spring break! etc

It's been a while... oops. Things are going really well, though! We had midterms 2 weeks ago, so that was an oh so fun week. It wasn't too bad-- much better than the midterm/final weeks at Trin, but still not too fun. We've gotten 2 out of the 3 back, and they went really well! yay. Last week we had off Saturday through Wednesday! so 5-day spring break. It was actually a semi-real spring break for me with no crew. funny funny. I went on a big road trip in 2 hilarious hippie vans with 7 other people. So much fun. Some students were taking flights to see friends, etc. around Australia, so the 8 of us went in the earliest van to Cairns around 3:30am, and we arrived to see the gorgeous sunrise on the beach. I really do love the ocean. It was so nice. The water here is pretty warm, too! We got an excellent "breaky" of waffles, and then dropped off some others at the airport, & went off to the Wicked rent-a-van place. The vans had great art all over them and fun quotes written on the back. Definite hippie vans. Three seats in the front, the back was one big flat area that could have mattresses put out, it had a sink in the trunk... good stuff. It was so much fun to just drive through new areas in Australia. The first day we went all the way from Cairns to the Whitsundays & spent the night in a parking lot (after seeing a bit of the town). pretty funny. It is definitely a tourist town, but great all the same. The next day we explored the Whitsundays (gorgeous beaches), lay in the sun, looked in the shops, planned for the next day, out to fun dinner, etc. at night. We moved that night's sleep to a different beach's (empty) parking lot in the same area, and I slept outside in my sleeping bag on the field. The next day, we did a big boat ride! It was a small ferry that took us out to some of the islands over some great wavy water. The first stop we went snorkeling, and that was so cool. My first time snorkeling for real, and the life underwater was so beautiful. So many colors, a ton of coral, the fish were huge! The second stop was at Whitehaven Beach, and it is a paradise beach. White (singing!) sand, warm water, pretty empty of people, blue water... incredible. The third stop was on an island and we did a little bushwalk. It reminded us of a lot of the field lectures that we've done- pretty funny. There were some gorgeous views, though. The tour guide was fun, too. That night, we left the Whitsundays, & drove up to a new town to explore a bit. Ayr. It was pretty empty & desolate. We followed road signs pointing toward the water, so we drove down some long side roads for a while. When we got to the end of the road, there were croc warning signs... so we didn't sleep too close to the water. pretty funny. We drove back up the road a bit and broke out the tents that we brought. Camping out on the side of the road next to the huge farm. Fun times. The next day, we drove up to Townsville! 18 of the SFS students spent the whole time on Magnetic Island (an island off the coast of Townsville) so we met up with them for the last night. Townsville itself was a fun town. They had a huge teenage jungle gym, and that was pretty hilarious. Otherwise, gorgeous ocean, good lunch, etc. It was really fun to go to the island and see the other students. I do think that this break from each other made us realize how close we've become. Next morning, off early to catch the ferry & drive back to Cairns! We stopped at some fun places (pretty lookout, mango/gelato place, fresh fried fish lunch...) Funny thing- at the lookout, after the first van drove off, we in the 2nd van tried to turn on the van... but it didn't work so well. It stalled out and we had to jump start it with some other random nice tourists. Yay hippie vans. Back to Cairns! Cairns is a really great city. Mountains, ocean, and city all in one. We returned our vans & walked with all our stuff to the park area (stores/restaurants/SFS pickup area). There were a ton of fun shops, some great food... It was so nice to just sit in the field near the ocean as the sun set. Then back to the centre!

Since break, we've started the DR's (directed research). I'm in Siggy's (the spacy german rainforest ecology prof) group, and I'm doing one about insect herbivory on regrowth (replanted rainforest) areas related to leaf density. Two other students are also doing herbivory stuff, and then 3 more are doing bird surveying at the centre, and 3 more are studying tree kangaroos. Siggy is in charge of all 3, and we all help out with each other's data collection. We went to one place on friday where a woman has a tamed tree kangaroo! She takes in marsupial joeys who are left orphans due to roadkill, etc, raises them, & releases them once they get old enough. She had a big bag filled with babies in cloth pouches in her kitchen, and they were so tiny & fuzzy. I'm not normally a big pet person, but these possums & tree kangaroos were so cute. We walked through her property, and she found the bigger (adolescent) tree kangaroo and it hopped on her shoulder. So cool! A huge and exotic pet. She brought her into the house, fed her some nuts, & we pet her/observed her. Otherwise, we've just been collecting a lot of data. This coming week is a lecture week, and I'm kind of glad to get a break from brainless leaf-counting. We just got back from the Yungaburra Folk Festival! It was great- we could volunteer for 8 hours and get free passes to see all the music. There was some really great music & I bought a couple cd's. So, things are great! Excellent break, interesting material, & great people.