A Week Gone By

February 27, 2014

Today officially marks me being in Australia for a week. It has honestly felt longer than that already with all the activities I have done. What better way to mark the week off with seeing kangaroos?!  As we were driving to our sampling site this morning we saw a herd of kangaroos. Our unit lecturer was talking about what we were going to be doing but all of us newbie Americans were freaking out about seeing our first kangaroos. It happened so fast none of us got pictures. 

For class today we were taking samples from sea grass and sandy areas. So a few of us had to suit up and get in the water. It was chilly this morning so we put on wetsuits. I didn't bring mine but Lianna let me use her suit so I could stay warm. 

We collected some cool things right away! All of these got set free after they got their picture taken. We were more interested in catching much smaller animals.

This is a little eel. 

A little fish.

 A ghost shrimp.

After we got our samples... I took lots of pictures of the sea stars that were around.

 

I couldn't believe all the beautiful colors that they were. I also held one once everyone reassured me that they wouldn't harm me in anyway. The sea star began to sucker to my hand while I held it for its photo shoot.

My group that was on land got cold so they headed to the bus but some other groups were still working, so I stayed in the water because it was warmer than the air.

It was a lot of fun just floating around and relaxing for awhile before heading back to uni to do lab work.

When we got back to uni we set up our samples to settle then got to have our lunch break. It was just in time for all the res kids to go get free pancakes in the new building. I met some more Aussies and got introduced to pancakes with lemon and sugar on top. It was very good actually. 

Then we were stuck in lab for almost 5 hours. We began by "analysing" our plankton samples. At first I had no idea what we were looking for. It all looked like plant matter to me, but slowly I began to learn what they looked like. It didn't help that our sample did not have much in it at all. Jan, the head unit lecturer, saw that Lianna and I were discouraged so she brought over a petri dish that had some "cute" plankton in it. Here is a video of what we saw under the microscope.

You can see the rotifers moving around and the orange is a Hoplocarida (I think). They were cute after looking at motionless things for over an hour. 

The next part was to look at our samples from today. They were much more fun to look at, part of the reason being I actually "recognised" what they were. Here are some photos I took through the microscope.

 Giant kelp shell and green shrimp (not under a microscope)

Sea Brittle under the microscope

 An eel and green shrimp under the microscope

I also took some videos. They are AWESOME!!!

 This is of a sea anemone moving.

This is of some sort of embryo... you can see the heart beating. SO COOL! 

After 5 hours behind the microscope in the lab we were all getting tired and crabby. So the lecturers let us go. I went to the store with Evan and Kettle to get some food and afterwards Evan and I made tacos. We sat around and hung out with my house mates sharing stories and laughs about all sorts of things. Then we started talking about words that mean different things. I learned not to say I am "rooting" for a team or a person because here in Australia it means something along the lines of "hooking up with" a person. We are thinking of making a poster for our dorm house thing of American vs. Australian words and other sorts of things. It was a very long day but I had a lot of fun and got to see some very cool little little critters. 

Days 2 and 3 of Field Trips

February 26, 2014

Yesterday, my day began by getting all dressed up in my waders.

I was the person in my group sent to retrieve the scavenger traps from the Hopkins river (I was just tall enough). These traps may sound sophisticated but they were just "soft drink" bottles with their tops cut off, inverted and zip tied together. Bait was place in them before they were sunk, so my job was to get them out of the water and count all the critters we found. We dumped the contents into a tray so we could see them better. 

As you can see was caught many snails and a fish. There were also some amphipods and worms that were visible up close.

The next part of the field trip took us to Shelly Beach where we began our scavenger hunt of organisms. We were assigned to groups and given a list of organisms we had to identify and find. Shelly Beach is also where the dead whale washed ashore and has been decomposing for almost two years. There isn't a lot left.

Exploring the tide pools was my favorite part of the day! There were so many starfish, anemones, and other cool animals to look at. There were also many beautiful shells from snails. Here are some of the pictures from our tide pooling.

After a few hours we took our lunch break. Us American's decided to have a nice friendly competition of get the rock in the soup can. Five minutes into trying we almost gave up because no one had made it, then I sunk the lucky rock. I was excited. I think the Australians just laughed at us. 

This is the view of the beach as we left to head to the lab.

I could spend hours there just taking photos of everything in the tide pools and, of course, collecting some gorgeous shells!

Off to the lab we went... to count over 1,000 amphipods, lots of isopods, and various insects. It was a very long afternoon behind the microscope. We were rewarded with a free dinner put on by the Res (residence hall). I thought it was chicken tacos but was told later it may have been lamb. Whatever it was, it was good and I was hungry. 

The rest of the night I joined in some 'get to know you games' and hung out in the uni bar/ lounge. It was a lot of fun. I learned that rednecks here are called bogans and they live up north. Australians also like to listen to American's talk because we have the cool accents. So everybody had a go at each other's accents and I was told my "g'day mate" was "cute." I am not sure what that means... I also had my first Australian beer. It tasted like beer. Overall, it was a great night with lots of laughs! 

This morning was the best yet! Each group was required to have a least one person snorkel in "Pea Soup" at Port Fairy. I have no idea why they called it Pea Soup because it was very blue water. I was the only one in my group to take and pass the snorkeling test last week so I got to get suited up. I was SOOOO EXCITED!

  

I was grouped up with Sean (UWW) and Kettle (Deakin, Elijah is his first name but everyone calls him Kettle). Both are really cool guys. Kettle was the only one wearing gloves so he was the rock turner over, just in case there was something that could sting us. And he found some pretty awesome things and I took some awesome photos, if I do say so myself ;)

Sean also found some cool things...

And then I found... by the way I was super excited about the sea cucumber because we thought we wouldn't be able to find one. I just happened to turn over the right shell!

We were the group that stayed in the longest. I was COLD! I was so cold that when I was trying to get out of the water at the beach I kept falling over because I couldn't feel my toes really well. I decided right then, I need to invest in a hood so I can trap more of the heat in my body when I go in the water. I probably should have gotten out sooner, but I wanted to look at everything! 

Here is a short clip of me following a fish... sorry it is choppy but it is the ocean. Now you can see why I wanted to stay in forever.

After we were all back on the bus we got to go to a boat club house and eat. There were also hot showers there so I took advantage of that. We got debriefed on our marine biology field trip and then began our marine and coastal ecosystems field trip. This field trip we will be looking at plankton, sediment, and I not sure what else yet. Anyway, we collected plankton today. I was in the second group to go out on the boat into the South Ocean. 

It was a lot of fun. Then my group went to the beach to collect there. I put on waders since I had already taken my suit off and everything, but they had a leak in them and I hit a hole so I got soaked anyway. After all the science stuff was done, Evan and I went for a short swim. The water was 19 degrees Celsius and was much warmer than what I was swimming in earlier. We were then labeled the "crazy Americans" by our instructor. I told him it was warmer than the water off the coast of San Diego... he was surprised and said that Australians would never go in that cold of water. I guess I will still be one of those crazy Americans to him for the rest of the year. Oh well, it was worth it... the water did feel warm!

We returned to uni with a bus load of hungry "kids" (I am one of the oldest). There was free food again. Sausages, onions, and bread. We walked in there like a pack of hungry dingos. After we all were full we slowly left the building to clean up. The rest of the night I spent cleaning my equipment and clothes and getting ready for tomorrow. 

It has been a very busy two days but they have been incredible. I don't know if I can even call this school I am having such a great time. How many people get to say that they 'have' to snorkel for their class (or unit as they are called here)? I can't wait to see what I 'have' to do next!

Day 1 of Field Trips

February 24, 2014

Today started by getting ready to go out in the field for my marine biology class.

Here is where our field trip took place... tough life right? ;)

For our field trip we set up pitfall traps to catch organisms that are active on the sandy beach between night and day. We used plastic cups and buried them in the sand. We put a small amount of ethanol in the bottom of the cup to kill the organisms that fall in. This will allow us to identify them later in the week. You can see the little red flags that are marking the cups. Afterwards we got a lollies! (suckers)   

The next part of the day we took measurements of ploychaeta (worms), mussels, and crabs collected from the river. We tested two different parts of the river. One part was at the mouth and further up river. We are comparing the differences we find and seeing if there is a correlation to the salinity. 

For dinner we got our first try of Australian pizza. It was really good! We went back later to check our traps and collected the contents within. On the way there I found a cuddle fish bone washed up on shore. I was really excited! They wash up on shore all the time here.  

It was really great to get back out in the field especially since it was on the beach! The rest of the night we got together and worked on our species guides and hung out. 

A Little Bit of Heaven

February 23, 2014

This morning was a lazy morning. I am still trying to get used to the time change, so it was nice to lie in bed a little longer today and just relax. This afternoon us Americans had our first BBQ down by the beach. We picked some meat and potato chips on the way.

I also tried my first kangaroo burger. It was good but gamey.

After eating a socializing for awhile we walked over to the beach. This is the view from the path.

I decided to get in the water. It was very cold so my swim was very short.

Then we walked down to the breakwall. Here is a video of the view from the cliffs next to it. 

We continued walking down the path to Thunderpoint and stopped at some tidal pools

I also found some really cool shells!

The view at Thunderpoint! 

The rest of the night I relaxed and worked on some homework with my group to get ready for our field trip tomorrow!

Busy Day!

February 22, 2014

My day began fairly early thanks to the birds and still adjusting to the time difference. I made the most of it by catching up on emails and of course doing my blog! Lianna and I also took a walk down to the river next to uni (campus). It is very beautiful! It was misting when we got down there so it looks kind of gloomy in the picture. 

We continued to walk around for awhile orienting ourselves to uni and the area near by. Afterwards Venessa, the awesome Australian adopted mom of the Americans, took us shopping around town. She knows where all the deals are! All of us girls bought 4mm wetsuits for $45 AUD. It was an amazing deal. I cannot wait to try it out! 

Venessa also introduced us to meat pies. I ate mine plain but she made me take a picture of hers. "This is how the Australians eat meat pies." It was very good!

After all our running around town, I was wiped out. I took the rest of the afternoon to relax. We were invited to go to a 21st birthday party later in the evening so I was happy for a little nap. The theme of the 21st birthday party was costumes. Katie, Lianna, and I just got inexpensive masquerade masks (my idea). Here are the pictures!

When we arrived at the party I was surprised because Aiden's family was there along with his friends. Drinking age here is 18, so I thought it would have been a low key party. I was wrong. Pool is a very intense social game here. So we ended up meeting him and his friends and watching the pool games. One of his relatives kept coming around and serving us all sorts of food. It was super good! When it was time for cake, it was almost like our wedding where everyone gathers around to watch Aidan cut the cake. Then they have "speeches." Family and friends talk about how they know Aiden and their favorite memories of him. It is a very lovely tradition. We all went downtown next. Out taxi driver was very funny and was giving us Americans the inside scoop of taxi drivers in Australia. The rest of the night we talked to Aiden's friends at the bars and played some more pool.