My Computer Has More Lives Than Sephiroth

So, my computer died for two weeks, then decided to work again! Well, at least it's working for the moment. Rejoice, that means you get a blog update! A lot has happened since my last update, but I'll try to cover it all.

Let's start with Cairns weekend. That was the weekend before last, where we got to go up to Cairns, the city about an hour and a half north of us, and spend the night. We spent Saturday morning at a tree planting (we planted about 3000 trees in a reforestation area!) and then got to go to the Yungaburra markets, which were excellent. There were some beautiful things there, from handmade pottery to jewlery, to soap, and of course, lots of fruit and veggies. I was sorely tempted by stall owned by someone who grew their own vanilla, and had a gift set with vanilla tea, vanilla sugar, and a little mug and tea strainer. The vanilla tea and sugar sounded delicious, but I was good and held off, since I'm trying to save up a bit for my trip to Sydney (More on that later!) After the markets, we went back to the center for a much needed shower and to pack. Then, Leslie, our student affairs manager, and the interns, Hester, Amy, and Allison, drove us up to Cairns.

Checking in at the hostel was a production and a half. Since there was a huge deposit needed for big groups, we had booked our room separately by cabin, but, since our numbers aren't quite even, one of the girl's cabins needed to fit into a six person, which was a few dollars more. We hadn't decided beforehand who'd be in the six-person, but it ended up being my cabin. They needed so much information to check us in! They wanted to see a passport, have a home address, a phone number, an e-mail, and a contact person for all twenty-two people, so it took about an hour before we got into our rooms.

The hostel itself wasn't terrible. We stayed at Gilligan's Backpacker's Resort, reportedly one of the nicer hostels around. The room was clean, there was a nice view, and the bathroom wasn't bad, though you could tell the difference between a Hostel and a Hotel...For example, they don't provide any soap for the bathroom! And there were no comforters or other warmer blankets on beds, which were bunk beds. But, all in all, it was better than I expected.

We didn't stay long at Gilligan's, and a large group of us headed off to see the town. It was quickly very clear that the travelling in a huge group thing wasn't going to work, so Denise, one of my cabinmates, and I headed off on our own. It was a ton of fun. We browsed around all of the touristy shops, looked at kangaroo leather, priced opals, oooh-ed over how soft sheepskins were, and got gelati's (Which were delicious!).

At six, it was time to meet back up with the group, which meant heading back to Gilligan's. Nobody was quite sure what they wanted for dinner, so we ended up heading to Night Market. The only food there was so sketchy looking Chinese restaurants and one burger and coffee place. I wasn't up for Chinese, so I got a chicken sandwich (Which they call a chicken burger here)...minus the beetroot, of course. It was really good, and I had really missed being able to choose your own food, instead of having only one choice.

After that, almost everyone else wanted to go get some alcohol to "prepare" for the night at the bar. I definitely wasn't into that, and really wanted to take a look around Night Market, so I ventured off on my own for awhile. Night Market was really amazing! It seemed like you could get anything there, from opal necklaces, to t-shirts, to aboriginal art, to ten dollar massages! I walked and browsed for about an hour, and still don't think I saw everything. I had promised that I'd be back after an hour, so I headed back to the hostel after that.

So after that, and yeah, I can hardly believe I went too, I went to bars. First, we headed to Gilligan's bar. That was my favorite of the night...It was early, so it was very quiet, there was live music, and the bartender gave me two free cokes when I told him I didn't drink. It was a little bit strange being there, since I don't drink at all and the smell of beer makes me pretty nauseous, but it wasn't too bad. The other SFS students were great...They kept asking to make sure I was having a good time!

We spent about an hour and a half there, then headed to somewhere called the Woolshed. I didn't like it as much...It was very cramped, without much room to dance, people were spilling beer everywhere, and creepy, drunk Australians kept coming up and trying to dance with me...Not my idea of a good time. Thankfully, we didn't spend much time there, and after about an hour, headed back to Gilligan's.

At this point, there were a few people who were a little inebriated, so me and a few others who hadn't been drinking much tried to keep everyone together and heading in the right direction. It was kinda like herding cats! But in the end, everyone got back and into Gilligan's.

It was a very different scene than earlier that night. The music was pounding, and everybody was dancing, and drinking more. I had another soda, and danced a bit, but called it quits pretty quickly, and me and three other girls headed back to our room.

Unfortunately, there was a surprise waiting for us there. Apparently, the management had double booked our room! We walked in on two very drunk women, laying in two of our beds. One of the women had on a dress hiked up to her armpits, and nothing on under it! Talk about awkward...Though that might be a bit of an understatement. They were very nice about it, though, and left to tell the desk people, who re-booked them. We surreptitiously went down ten minutes later and got new sheets.

Sunday wasn't quite as exciting after all of the excitement of Saturday. Denise and I broke off from the group again, and ended up getting brunch at a cute little cafe (I had another chicken sandwich...I need to branch out more! But it was good!) and then wandered through shops again. Around one, we found a little sitting area and I curled up for a nap in one of the chairs, while Denise read. We had dinner early, at an Italian place, where we and another girl had pizza, then headed to meet up with Leslie, and went back to the center.

Monday, everyone we soooooo tired, but the school must go on! We were out in the field all day, and then found out that we were going camping the next day. We had to scramble to get our tents ready, and to get packed! But it all got done, and we headed to Chillagoe early Tuesday morning.

Chillagoe is about two hours west of where we are, and is considered Outback, but wasn't really what I pictured the Outback to be like! It was covered in chest high grass, with all of the eucalypt trees everywhere. It looked a bit like the African savannah more than it looked like a red dirt desert! It definitely didn't help that it was pouring rain when we got there.

As soon as we arrived, we had another case of "the school must go on". We didn't even get to set up tents before being whisked away for a couple field lectures. We didn't get back to the campsite until dinnertime! After dinner, we got to put up our tents (another production :p) and then stayed up late chatting and playing games. Two of the four girls in my tent decided to sleep in the vans, since it was still pouring rain and the tent was a bit wet, which meant there was plenty of room to spread out, and I ended up sleeping really well.

The second day is a blur of lectures...I couldn't really tell you what they were about, except that I really wanted them to stop at that point! We got to swim in one of the creeks, which was really cool, especially since they had rope swings out into the water. It was alot of fun! We went out to dinner at the pub, on SFS, and I got a big steak which was amazing.
After dinner, a bunch of people stayed to have some drinks, but me and a few others left with the teachers and interns to go back to the campsite. We had a lovely time stargazing! Siggy, our ecology teacher, had a constellation wheel, and we spent more than an hour trying to find different ones. We found alot! Gemini, Orion, Sirius, Taurus, Hydra, Leo, Cancer, the Pleodies and more! The stars out there were amazing, crystal clear and everywhere. We even saw some shooting stars!

We packed up the next morning, and headed back to the center, with a few stops. That's when one thing that made this whole Australia experience happened. We were driving along when Siggy, who was driving the van I was in, spotted a road-killed wallaby. The wallaby and kangaroos were everywhere out there, and it was really sad to see one dead on the side of the road. She stopped, and got out to pull it off the side of the road. After she did that, she checked it's pouch. It was a mother, and she found a joey.

Siggy brought the joey back to the van. She knew I was pre-vet, and we'd had a few conversations about animal rescue before...she handed it right to me! I spent the next half an hour with a baby wallaby joey under my shirt, keeping it warm. It was such an amazing experience! It curled up there, and kept kicking and squirming, and really didn't like being out of the warmth if I took it out! We got it to the wildlife rescue, where they said it had a fairly good chance of surviving. They said they would keep us updated, but we haven't heard anything so far. Hopefully, no news is good news!

We got back to the center with no further mishap. We had less than a day there, and then, on Friday afternoon, we got picked up by our host families for our weekend homestay. I had a wonderful weekend with the couple I stayed with, Dave and Penny Shaw, who are an older couple who own a cattle ranch. They had a dog named Dottie, a bunch of chickens, and two horses. Penny especially was great. We had quite a few good conversations, and she drove us all over, doing touristy stuff like going to the tea factory, and the milk and chocolate factory.

Okay, that's pretty much the last week and a half...If I don't stop now, I think I'm going to get carpal tunnel! Hopefully, compy will stay alive, and if it does there will be more updates soon. TTFN, Ta Ta For Now!

~Erin

Jurassic Park, Anyone?

Oh, dear, I believe I've fallen behind in my blogging. I do have a good reason, I promise! My computer, poor baby, has decided that it does NOT enjoy the rainforest, and is threatening to die completely...I'm trying desperately to nurse it through, but we shall see. It pretty much decides to shut off and refuse to power on for a day or two, at which time I frantically type up papers and do what research I need to before it doesn't work again, which doesn't leave as much time for blogging as I'd like.

But, enough of my technology troubles! The past week or so has been fun, to some degree, and very busy! We had our first field exercise, which is a week long experiment and scientific write-up. My question was on the relationship between wood density and growth rate in saplings planted at rainforest restoration sites. Sadly, my results were non-significant, but then we had the paper to write up.

Have you ever had to sit there and re-learn something for what seems like the umptheumpth time? Going over and over things that seem so basic to you, until you want to bang your head through a wall? Well, that was what this paper felt like! We spent hours going over how to write it, how to cite things, what sections to put in. We sat through three hours of the professor running all of our statistical analyses, and I had to stay, even though I had already done all of mine! It was frustrating, but it's over now and all is well. I handed in my paper this morning, and hopefully the next one, starting today, won't be as much review.

In other homework news, we also had a fauna quiz this week! For anyone who's reading this and was in Ornithology with me, it brought me right back to late nights in Dana, studying bird calls. We only had to learn 19 birds and 6 frogs, so it wasn't so bad, but the bird calls are definitely still stuck in my head! I keep on finding myself whistling the tune for the Little Shrike-Thrush, or the Brown Gerygone when I'm not paying attention!

On a non-homework front, we've gotten to go into town a few times, which has been nice! This Saturday, we got forty five minutes in a little town called Malanda, right when they had their farmers market! I got this pineapple juice there that was to die for, all pulpy and thick and sweet. It was amazing. I could have drunk about ten of them! The farmers market also had a bunch of interesting tropical fruits, including one called Ice Cream Bean, a three foot long green see pod, that you twist open. Inside looks almost cottony, and you pull out the beans, black and shiny and covered in cottony pulp, and pop them in your mouth. You then suck on them until all the pulp is off, and then spit out the bean. It was awesome, really sweet, almost like vanilla ice cream, except that it was warm and a weird texture. I then got some chicken tenders (can't live without them!) at a local cafe, which were also delicious. I do miss my chicken tenders, out here in the rainforest!

We also got to go to the local crater lake, Lake Barrine, this Sunday. Lake Barrine used to be a volcano, but then it filled with water and is now an absolutely gorgeous swimming hole. I didn't quite feel like swimming, so me and two other girls went and walked the circuit of the lake.

Last thing was Mamu Canopy Walk. It was a trail through the rainforest, and then on these connected platforms over a huge gorge. It was kind of foggy, with low clouds, and there were flying foxes all over the place. It made the whole thing feel like something out of Jurassic Park, as though Pterodactyls were going to swoop down and snatch you right off the walkway!

Okay, hopefully that's long enough for now, because it's lunchtime, and I need to hurry if I want the leftover steak! Tata, folks!

Don't Let The Stinging Trees Get You Down!

Don’t let them turn your smile into a frown! Brownie points if you guess that song! Today started off with sunshine and smiles, except for the fact that it was seven in the morning and the we didn’t have water in the bathroom, of course. Seriously, our showers seem to be completely bipolar, and only work half the time. It was the runners in our group, who had gotten up early and run the access road, who discovered this, and they were very sweaty and disappointed. I was, at this point, still snug as a bug in a rug in my bed, but the discovery soon had me up as well.

We trekked to breakfast and to let Leslie, our student affairs manager, know. Breakfast was fruit loops (Good to know some things cross cultures!) and oranges, and then it was off to class! First up, Siggy teaching Rainforest Ecology. Siggy is this German lady, whose accent fluctuates between German and Australian, and who calls bandicoots “bandiCUTES” and refers to Frisbees as “flying guillotines”, so, of course, she’s pretty awesome. I think it must be an Ecology professor thing, ‘cause she kinda reminds me of Renee from Hollins! After her lecture on tropical forest fauna, we went straight into a second lecture from Tim, our Natural Resource Management professor, an Australian guy who throws in “Aussie words of the day” and pictures of his absolutely adorable three-month-old daughter, Grace, wherever he can. His lecture was about weather and forest patterns in Australia. After a fortifying cup of hot tea, we went back for a third lecture from Siggy, about the roles of different animals in the rainforest. And this was all before lunch. Lunch was a big bowl of rice (yum!) and then it was back for a fourth lecture, on different types of forests, by Tim again. Then, free time, a nap, and a field lecture, once again from Tim.

Field lectures are so much fun, way better than sitting in a classroom! We trekked out on the property to find different types of forest, which basically entails bushwhacking through chest high grass, until you hit the dense, dark forest. It’s so cool, dark and green and covered in epiphytes (Plants that grow on other plants, in the air) and ferns and vines. We found this HUGE strangler fig that had grown around a tree that had then died and decomposed. Now, the fig is still going strong, but is growing in this lacework around a hollow where the other tree was. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Our final stop on our field trip was to see some stinging trees, so we know what to avoid. You know how they say that if anything wants to kill you, it probably lives in Australia? Well, the stinging tree is one of these! It’s this plant that looks a little bit like a sunflower, minus the flower, with these big heart-shaped leaves, and it’s covered in these little, fuzzy looking hairs. Sadly for anyone who mistakes it for something that is soft and fun to cuddle, these little hairs are actually silica, filled with neurotoxin. If you brush against it, they’ll embed in your skin and put you in “excruciating” pain…for the next six to eight months. Sounds like fun, huh? Hopefully, that will be the closest I come to these fuzzy little buggers!
We finished out the day with an after-dinner bonfire up by the greenhouse, complete with marshmallows. Apparently, they don’t have graham crackers here though! Luckily, we found these cookies, called Nice cookies, that taste kinda like them, so our s’mores were saved.

That’s all for now, I’ll talk to you all later! Oyasuminasai!

Erin

Don't Let The Stinging Trees Get You Down!

Don’t let them turn your smile into a frown! Brownie points if you guess that song! Today started off with sunshine and smiles, except for the fact that it was seven in the morning and the we didn’t have water in the bathroom, of course. Seriously, our showers seem to be completely bipolar, and only work half the time. It was the runners in our group, who had gotten up early and run the access road, who discovered this, and they were very sweaty and disappointed. I was, at this point, still snug as a bug in a rug in my bed, but the discovery soon had me up as well.

We trekked to breakfast and to let Leslie, our student affairs manager, know. Breakfast was fruit loops (Good to know some things cross cultures!) and oranges, and then it was off to class! First up, Siggy teaching Rainforest Ecology. Siggy is this German lady, whose accent fluctuates between German and Australian, and who calls bandicoots “bandiCUTES” and refers to Frisbees as “flying guillotines”, so, of course, she’s pretty awesome. I think it must be an Ecology professor thing, ‘cause she kinda reminds me of Renee from Hollins! After her lecture on tropical forest fauna, we went straight into a second lecture from Tim, our Natural Resource Management professor, an Australian guy who throws in “Aussie words of the day” and pictures of his absolutely adorable three-month-old daughter, Grace, wherever he can. His lecture was about weather and forest patterns in Australia. After a fortifying cup of hot tea, we went back for a third lecture from Siggy, about the roles of different animals in the rainforest. And this was all before lunch. Lunch was a big bowl of rice (yum!) and then it was back for a fourth lecture, on different types of forests, by Tim again. Then, free time, a nap, and a field lecture, once again from Tim.

Field lectures are so much fun, way better than sitting in a classroom! We trekked out on the property to find different types of forest, which basically entails bushwhacking through chest high grass, until you hit the dense, dark forest. It’s so cool, dark and green and covered in epiphytes (Plants that grow on other plants, in the air) and ferns and vines. We found this HUGE strangler fig that had grown around a tree that had then died and decomposed. Now, the fig is still going strong, but is growing in this lacework around a hollow where the other tree was. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Our final stop on our field trip was to see some stinging trees, so we know what to avoid. You know how they say that if anything wants to kill you, it probably lives in Australia? Well, the stinging tree is one of these! It’s this plant that looks a little bit like a sunflower, minus the flower, with these big heart-shaped leaves, and it’s covered in these little, fuzzy looking hairs. Sadly for anyone who mistakes it for something that is soft and fun to cuddle, these little hairs are actually silica, filled with neurotoxin. If you brush against it, they’ll embed in your skin and put you in “excruciating” pain…for the next six to eight months. Sounds like fun, huh? Hopefully, that will be the closest I come to these fuzzy little buggers!

We finished out the day with an after-dinner bonfire up by the greenhouse, complete with marshmallows. Apparently, they don’t have graham crackers here though! Luckily, we found these cookies, called Nice cookies, that taste kinda like them, so our s’mores were saved.

That’s all for now, I’ll talk to you all later! Oyasuminasai!

Erin

My Kingdom for a Shower

Hey everyone!
Yes, we did indeed survive Cyclone Yasi, with little more damage than a few downed trees and alot of leaves on the ground...The cyclone veered south right before landfall, missing us for the most part. However, that meant bad things for some towns south of us, who were leveled, including Mission Beach, which is one of the strongholds for the cassowary population (If you haven't seen a cassowary, google it. They're pretty awesome). They don't do well after cyclones, so we're talking about gathering food for them and carting it down there!

One thing Yasi did do was knock out our power for five days. Not a big deal, since we're outside most of the time, except for one thing: Showers. We spent five days with no showers. It was NASTY! We did get to go to a freshwater crater lake and swim, but a little shampoo goes a long ways. It made my week, when the power came on late last night, and we all went running for the bathrooms!

We've also now gotten a taste of the centerpoint of local culture: the pub. Sadly, this wasn't half as exciting for me, since I don't drink, but it was very entertaining being able to talk to the Australians there, and we had some cool conversations!

In other news, I got to see a three foot monitor lizard up close and personal yesterday while taking out the compost...It looked like a miniature Komodo Dragon!

Okay, so this is a super short, and very random post, but I'll keep it that way, since our student internet isn't working yet, and there's a long line for the computer. I'll talk to you all later!

Erin

Two words: Land Leeches

Hello friends!

Okay, first of all internet is even more sparse than I thought, but I will try my best to continue the updates in spite of that!

So, hello from Australia! Yes, I made it, and I am indeed alive! The plane ride wasn't terrible, I slept most of the way, which is definitely how you should do it! We are now at the field station, which is very nice, despite the lack of internet. The showers were a bit awkward at first, as there were no shower curtains, but the latter problem at least has now been fixed and all is well in the world!

Cool things I have seen so far? Why, I'm glad you asked! Around camp, there are many Australian Brush Turkeys, which, in case anyone was wondering, have a very interesting ecological mechanism called temperature dependent sex determination, where, essentially, if the eggs are kept cooler, all of them are guys, and if they're kept warmer, all of them are girls. Pretty neat, right? Also, there are these absolutely adorable miniature forest kangaroos called pandamelons that wander around the path to the cabins. There is also, apparently a rather large ball python hanging out around said path. Finally, look up land leeches. They are things of nightmares! You're just standing on the ground, minding your business, and suddenly they're crawling up your shoes and on your legs. Somehow, they know exactly when someone walks by, since you don't really see them anywhere except right under you! Someone in the science department, ask Dr. Wilson how they do that for me, 'kay? :)

And also, look up Tropical Cyclone Yasi. It is, in fact, on a direct course for us! Meaning that tomorrow, we get to have a giant sleepover in one of the rooms at the center, so we're all together, just in case. It'll be an awesome adventure...I mean, who else can say that they experienced a cyclone within the first 48 hours of their study abroad? None of you London-folk, I'm sure! :)

I will cut this off now, and let you all get back to your business. I'm not sure when my next update will be, as we will likely be without internet for several days due to the storm, but I will try to post again as soon as possible!

Ta Ta For Now!
Erin

Prep Time!

Good grief, I'm leaving in a day and a half...when did that happen? That's right, on Saturday at 1:20 PM, I will be on my way. First stop, Dallas, where I will meet up with one other girl from SFS, and then we're off to LA. The plan is to have a "last dinner" with the group, then on a looooooooooooong flight to Brisbane. Brisbane is where I will finally be able to meet my beloved roomie's finacee, and get to see my beloved roomie, of course! Then a two hour hop to Cairns, and a drive to the station! Sounds like the day from heck, huh? Total air time: 23 hours. Total travel time: about 34 hours. Makes me shudder just to think about it! And the worst thing? I won't get to watch the hockey All-Star game! :(

But for now, I have another day and a half to spend with the Fam, that is, if they don't drive me nuts first! Tomorrow, I'm meeting my grandad for lunch, then off to a hockey game! It's just the Norfolk Admirals, but the games are fun anyway...Lot's of free soda, blood, and guts. All the guys are trying so hard to make it into the NHL, that there are lot's of fights and it makes for a pretty exhilarating game.

Packing has been a bear. It's really hard to fit three months into two check bags, you know? The lucky thing is having done the Caribbean trip earlier this month. It was a perfect "prequel" to this trip! I got to realize what I needed and didn't need. For example, Need: Lot's of bug spray, anti-itch cream, and a new backpack that actually has a hip belt. Didn't need: So many clothes! My mom wasn't happy when she realized that that meant I needed a whole new shopping trip! But it was good, and we got most everything in one trip. Now, it's just fitting it all in the space alotted, and telling myself that, no, I do not need to bring such a huge first aid kit...What can I say, I like to be prepared!

That's all for now, and hopefully my next post will be from the Land Down Under! Sayonara, tomodachi!