Pictures!

No theme to this post, just some pictures I've recently taken. This first picture is of this crazy bird called a masked lapwing. It and its mate had a nest in the middle of a field near our cabins when we first arrived. They would throw an absolute fit whenever anyone would get within 50 yards or so of their nest. They dive bomb us and screech at us. Recently, their eggs hatched into cute baby lapwings. I don't have any pictures of the babies because, basically, I don't want to risk my life. Did I mention that these things actually have a spike on their wing that they use to stab curious American tourists? Oh yes, its true. So much for us ever playing soccer in this field!
This next picture is of a python we found near the cabins. I named him Monty. Phil, our resident amateur naturalist, caught him for us. It was actually pretty tame for being a python. Here he is trying to cut off circulation in Phil's arm. The next picture is of another snake Phil found. It is a green tree snake, which are usually pretty friendly.

I went for a walk around Lake Ainsworth around sunset and snapped some photos of the ducks. They were obviously used to being fed cause they all swam up to me, and seemed genuinely irritated that only had a camera.




















The lake here is a dark blue tint - you can even notice it from a satellite photo. It also smells fantastic. The tea trees give the water an almost oily feel. Its an absolutely beautiful lake.

Whale Tale

"Class" is generally a loose term here at the Australia Centre. Sometimes class is class, consisting of three hour lectures and quizzes, but sometimes class is more like vacation. Luckily for us, our marine biology class has recently been more like the latter. September 10th, we borrowed the local whale watching boat in order to collect some plankton samples. We broke up into two groups. The first group was about 30 minutes late coming into the dock. We eventually found out that this was because there was thought to be a humpback whale that was possibly injured and stranded. They went to check it out, but couldn't find anything.

I was on the second trip. As we left, we all kept an eye out for the humpback. As we were watching, someone excalimed that they saw a dolphin fin. Our professor said, "...that wasn't a dolphin." Turns out it was a shark! It is very rare to see them surface like that, apparently.

Later, the captain of this ship lowered an underwater microphone into the water so we could listen for whale sounds. We could hear them singing! We knew they had to be (relatively) close. So we kept looking.

Eventually we saw spouts and eventually fins and tails! One of the whales breeched in the distance, but I missed it. We probably saw 15 or so whales migrating.

We were so excited about the whales, we almost forgot our origional purpose: to get some plankton. Here is our proffessor Danny (in OZ, profs and teachers are on a first name basis, which makes sense if you have ever met an Aussie) getting out the net. We skimmed the net on the surface of the water for a few minutes and got a jar full of plankton that we later looked at under microscopes.


Thanks to Kelly for the pictures!

Under the Sea

After many hours spent in the classroom or crammed in a tiny hotel pool, we were finally to the point in our scuba certification class that we got to dive in the ocean. Needless to say, we were pretty excited - and nervous. This time of year, all sorts of animals are out and about, especially gray nurse sharks.

We were told that the sharks are like "big Labradors" and that they wouldn't bother us. What our scuba instructor neglected to tell us is that he himself has a nice little scar on his back end courtesy of one of these Labradors.

So, Wednesday morning, we took a very bouncy boat trip out to Julian Rocks. This area is exactly what it sounds like: a bunch of big boulders that create a great habitat for marine life. We dove about 12 meters down on two 30 minute trips.

Above is a picture of a Carpet Shark. We saw several of these guys, and had to be careful not to accidentally hit one with a fin! They are obviously very well camouflaged. Unfortunately the visibility was very bad (4-5 meters) and the water was thick with sand, mud, and pieces of seaweed. Our instructor said that if we could dive in these conditions, we would be a pro at diving in "good" conditions. Either way, we still had a great time and saw some awesome animals.

On our first dive, right as we were getting comfortable with the cute starfish and sea anemones, our instructor started excitedly pointing to something in the distance. What do you know, it was a big gray nurse shark! Now this picture is NOT of the shark we saw (thank God) but this is the same species that another diver encountered at Julian Rocks. Yeah, looks just like a cuddly Labrador... NOT.

The snark we saw was significantly smaller than this one and for some reason was swimming with its mouth wide open. We later learned that this was probably because it was injured in some way - maybe stuck by a hook.



There were also lots of puffer fish. These guys look small, but are actually a good 1.5 - 2 ft long. In addition to these, we saw a loggerhead turtle (think Finding Nemo), a green turtle, clown fish, sea urchins, and many other fish I don't know the names of. I also could have swore I heard a whale singing... but it could have just been wishful thinking.






Here is a picture of our smiling faces after the first dive. We can't wait to dive again!

Thanks to Rusty, Kelly, and Megan for the pictures!

Treasure Hunting

This week I got to go treasure hunting in the forest! One of the men who work at the sports centre is an expert on the native flora and fauna of this region. He was generous enough to show me around. There are lots of treasures to be found in the 100 yards or so of bush that line the beaches, I don't even think we scratched the surface in three hours.

First of all, nearly every species of bird is either beautifully colored or has some other showy feature. Some of the birds whistle in a human-like fashion so convincing that I actually mistook them for another camper.

The rainbow bee eaters usually hang out near our cabins on the electrical wire. This picture doesn't do their beautiful colors justice.






Another common bird we have seen along the beach is, of course, the silver gull. I know they are probably a pest to the locals, but I love them never the less.

The trees in this area are curious as well. This tree is Coast Banksia - it has flowers that look and feel like a hairbrush. It is one of the most common trees in the area.Here is a fun game: can you find the animal in the picture below? Its a leaf mimic butterfly. Its coloration and jagged wings make it look just like an old dead leaf. I would never have noticed it had it not started flying.











The butterfly below is one that is common around the beach. I don't know its name yet.


In other news, the group passed the written and swimming portion of the scuba test on Saturday. It was a very long day to say the least, but we are all glad it is over. Now we just need to practice with our scuba gear in the swimming pool in order to be officially scuba certified!