Emily's First Trip to the Ocean

March 30, 2014

This morning I slept in hoping that it would help me feel better. I felt about the same when I woke up, but Alix was awake too so we bought our tickets for our trip to Perth. Over Easter break we will be spending eight days exploring Perth! That lifted my spirits! The afternoon I spent reading my book in the sun. A little vitamin D did me a lot of good. I felt a 100 times better! 

After dinner, we planed our excursion out to Shelly Beach. Emily had never been to the ocean before, so I thought it would be a great night to take her to see it! Nick kindly drove.

 Along the walk we found some cool  views

A cave we may explore someday

At Shelly Beach

Emily's first time on an ocean beach

 Tide pools!

This sea anemone is safe to touch so we had Emily touch it too! It feels like little Velcro when you pull your finger away.   

Starfish

Emily holding her first starfish

Nick Exploring other tide pools

 Starfish are cool!

Starfish on the move... slowly

 Underwater view of a tide pool... now you can see why they call it Shelly Beach!

First time in the Ocean!

 He was so proud of finding a crab... it was dead and a starfish was eating it. Don't worry he gave it back.

 Nick found a live Elephant snail

 EWW... he licked it! 

Family pic with the housemates!

 Glorious sunset!

Me and Emily

The coolest part of the night was seeing Emily just smile the whole time. I couldn't believe she had never been to the ocean before. I was so excited for her. I was running all around finding cool things for her to look at and experience. All three of us had a great time exploring and finding shells. On the way back I teased Emily about changing her major to marine biology. She laughed and said it crossed her mind. I was such a cool experience to be apart of. I am beginning to see why teachers love to teach. To see some get excited about something you are really passionate about is pretty amazing. On the way home, I made a comment to Nick and Emily saying I still can't believe I am in Australia. Nick said jokingly aren't you supposed to be settled in by now?! All of us laughed. It is hard to believe a midwest girl has sea water running through her veins. I feel so at peace being in or around the ocean. It is really hard to describe what it is... but I guess it explains why I have never been able to be too far away from some type of water. Maybe my dad is right... I am a fish... well... a mammal finding its way back to the sea. 

Can't Get Enough... Algae

March 29, 2014

Thursday

The dreaded day of the week for me. After marine biodiversity in the morning, I began working on my GIS tutorial and assignment.  It took me 5 hours. By the time I got home people had been coming around looking for me wondering where I was. They eventually found me and I ate some food and got ready to go out. It was graduation night for people from last semester so everyone was going downtown. It was a lot of fun to dance and hang out with friends after a long stressful day.

Friday

Caulerpa plexilis

My first Friday class of the trimester was a lab practical on algae. I have to admit I have never been interested in algae but this lab changed that. I wish that the lab could have been broken up across a few days so that we could spend more time looking at the differences between the groups. Here are some photos from lab.

Caulerpa brownii

Caulerpa papallo

This one is pretty cool because it has a clear protective layer over the green part of the algae 

Caulerpa scalpell

Caulocystis uvifera

Cladaphora capillari cell

Codium astralicum

Codium astralicum cells

These two species look very similar except for the cellular appearance.

Codium duthrea cells

Codium duthrea cross section

Codium duthrea

Codium pomodides Sea Apple

Hormosira banksii Neptune's Necklace

 The thing growing on Neptune's Necklace is an epiphyte, plant that grows on top of other plant. It is only found on Neptune's Necklace.

Notheia anomala

Peyssonnelianovae hollandiae

Plocamium dilatatu

 One of the things we have to know about red algae in my class is how they reproduce. These are some photos of the reproductive structures we found in lab. The lecturers were very excited about finding these.

Red algae Female

Essentially the red algae "babies"

 Some other random algae...

This one I identified!

Sargassum vestium

Ulva australis

Ulva astralis cells

Phyllospora comosa

Melanthalia obtusata

The brown algae on the above on the left has a very holdfast (root). We call it an elephant's foot because it can get very large on older algae and looks very similar to... an elephant's foot.

Zostera muelleri Eel Grass

Zostera muelleri stem cross section

After lab, I started to feel the beginnings of a cold coming on. I ate and worked on homework for awhile before I took a nap. Then my housemates and I had a family night! We first went on a walk down by the river. Sam, Nick, and I were investigating the rocks that were recently uncovered. The mouth of the river recently opened to the ocean so the water level has dropped about a meter and a half. I found this little crab...

When we got back from our walk we played games and watched Friday Night Footy. I think I finally understand what is going on in this sport! Sam, Emily and Nick started by playing Upwords. By the end of the game the rules had changed to making up words and justifying them. Some of the words were Seppy (the crud from your eyes), Piong (it never was truly justified), and Quene (genes of a queen). Then we all played Uno and Monopoly deal before heading to bed.

Saturday (Today)

Nick and I got up early to head to the dive shop to get some things. We ended up having to run all over town to get his wetsuit and fishing license and my cold medicine and gloves. After an hour and a half we were ready to head down to the break wall and go snorkeling. Well, I snorkeled and he attempted to spear a fish. 

 A Lone Starfish

Nick looking professional

 The live Abalone I found

Pretty cool!

You can actually collect abalone and eat them. Nick "reckoned" we could keep it and eat it, but I said "I don't want to kill it." So I went to put it back. I accidentally dropped it and when I went to dive down and get it, I watched it flip itself over. It was so COOL! It basically used half its body to wrap around its shell and flip over.  

 Some algae

Stingray! You can see the sediment and particles in the light beams.

Small fish and even more algae

 Fish!

After 2.5 hours of swimming around, my head and sinuses were telling me it was time to get out. Neither Nick or I were cold, thanks to our awesome wetsuits, but being sick is not conducive to swimming. So we got out and headed back to uni to clean up and get some food. Then we had a family outing to Kmart with some housemates. We all sat around for awhile to relax. Nick wanted to go fishing before dark so I tagged along for the view of the sunset and helped with the fishing.

My Backyard

Our sophisticated set up

Nick using kangaroo meat as bait...

By the time we got back to the house everyone was getting ready for bed. I headed back to my room to start working on my blog. Then... I heard knocking and screeching at the window in the living room. I walk out and see Emily standing on the stairs on the other side of the room looking out the window. I asked what was going on and she said someone was outside. I peaked around the corner and saw someone in all black wearing a mask (the one from V for Vendetta). I immediately jump back around the corner. Emily screams and asks if the door is locked. I run to lock the other door. And then look in my room. He is at my window and I scream. Then we get Nick. Nick comes out of his room to investigate. After a few minutes of him trying to scare the person in the mask. T (his name is complicated) takes the mask off and we all start laughing. It was the last thrill of the day before bed. Now I am hoping to sleep well tonight and sleep in. Tomorrow is going to be my "get better" day!