Toomba Field Trip/Magnetic Island

The Whitsundays

I would like to begin by, once again, apologizing for the ridiculous delay in getting anything done. I have been busy traveling, studying, and soaking up my last few sweet days in this country. I have, however, been able to get my Whitsundays video done. You know... just 3 months late.

Here is how my Whitsundays adventure went down:

For the Easter weekend, Sharkies (the student travel agency on JCU's campus) set up a live-aboard sailing trip to the Whitsundays. For the reasonable price of almost $600, I got to spend a day and night in Airlie Beach, 2 nights and 3 days aboard a diving sailboat, and got transportation to and from Townsville. Mama and Papa were wonderful enough to grant me the money for this adventure for my birthday, so I got to enjoy for free.

We left Friday morning and somehow made a 3 hour bus ride south a 4 hour one. We stopped twice, once in Bowen just to take pictures with the giant Mango. In case you weren't aware, Australia is famous for its giant things. If you don't believe me, check out this website: http://www.bigthings.com.au/

Once we finally made it to Airlie Beach, we checked in at Magnum's Hostel and had a quick bite to eat at their in-house bar. Then, we went exploring. We stopped in at Opal's at the recommendation of Sharkies and bought jewelry and learned to played didgeridoos. I'm going to re-recommend this place if not for the quality of jewelry and didge instruction, then for the quality and total hotness of the man that works behind the desk there. For real, you don't want to miss him. He was probably one of the best looking men I've seen in Australia, which is both sad and true.

That night, after dinner, instead of going and partying it up in the hostel, I went to bed. I would like to take this time to mention some things about hostels:

Not all hostels are created equal. There are dodgy hostels, nice hostels, party hostels, and quiet hostels.

If you like your sleep, and you prefer to do it without the presence of bedbugs, then I suggest you stay in a nice, quiet hostel. If you like to party, stay in a party hostel. An excellent way to pick through these qualities is by google reviews. I have found all of my hostels this way, and so far, what people have said has been completely true.

Anyway, back to Magnum's. Magnum's is a nice, party hostel. Great for drinking and meeting people, terrible for sleeping. Such was the case that first night. Most of the group including myself, was exhausted, and the loud music thumping in conjunction with the wealth of Germans and Scandinavians running around outside made sleep impossible. Our aircon also kept going out... very inconvenient considering the temperature was still only making it down to about 25C (78F) at night. I managed to get some shut eye in before our early morning of repacking to prepare for the boat.

We stopped by Airlie's Saturday morning markets and did some shopping. I am such a sucker for markets. I ended up buying some more jewelry and some wine and jam, which I had to figure out how to store in my luggage so it wouldn't get destroyed during transportation. Believe me, where ever you travel, you should take less so you can return with more.

After a lunch of sushi, we boarded the sailboat and headed out to sea. It wasn't long until we were docked at a nearby island, diving on its fringing reef. Here's a quick lesson on the Great Barrier Reef:

The present day Great Barrier Reef formed 8,000 years ago, at the beginning of the inter-glacial period, when sea levels rose with the melting of the ice caps and glaciers.

The Great Barrier Reef formed on the continental shelf, and stretches from New South Wales all the way north to Papua New Guinea. Ten thousand years ago, one could have walked on dry land from Townsville to the outer reef (and we're complaining about the sea level rising now!).

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is composed of the barrier reef, as well as a slew of fringing reefs found around most of the islands - which are actually mountain tops like the ones found bordering Australia's coastline today.

The fringing reefs, while hardy and resilient, are not at attractive as the barrier reefs. Enjoy them for what they are, and don't be disappointed when the visibility sucks or the colors aren't everything you expected them to be. Look in the nooks and crannies. You're likely to find a friendly Lionfish like I did.



Can you spot him?

That night, we did a second dive, this time without the comfort of daylight. It was my very first night dive. When we landed on the sandy bottom, we played with the luminescent plankton by stimulating the water. When I shined my torch (flashlight) around me, I saw thousands of little red eyes looking back at me - they were those of hundreds and hundreds of tiny shrimp. We even got to assist the huge cod in hunting by shining our lights on the little fish in front of it, and watching them ambush. It was super cool! Throughout the course of the weekend, we did 3 more dives. I saw my first huge Maori Wrasse and Blue Spotted Lagoon Ray. For those who are on the fence about SCUBA certification, DO IT. Do not miss out on what the reef has to offer. A few of my friends here dived recently for the first time, and they wish they would have done it the whole time. It's an expensive hobby, but if you can at all afford it, do it.

Our trip to Whitehaven would have been wonderful, if it hadn't been for the torrential rain that soaked the place and left behind a dreary mist. Whithaven Beach has consistently been rated one of the top beaches in the world for its swirly aqua blue water and softer than baby powder white sand. This was not the picture I enjoyed. On the walk up to the summit of the island to the famous viewing plank, my legs got covered in mud as my flip flops flipped the thick goo from the middle of my back to my ankles. The spitting rain covered up a few of the tears that fell from my eyes as I realized that my Whitehaven dream had turned into a huge disappointment. We got to the plank and tried to make the best of the bad situation by taking pictures before walking back down and dawning our stinger suits to go play in the ocean. Sharon, Laura, Beth, Rajana and myself bounced around in the waves and talked about our homes and lives and the such. For 5 glorious minutes, the sun came out and the entire place lit up with blue and white. We managed to get out a handful of pictures before the clouds once again returned. To avoid this situation, here is something that I wish I would have known when traveling in Australia:

Go south during the summer and north during the winter. The warm weather in the south is beautiful, and the sun will be a welcome sight after the non-stop rain of the wet season in the north. During the winter, the south goes cold, while the north experiences nothing but sun, pleasantly warm temperatures, and practically no humidity. The south/north dividing line is the Sydney/New Castle area. Believe me, this is amazingly valuable information.

Islandive, the company we went through, was awesomely good to us. They fed us delicious food, gave us hot tea and coffee non-stop, and briefed us on anything you could want to know about the Whitsundays and the sea critters. I can't recommend sailing with them more. Just make sure you do it during the winter. They are classy people.

As we sailed back into port, the sun came out (of course) leaving us only one last thing to do: drink. Sharon and I enjoyed Pina Coladas from the top deck of the sea-side bar while listening to Missy Higgins. We grabbed all of our suitcases after enjoying a final few minutes in fantasy-land, and hopped back on the bus to go back to our real life academic lives.

Soon enough, Mt. Stuart was in the distance. The Whitsundays had at least been an interesting adventure, even if not a perfect one. And I got to know some really great people who have ended up being my friends, and that's what it's really all about. :)


Quick Edit:

If you're interested in how to play the didgeridoo, please check out the video below for a free lesson! Courtesy of the hot guy at Opal's in Airlie Beach!

Packing: My Final Review

Now that I have reached the end of my journey, I think it is a good time to discuss packing; what I did wrong and what I did right.

I'll just put it out there plain as day... I over-packed. I thought I hadn't, but I did. To my defense, I thought I would get to do more traveling than I ended up doing. Here are some things I didn't need:

*Note: These things go for Townsville and North Queensland, in general. This may not fly with the Southern folks.*

I didn't need that 2nd pair of jeans. One pair would have been quite enough.

I didn't need that 2nd fleece pullover, either.

Out of the 3 dressy outfits I brought, I only needed one. In Townsville, it is perfectly normal and acceptable to go out in jean shorts and a cute top. It's hot as hell here most of the year, and so people dress for it. Sorry dudes, but y'all will need to wear pants when you go out. I love being a chick. ;)

I could have brought about a quarter less tops. The bulk of what I wore was t-shirts and wifebeaters. So, I wish I would have left most of the cute American Eagle-type stuff at home.

My dance shoes and sheet music were a waste for me to bring. North Queensland is... how do I say this?... uncultured. This is not a place of art, it is a place of sun, swim suits, and sport. I didn't find it hard to accept, though. Relaxing next to the rockpool on the strand is a pretty nice alternative to dance class.

I ended up not needing the sheets that I brought. University Hall provides sheets when you move in. I can't say the same for everywhere else, but to anyone moving into this hall, that's one less thing you have to bring. However, bringing my fleece blanket was a wonderful idea. It does get chilly (chilly being about 68F) here at night the last two months, and the fleece blanket I brought has been perfect.

Now, here are some things I'm glad I did:

I didn't bring any dive gear. I considered buying a mask/fins/snorkel set before I left and bringing it, but I'm really glad I didn't. I found a super cheap set here (all 3 for $60), and while they're not top of the line, they have served me very well. And I won't feel that guilty if I have to leave them here for lack of space in my luggage when I leave.

Speaking of dive gear, here are some great places to buy stuff:

Anaconda Outdoors Store: where I got my mask/fins/snorkel
Big W: great for cheap stinger suits, they run $30.

I didn't bring a towel. Once again, University Hall ended up providing one for me to bathe with. And for a beach towel, I suggest Big W.

*Note: Do not shop at K Mart. You'll want to because it's something you'll recognize. But K Mart's prices are about 1.5 times that of Big W for the same thing.*

I brought enough shampoo and conditioner to last me a few days when I initially came. During the crazy trip in Melbourne, you won't really have any time to shop, so make sure you bring enough for that portion of the trip.


I spend several moments everyday now contemplating how I'm going to get things back home. I bought A LOT of stuff, and I'm not even done shopping. I have no idea where I'm going to put some of it. I've accepted that I'm probably going to have to ship some of it and may even have to pay a luggage fee. Only time will tell!

I can't believe I only have three and a half weeks left in this country... but that's for another post. I probably won't have time to edit anymore videos before I leave, but I promise one or two more of these. All of the videos will get done within 10 days of my return to the US. Promise!

Two Months Worth of Adventures

I can't apologize enough for taking so long to get this done. Mid-term assessment time came around and I suddenly had no time to do anything fun. I even spent my 21st Birthday writing a paper. But here's a recap of everything covered in this video:

The Barbeque:

"The Group" as it has come to be known, was just in its infancy when we were all invited over to Tim's for a genuine Aussie barbeque complete with Roo and Goon punch. It was decided immediately that Kangaroo is some of the best meat money can buy with a taste similar to steak, but leaner. The goon punch was pretty good, too. For anyone out of the loop, goon is boxed wine... pretty much the only affordable alcohol here in Australia. It's disgusting, but if you mix it with some juice and sprinkle in some other alcohols, it can be pretty good. After some swimming and cane toad catching (see picture below), things got pretty crazy. The blokes left us ladies alone in the house while they went to get pizza, during which Tim crashed the car. When they got back, we were pretty much swimming in a pool of goon punch on Tim's floor. Not a pretty sight... but awesomely fun nonetheless!

Crystal Creek:

Probably one of the most amazing weekends of my life was the weekend I discovered Crystal Creek. For those of you in Missouri who have been to Johnson Shut-Ins... Crystal Creek is WAAAY better. It's like Johnson Shut-Ins on steroids. We splashed around in the cool crisp water and jumped from awesome heights into the wells. We slid down the naturally smooth rock slides about a million times and just relaxed in the calmer waters.. all while looking out over the lush, green mountains and valleys that surrounded the area. That night when we came back, we took a walk over to the Ross River where we skinny dipped and swung from the tree rope into the water. We almost got caught... but I'll just let Tim tell the story. The next day we went back to Crystal Creek to have our fun all over again. This time, though, we stopped on the side of the road to steal some sugar cane, and then spent a considerable amount of time figuring out how we should eat it. Much more tasty, was when we stopped at Frosty Mango on the way back that evening. To say that the ice cream there is amazing would be an understatement. I had fresh Mango ice cream that was to die for. We continued our gluttonous adventure by stopping for huge pizzas that were the most American I've been able to find. Big, greasy, and full of toppings, just the way we like 'em. :) I'm not sure how I could have stuck anymore adventure in that weekend. It was absolutely amazing, and I spent it with AMAZING people.

My Biology Field Trip:

My field trip to Pallarenda Beach was full of academic discovery. We took a profile of the tidal zone, found lots of animals, and dug many holes. It was the first time in my life that I had seen wild sand dollars, hermit crabs, and bivalve siphons. I was pretty excited. This trip ended with an epic math fail. Damn subtraction.

Rock Climbing:

Ryan decided to take a bunch of us to a gym in Townsville to go rock climbing. We spent a few hours scaling up and down the wall. Actually, I'm pretty sure the majority of us spent most of the time on the ground sitting or doing hand-stands while watching Ryan and Rayna own the wall. While I was at the gym, I got a job there teaching Zumba, and Ryan got one supervising the rock wall. I'd say it was a pretty productive day! After we left the gym, we went to the Riverway swimming pool. The pool was beautiful and amazingly, it was free. Ryan got in trouble for climbing trees (what, the walls weren't enough?), and then we went to Dominoes for all you can eat pizza. I'm pretty sure all of us had enough pizza for 4 people each. So much for all those calories we burned throughout the rest of the day!

Bowling for Ryan's Birthday:

For Ryan's 23rd birthday, he wanted to go bowling, and so we did. We all had fun nicknames (mine was Pinky), and spent a lot of time bowling like crazy people. The first round, when I was bowling seriously, I bowled the best game of my life... 68! I was super proud. Ryan drove Sharon and I on his motorcycle (at different times, of course!) which was TOTALLY awesome! We ended the night drinking and watching Disney movies. Pretty sweet, if you ask me!

Well, those are only a few of the many adventures I had over the last few months that have yet to make it onto my blog.

It's coming!

I am currently working on the new video blog. It should be up by the end of the week. You'll be able to see things like: rock climbing, bowling, Crystal Creek, a biology field trip, and more! Thanks so much for your patience as I work around my busy uni and travel schedules to get these done!

I'm Defying Gravity

I have been listening to this song a lot lately. Gotta love it.

Defying Gravity - Wicked

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm threw with playing by the rules of someone else's game

Too late for second guessing
too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes...
And leap

It's time to try defying gravity
I think I'll try defying gravity
And you can't pull me down

I'm through accepting limits
Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But til I try I'll never know

Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love
I guess I've lost
Well if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost

I'd sooner buy defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
And you can't pull me down

Unlimited
Together we're unlimited
Together we'll be the greatest team there's ever been
Galinda
Dreams the way we planned em
If we work in tandem
There's no fight we cannot win

Just you and I defying gravity
With you and I defying gravity
They'll never bring us down

...

I hope you're happy in the end
I hope you're happy
My friend

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky
As someone told me lately
Everyone deserves the chance to fly
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I'm defying gravity
I'm flying high
Defying gravity
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down
Bring me down
Ahhh!

:)

Orpheus Island

I spent this last weekend playing around in what almost anyone would consider to be paradise. I know, my life is rough. ;)

Orpheus Island Research Station is located on National Park land in the Great Barrier Reef. Only the small station and a resort where guests fork over $2000/night are on the island. And at this point in time, the resort is closed for renovation... leaving my academic group the island to ourselves.

After never falling asleep Thursday night, I started getting ready at 3am. I then ate a quick Nutella sandwich, met up with some other girls from Uni Hall, and made the trek over to the bus stop. The bus arrived late, making our professor nervous, but we were on the road by 4:45. On the bus to Taylor's Beach (north east of Townsville), I wistfully stared out the window, while almost everyone slept. I watched a sunrise hidden behind a blanket of clouds begin while we rolled into the parking lot. I ran flat out to the bathroom to put my contacts in. Then, tragedy struck. My right contact was TORN. My mind raced with, "This is the 2nd time in my life I will have seen coral, and I won't actually SEE it!" But, I reminded myself that there are "no worries" and went on with my day. I walked with some others over to the servo and bought some chips and a Monster energy drink, which I skulled in order to make it onto the boat on time. The boat ride over to Orpheus was AMAZING. It was, without a doubt, one of the most intense experiences of my life. The boat was small and fast, and it catapulted itself over the wave crests. If it hadn't been for the death grip I was exerting on my seat, I would have flown in the air and landed again on the bottom of the boat with a thump.

As we pulled up to the island, the only thing that could have made the experience more perfect was the Jurassic Park theme song playing in the background. The lush, green forested hills fell seamlessly into the calm, teal waters below. The only dent in the background was the low-lying dive house and the sign that said, "Orpheus Island Research Station, James Cook University." We all hopped off the boat, grabbed our stuff, and went and made ourselves at home in our new rooms.... followed by breakfast number 3.

By the time the final boat arrived, it was 10am. We had a quick meeting, and then went on a hike around our corner of the island - Pioneer Bay. At one point, we went and climbed a very large boulder that looked out onto the endless ocean, and I had one of those life moments where you feel really insignificant in just the right way. The picture I've included in no way does that view justice.


After the hike, but before dinner, I got to go snorkeling. I had just stuck my mask in the water when, BAM!, a massive stingray swam right underneath me. And I do mean, massive. The rest of the snorkel was cool, despite the poor visibility. I saw little electric blue fish and aqua colored corals. Even though I only had one eye!

We came back and had a dinner of burgers, hot dogs, steak, and ice cream. After which, most people went straight to bed. I tried, but to no avail. I had only 3 hours of sleep that night.

Most of Saturday we spent profiling the Bay. I saw black-tipped reef sharks, crabs, a spider conch, and lots of microatolls. I also got roasted... again. At least it was only the very tops of my shoulders this time! After we got done with our work, we went for another snorkel. This time, our professor took us over the clam beds, which I didn't know at the time. But as soon as I started snorkeling, I swam over top of clams that must have been hundreds and hundreds of pounds, and 1-2 meters across. And some of them had up to 10 clams in each bed. It was amazing to swim down and run my fingers along the insides of their "lips", which were fluorescing green, purple, and blue from their zooxanthellae. They felt soft, yet firm. It was absolutely incredible.

That night, after a dinner of Coconut curry made with fresh coconuts from the island, we got to work on our paper. We were there for school, after all. My small group was perfectly constructed with 2 city planners who knew everything about dumpy leveling, and 2 biologists (the other girl marine) who could handle the biological data. At the end of Saturday night, we were leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else.

Sunday morning started beautifully. The sun was shining... everything was hopeful. We took the small aluminum boats over to Iris Point on the side of the island. We went on another hike through the forest to check out some rocks. Our professor thought it was HILARIOUS that we were walked through the hot forest, evading the stinging plants, got super sweaty, only to come upon rock. My professor, after egging me on all weekend about how lame Missouri must be, asked me, "Do they have rocks in Missouri?" My only response was, "Why yes, we do happen to have rocks." Believe me, it was hilarious.

The next part involves me rock hopping for a half hour to get to our transect point, where it started to rain and became ridiculously dangerous for us to be doing the work we were doing. I honestly can't believe no one broke their ankle on the slippery-as-ice boulders. There were lots of awesome biological moments to make up for the hard work, though. We saw a thousands and thousands of sea cucumbers everywhere in the shallow tidal pools. There was a huge conch, about a foot long, that was slugging itself along the algae that plagued the intertidal area. Crabs scurried everywhere. The coral that lived on the microatolls was highlighter colors. Blue, green, fushia, pink, purple. Clams fountained water everywhere. Polychaete worms were slithering around in the sediment. We found an electric blue sea star at the main reef's edge. I'm absolutely positive my eyes lit up like a child's at everything. There is no doubt in my mind now that I'm going to move to a tropical environment once I have the option.

After braving the freezing rain in nothing but my swim suit top, and rock hopping back to the beach, we got to go for one last snorkel. I swam in and out of the towering corals after the bright green and blue parrotfish. It was absolutely amazing.

That night, I feasted on lasagna. It was one of the best meals I've had since I've been in Australia. The joy of the dinner was short-lived, however, since I had to then go and write an essay to turn in before the next morning.

*Insert section where I talk about writing an essay until 2:30 in the morning*

We woke up at 5 on Sunday, and cleaned until just right after the 1st boat left at 7. Naps on the beach and a marathon of Cougar Town followed until our boat left at 9:30.

Before I knew it, I was back to reality in Townsville. Of course, nothing finished off a great weekend like sleeping for 10 hours Monday night. I have a refreshed love of Australia, that's for sure!

Enjoy the second video showing off my living arrangements! It's a bonus!