 25 page paper early this week, prepared a 12 minute presentation, gave the presentation yesterday and I just turned in my 'final' rough draft. The real final draft is due tomorrow. What I really can't believe is that in a week from now, I'll be done with the program and traveling in Sydney!
They just strapped the gear on us, helped us sit down on the back of the boat, our instructor popped out of the ocean, told the four of us to put our regulators in and had us jump in. We knew from the briefing that there was a bar for us to hold on to right under the ship. The first breath under water was so weird, as were the bubbles that came out of the respirator as I breathed out. We were warned to not hold our breath under water- because of the pressure on the air in our lungs- I think it also helped me stay calm to keep taking slow breaths. We hung on as the instructor had us do the 'tests'- what to do in case water got in our masks and respirators. Then we were asked 'the $60 question'- an okay sign to keep scuba diving (or get a refund and just be charged the snorkel price). Of course I said okay- it was too cool to back out.
We started off with the instructor in the middle with the 5 of us linking arms. This was because it was a little difficult at first to control our buoyancy at first- the tanks made it all a little strange. After a few minutes, and although Elizabeth on one side of me kept sinking, our instructor let us go, and motioned for us to follow. It was unbelievable to stay underwater for 30 minutes, just slowly paddling around with our flippers. We got to touch coral (carefully) and the sand on the bottom of the ocean. We probably went 8 or 9 meters down. The dive company had an underwater photographer, and we posed next to a giant clam and an anemone with Nemos. When we were getting to come back up, I really didn't want to and would have rather stuck around under the boat- tons of fish were just hanging out where it was warm. Plus, the tank was a lot easier to handle when I was in the water.
I'm pretty sure this is me...The second site one of the staff guys gave a snorkeling tour- image 50 or 60 snorkelers swimming after one guy with a lifesaving tube- which acted as a kind of tour 'umbrella' to gather us all. It was totally worth following him around like a... guppy? because I got to hold two sea cucumbers (image a giant dark cucumber, except an animal), one of which was spiky. I also volunteered to stick my hand in a giant clam (I wasn't really thinking...). The tour guy swam down to the bottom with my and stuck my hand in- the giant clam (a meter long?) shut. Don't worry, it didn't hurt. The inside of the clam is made of soft muscle, so it just felt velvety and creepy. All in all, the day on the Reef was a huge success!
This is Spencer, one of my fellow students, next to Wally. Wally is a Wrasse who hangs out at the second site. I got to pet him when he rammed up against my legs when I was sitting and putting on my fins. Don't worry- doesn't eat humans.
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