The Pyramid- part of the Great Dividing Range in Eastern Queensland.
At the top-clear view.
At the top- the clouds kept rolling past.Monday, March 23, 2009
Pyramid Photos
The Pyramid- part of the Great Dividing Range in Eastern Queensland.At the top-clear view.At the top- the clouds kept rolling past.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Student mode.
The above title is my excuse for the lack of updates- back to the lectures, quizzes and papers. Since my last update, we've had:
- Bird call quiz- so glad to have this done. Imagine 30 students cramming the 24 hours before the quiz, playing the same thirty bird calls over and over. If the bird calls weren't actually being played, the students imitated them at all other times using their own wacky memory tricks. Close your eyes and think of someone singing "I'm a little bronze cuckoo" in a high pitched voice. Over and over.
- Field Excercise Paper for Tim (natural resources management)- mine was about using wood density of trees to predict level of cyclone damage. It was interesting, although the ratio of field time to paper writing was lower than other FEX's. On the plus side, my contribution to the lab portion was sitting at a computer and tracing 30 leaves with my cursor to calculate area.
- Botanical Identification Quiz- Using a computer program that we had been shown previously, three samples were given to students and we had to identify them based on leaves, fruit and seeds. We were required to turn in a list of eight of the characteristics that we used for ID. This was a little bit of a give-away since we could use "NE Queensland", "Tree", and "Leaves present" as three. Fine with me though, 30/30!
-Exam 1 (NRM)- Encouraged to cram by the schedule- review session scheduled two days before the exam with study time built in the afternoon and evening before. I think it went okay!
-Exam 1 (Ecology) and Exam 1 (Socio-Econ & Env. Policy)- Tomorrow! That's why the pictures for the post will come later!
Three friends and I have also taken to playing cards at every possible break, the favorites are Euchre and Hearts. Bus stops, picnic tables, beaches, rainforest, we've played cards everywhere. I've also been burning through the Centre's library in free time, reading some great Australian novels.
In big exciting news- I have climbed my first mountain! The Pyramid was 900 meters (3000 feet!) straight up, climbed two days ago. There were no switchbacks (the reasonable way to go up a mountain) so it was like climbing stairs made of irregular boulders for three hours (up). The view from the top was amazing, and we were in the clouds. I could see the ocean and houses were only a millimeter large. On the way down my legs felt like jelly, and the last half of the way down the weather turned sunny = sunburn. Needless to say, totally exhausted Sunday evening. Pictures will be included in the next post, hopefully. In two days I take off for mid-semester break with two friends for the Whitsundays for five days.
- Bird call quiz- so glad to have this done. Imagine 30 students cramming the 24 hours before the quiz, playing the same thirty bird calls over and over. If the bird calls weren't actually being played, the students imitated them at all other times using their own wacky memory tricks. Close your eyes and think of someone singing "I'm a little bronze cuckoo" in a high pitched voice. Over and over.
- Field Excercise Paper for Tim (natural resources management)- mine was about using wood density of trees to predict level of cyclone damage. It was interesting, although the ratio of field time to paper writing was lower than other FEX's. On the plus side, my contribution to the lab portion was sitting at a computer and tracing 30 leaves with my cursor to calculate area.
- Botanical Identification Quiz- Using a computer program that we had been shown previously, three samples were given to students and we had to identify them based on leaves, fruit and seeds. We were required to turn in a list of eight of the characteristics that we used for ID. This was a little bit of a give-away since we could use "NE Queensland", "Tree", and "Leaves present" as three. Fine with me though, 30/30!
-Exam 1 (NRM)- Encouraged to cram by the schedule- review session scheduled two days before the exam with study time built in the afternoon and evening before. I think it went okay!
-Exam 1 (Ecology) and Exam 1 (Socio-Econ & Env. Policy)- Tomorrow! That's why the pictures for the post will come later!
Three friends and I have also taken to playing cards at every possible break, the favorites are Euchre and Hearts. Bus stops, picnic tables, beaches, rainforest, we've played cards everywhere. I've also been burning through the Centre's library in free time, reading some great Australian novels.
In big exciting news- I have climbed my first mountain! The Pyramid was 900 meters (3000 feet!) straight up, climbed two days ago. There were no switchbacks (the reasonable way to go up a mountain) so it was like climbing stairs made of irregular boulders for three hours (up). The view from the top was amazing, and we were in the clouds. I could see the ocean and houses were only a millimeter large. On the way down my legs felt like jelly, and the last half of the way down the weather turned sunny = sunburn. Needless to say, totally exhausted Sunday evening. Pictures will be included in the next post, hopefully. In two days I take off for mid-semester break with two friends for the Whitsundays for five days.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Catching up on Photos
A selection of plants from the botanical gardens.Don't ask... I don't know what they are.
(that right- lobster claws hanging from a perfectly normal plant)
My cabin- the snake habitat is underneath it.
Another intense boomerang-in-action shot.
Didgeridoo-Aboriginal instrument- at Chillagoe.Friends Brittney (L) and Christy (R)
Friday, March 6, 2009
No Show Hamish
Last night got very exciting- the students were all briefed about an incoming cyclone (hurricane). Cyclone Hamish was forecasted to just stay along the coast (I'm slightly West of the coast) but had been very unpredictable. The staff told us that it was very possible that the cyclone would just give us rain but that if it turned and came inland we could have 150-200 km per hour winds, so we were going to prepare the Centre. Previous to that, all of yesterday afternoon we had known that a cyclone was coming, but we had only been told that it would rain a lot and that our tree planting for the next day was canceled due to severe mud. So, last night after supper we were split into groups and given tasks to prepare the Centre for the potential cyclone.
Students and staff put x's of tape over all of our (already strong glass) windows, took everything that was loose on the porches and put it in big sheds- which was a lot of stuff since we basically live outside. Some students had to walk the property to check for dangerous stuff laying around. My job was to super-stock the 2 bathrooms inside the Centre, because if the winds were bad enough all 30 students + 10ish staff+a family that lives on site would all be living in three [small] rooms. After that was finished, we returned our cabins to continue cyclone-proofing. We had to pack all of our belongings into garbage bags, move our beds to the middle of the room (our four bunks got very cozy) and pack our daypack with essentials, passports and clothes to have down at the Centre if we had to leave our cabins in the middle of the night.
Well, when I woke up at six am I was happy that I wasn't going to be required to live in a small room with lots of people, but my next thought was 'Dang it. My clothes are all in garbage bags shoved under my bunkmate's bed'. So I proceeded to go down the Centre in my pj's to brush my teeth and complain about the lack of cyclone with the other students. We are probably going to be stuck with a week of rain, but at least my assignment that was due this morning at 7:30 was delayed!
Students and staff put x's of tape over all of our (already strong glass) windows, took everything that was loose on the porches and put it in big sheds- which was a lot of stuff since we basically live outside. Some students had to walk the property to check for dangerous stuff laying around. My job was to super-stock the 2 bathrooms inside the Centre, because if the winds were bad enough all 30 students + 10ish staff+a family that lives on site would all be living in three [small] rooms. After that was finished, we returned our cabins to continue cyclone-proofing. We had to pack all of our belongings into garbage bags, move our beds to the middle of the room (our four bunks got very cozy) and pack our daypack with essentials, passports and clothes to have down at the Centre if we had to leave our cabins in the middle of the night.
Well, when I woke up at six am I was happy that I wasn't going to be required to live in a small room with lots of people, but my next thought was 'Dang it. My clothes are all in garbage bags shoved under my bunkmate's bed'. So I proceeded to go down the Centre in my pj's to brush my teeth and complain about the lack of cyclone with the other students. We are probably going to be stuck with a week of rain, but at least my assignment that was due this morning at 7:30 was delayed!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Chillagoe
Back from another adventure! I've spent the past two days on a super-field trip, the Chillagoe camping adventure. Chillagoe is a mining town a few hours west of the Centre, semi-Outbackish. Truth be told, it's probably the closest to the Outback my allergies can handle. We left Tuesday morning and drove to Dinbulah (about a halfway point) where we received a 'bush tucker' (that would be food gathered by Aboriginals) lesson from a local Aboriginal man and his brother and then they gave us boomerang and bullroare- a string and piece of wood that you whip around to make a helicopter noise- lessons. Even with the wind, the boomerang was easier to throw that I expected, and I got both the regular and hunting (three points) boomerangs to return.
Continuing onto Chillagoe, the driving conditions became a little primitive. Dirt roads and lack of air conditioning meant very dusty and dirty passengers, so we went for a swim in a local creek. Extra-careful due to a recent sighting of a brown typan (very, very dangerous snake) we played water polo with our professors.
Then we set up camp, had supper and conked out under the stars. The next day we combined field lectures with an afternoon of caving and more creek polo. It was an experience for sure, with a visit to Balancing Rock (take a guess what it could look like) and a cave where I kept smacking my head. By the way, Chillagoe is mostly savanna (trees and grasses) with rocky outcrops which support a Dry Vine Thicket (a type of rainforest, believe it or not). It was incredibly hot the whole trip, a sweating-in-the-shade type of situation. Today, we had a brief geological tour before re-experiencing the hot and dusty drive back. Showering has never felt so good. Only a week and a half before mid-semester break, my classes are heading into crunch time. I'll try to put up pictures when I've got a little bit of time!
Continuing onto Chillagoe, the driving conditions became a little primitive. Dirt roads and lack of air conditioning meant very dusty and dirty passengers, so we went for a swim in a local creek. Extra-careful due to a recent sighting of a brown typan (very, very dangerous snake) we played water polo with our professors.
Then we set up camp, had supper and conked out under the stars. The next day we combined field lectures with an afternoon of caving and more creek polo. It was an experience for sure, with a visit to Balancing Rock (take a guess what it could look like) and a cave where I kept smacking my head. By the way, Chillagoe is mostly savanna (trees and grasses) with rocky outcrops which support a Dry Vine Thicket (a type of rainforest, believe it or not). It was incredibly hot the whole trip, a sweating-in-the-shade type of situation. Today, we had a brief geological tour before re-experiencing the hot and dusty drive back. Showering has never felt so good. Only a week and a half before mid-semester break, my classes are heading into crunch time. I'll try to put up pictures when I've got a little bit of time!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Mamu, Josephine Falls and Cairns
What an exciting weekend! We started on Saturday morning by driving to the Mamu Canopy Walk at Wooroonooran National Park. The 30 students and couple of staff spent two hours helping to plant rainforest trees where recent construction destroyed some. After packed lunches, we walked along the canopy walk-suspended up to twenty feet. The grand finale was a canopy tower, where we climbed 6 flights of stairs to a very impressive view- the canopy was placed on the side of a mountain. Then we went to Josephine Falls, where we swam and went on the 'slide'. Up river there were some huge falls, and some smaller ones were downstream. In the middle there was a shallow pool (with some distance before downstream) and a mini-falls rock that you could sit at the top of and slide down, it was awesome.
The Lagoon
We drove to Cairns after the waterfalls where we checked in at the hostel and headed to the Rugby game. It was the most relaxed professional sports game that I've been to, with high school stadium sized seats along one side, and a grass ampitheater around the rest. I sat in the grass with some friends and tried my hardest to understand the game, by the end I think I got most of it. On Sunday three friends and I caught a bus to the botanical gardens, which were great. Lots of cool flower pictures and huge leaves. The rest of the day in Cairns we ate at very nice cafes, ate gelato and swam at the 'Lagoon' which was actually a very nice, free controlled beach. Time for class!
My backpack in action. So handy in Cairns where four of us piled our stuff into it, and then I conned someone else into carrying it...
The LagoonMonday, February 23, 2009
Extreme Spotlighting
Sitting in lecture yesterday we received a little bit of a shock. It was the introduction to the new field lecture, for the ecology class, and we were informed spotlighting was involved. So far so good. Then our professor, Siggy, told us about the shifts. Each of three nights (starting last night) groups of nine would go at the 7:30-9pm 11pm-1am and 3am-5am shifts. That's right- 3am. Divided by cabins, cabin 3 (my cabin) was selected for the super-late 3am shift first. Tonight I have the 7:30pm shift and Wednesday night the 11pm shift. I have to say that I was immediately crabby and tired as soon as I found out about the shifts.
Looking back it wasn't so bad. At least it did not rain for my shift- it poured for the other two. Out of the nine people per shift, groups of 3 went to three different types of forests and walked paths to look for animals. My group had the clearing, thinking that at 3am it was best to take the area where you couldn't get lost. Well... a huge field of tall grasses is easier to get lost in than you may think (or maybe you came to this conclusion before I did). My group, two good friends and I, did not actually get lost as much as we took the wrong trail. It worked just fine for our purposes though.
At about 4:30am we headed back to the starting point to collect bugs out of our giant light rig- this is when it got exciting. Brittany took one step off of the road we were walking along, in order to get to the light, and then freaked out. She was about 10 seconds away from stepping on the head of a scrub python about 4-5inches in diameter and 3 meters long. It stuck its tongue out at us and got in the angry double-S shape. We decided to play it safe and run away. The exciting end to the evening definitely made it more difficult to go back to sleep, but here I am at 10:20am. I'm guessing my whole cabin will start getting crabby around lunch time, and I don't think I'll be able to manage 'cheerful' until this weekend when this whole thing is over!
Leaftailed Gecko- it was very spiny.
Baby Boyd's Dragon. This one was about eight inches long, they get up to three feet long. About 2 seconds later our intern picked it up to hold it and pet it... he does that with just about everything in the rainforest.
Looking back it wasn't so bad. At least it did not rain for my shift- it poured for the other two. Out of the nine people per shift, groups of 3 went to three different types of forests and walked paths to look for animals. My group had the clearing, thinking that at 3am it was best to take the area where you couldn't get lost. Well... a huge field of tall grasses is easier to get lost in than you may think (or maybe you came to this conclusion before I did). My group, two good friends and I, did not actually get lost as much as we took the wrong trail. It worked just fine for our purposes though.
At about 4:30am we headed back to the starting point to collect bugs out of our giant light rig- this is when it got exciting. Brittany took one step off of the road we were walking along, in order to get to the light, and then freaked out. She was about 10 seconds away from stepping on the head of a scrub python about 4-5inches in diameter and 3 meters long. It stuck its tongue out at us and got in the angry double-S shape. We decided to play it safe and run away. The exciting end to the evening definitely made it more difficult to go back to sleep, but here I am at 10:20am. I'm guessing my whole cabin will start getting crabby around lunch time, and I don't think I'll be able to manage 'cheerful' until this weekend when this whole thing is over!
Leaftailed Gecko- it was very spiny.
Baby Boyd's Dragon. This one was about eight inches long, they get up to three feet long. About 2 seconds later our intern picked it up to hold it and pet it... he does that with just about everything in the rainforest.
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