Starting Out

I have now started classes. Classes meet less frequently here than in the US so most of my classes meet once for a lecture and then some of them have a tutorial where more active class participation is expected. I am taking Ecology and Indigenous Australian Culture, Discovering Anthropology, Biodiversity of Tropical Australia, and Ecology and Conservation. So far I have been to one of each class except for Ecology and Conservation which I have tomorrow. I can't say that I have particularly enjoyed my classes so far but I think that that is mostly because it takes a little while for a class to really get started. I don't really like the whole introductory thing but that should be over soon and then I can start really delving into these subjects.

Besides that I've been doing small things. Some friends and I went up to Palm Cove and had a barbie. Palm Cove is considered to be the "nice" beach in the area. In other words it's very posh and has a wide array of glitzy buildings lining the beach. One nice thing about Palm Cove is that it has some super big awesome looking paperbark trees. Those I loved.

In other news, I managed to get sick. Yay me! I think I have the flu but I seem to be mostly recovered now so that's good. Hopefully I'm fully recovered by the weekend (which is rapidly approaching) because I would like to do some adventuring which would be considerably less fun if I'm still feeling a bit under the weather.

"Lighthouse in the Rainforest" or "Fitzroy Island"

Yesterday I went to Fitzroy Island with some people from my school. We had some trouble getting there because we forgot that the buses run on a different schedule on holidays (it was Cairns Show Day, a public holiday in Cairns) but we made it to the boat just in time. I love riding on boats, I think the rocking is very soothing and I love looking out at everything. It was a very sunny but mild day, perfect for our adventures. I spent the morning exploring the beach and swimming. The beach at Fitzroy Island is covered with broken pieces of coral and when you walk on it the coral clinks together making a tinkling sound a lot like windchimes. The water was perfect for swimming in. After lunch a few of my friends and I went on a hike to the summit of the island. It was fantastic. Beautiful tropical rainforest made up the first part of the hike. We saw so many different beautiful trees and tons of animals. We saw a few different kinds of birds including tons of (or if I'm speaking in Australian, heaps of) sulfur crested cockatoos (which you only see in pet stores in the States) and scrub foul, which reminded me of chickens. We also saw several small lizards, which I was pretty excited about. On our way back down the summit we also saw what appeared to be some kind of monitor lizard about 2 feet long. In other news, we saw some giant spiders with bright yellow spots on the joints of their legs. Anyways, the trail was pretty short but very steep. When we made it to the top my legs were worn out but the view was spectacular. It was a clear day so you could see the island and some of the islands nearby and ocean for ages.

There is an old abandoned lighthouse not far from the summit and it hadn't taken us as long as we expected to make it to the top so we decided to go check it out. The lighthouse looks quite modern and is covered in shiny white tile but was built in the forties and is no longer used. In the bottom part of the lighthouse there are signs that talk about some of the history of the island. It was used to quarantine Chinese immigrants during the gold rush because the Australians of the day were convinced that they were going to get smallpox from the Chinese miners. Unfortunately they didn't bother to equip the island suitably for such a task (not particularly surprising because it was exactly for humanitarian reasons that they were sending people there) and a lot of people died and are buried there. During WWII Australia built a radar station on the island to keep a look out in case Japan decided to invade the continent. In the forties, the lighthouse was built, but it was later replaced by a lighthouse on the neighboring island "Little Fitzroy." None of the doors were blocked off or locked so we decided to explore a bit. Apparently the lighthouse was used as a ranger station in the nineties and some of the reports and office supplies are still in an office within the lighthouse. We climbed up to the top of the lighthouse where the lamp used to be and looked out on miles of ocean. All in all, the island was fantastic. And hey, when else would I get to explore an abandoned lighthouse in a rainforest?

When we got back to Cairns we were starving from all the hiking and we went to a restaurant called Nando's which specializes in Peri Peri chicken. The chicken is based on an African roasted chicken that the Portugese brought back to Europe. It has a spicy sauce and is completely and fully delicious. So glad we went there!

All in all it was a fantastic day on a beautiful island. A wonderful end to my last week before classes start.

Orientating

So Orientation has started. It's called O-week here. I haven't really done much outside of going to orientation events in the past few days. The good thing about orientation is that I've learned of some things that are going on. For example, I'm going on a trip with a bunch of other students to Fitzroy Island on Friday. I've heard that the island is beautiful and that there is some good snorkeling around there. Also they apparently have a trampoline set up in the ocean which sounds strange but fun.


Besides orientation the only thing I've done of note is to go to the beach. I walked to Trinity Beach, it took an hour. When I got there it was very windy and the sand kept hitting me. The sand is very course there so it actually kind of hurt. Still, it was a beach and it had an area that is patrolled by a lifeguard which I swam in. It was super fun and the water was not frigid, a nice change from the Oregon coast that I'm accustomed to! While there I also built a sand castle.

In other news, I bought some kiwi fruit and it was the best kiwi I have ever had. It was truly fantastic. I can't wait to try other fruit as they come into season. They have fruit here that I've never even heard of. On a somewhat related note, I saw two giant fruit bats in the middle of Cairns. It was a bit surprising but very cool.

Splish Splash

I have done several things since my last post. One thing I did was whitewater raft on the Tully River. It was incredibly fun. It was also great because it was through the rainforest and there were super bright blue butterflies flying near us. Unfortunately the area had been hit especially hard by Cyclone Yasi last year and is still in the process of recovery. It was interesting to see how the trees are working to recolonize after a disturbance.

The biggest thing I did was snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef. I have always wanted to go there and it was especially rewarding since it gave me a chance to see some of the things I learned about in my marine biology class last year. I saw several different kinds of coral and really pretty tropical fish. I saw some bright blue and green parrotfish. I saw two rays, one of which was a stingray, definitely one of my favorite marine animals. I was also super excited to see a shark. The kind I saw is called a Whitetipped shark and they are not dangerous to humans, still it was very cool to see one. Also, the shark was at a cleaner station where a fish was cleaning off parasites and debris and a remora was attached to it to get a free ride and food. I saw some of those super big giant clams. They are interesting not just for there size but also because they attack themselves differently than most clams so that the algae that live in their mantle can get sunlight to photosynthesize with. I also saw three kinds of anemone fish, hello Nemo!

The final thing that I did besides move into my room is go to the final Harry Potter movie. Since I'm in Australia I got to see it earlier than all of my friends in the States which was awesome. It came out here on the 13th so a bunch of us crazy Australearn kids went to it last night. 

Rainforest!

So I just got to Australia yesterday but I've already been running around and doing lots of things. It is super warm here considering that this is their winter, I'm a little worried about what it will be like later in the year. Today we went to a place called Rainforestation which is sort of a park, wildlife, and center for learning about aboriginal culture. We saw a ton of Australian animals including kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, and crocodiles. I held a great big snake and got my picture taken with a koala. I attempted and utterly failed to throw a boomerang.
Tomorrow I am whitewater rafting down a river through the rainforest, I'm pretty excited.
I have some things to do right now so that's all for now, hope everyone is well!
~Rachel

Less Than a Week To Go

I leave for Australia on Wednesday, but due to the nature of a ridiculously long flight and the international date line it will be Friday when I get there. I imagine I'll be confused. It's starting to get to that point where I really do need to start getting ready, deciding what I need to pack would probably be a good start. Packing will be my goal for the next few days. I just got my JCU e-mail address, if you'd like to get hold of me using it the address is rachel.miller1@my.jcu.edu.au. I will still check my other e-mail addresses occasionally but probably not as frequently while I'm away. Or you can always get hold of me on facebook.
I've spent the past couple weeks trying to see some of the many people that I will miss while I'm away. Unfortunately I couldn't make it everywhere but I'm pleased that I got to spend time with those that I could. I hope you all have a fantastic rest of your summer and I look forward to hearing about all the crazy things you'll do while I'm gone, keep in touch. In the meanwhile, I'll keep you up to date with my semester away right here at Dingo Ate My Blogemite.