Final Days in Perth

So this will probably be my last post. Today I woke up at 6 am to go work on our presentation powerpoints with my group. It was generally really hard to get anything done with them. They were like best friends so I felt like the awkward 3rd wheel the whole time and they also got distracted really easily. I thought one of them might have had ADHD or something. So we finished and presented. I actually wrote the discussion sections for both reports (section worth most points) so I got to talk about those and in both cases the instructors commented that the discussions were well done and thorough. Our second report on algae was a little iffy because our findings had a lot of error. We couldn't make any solid conclusions which would have been devastating had this been an actual experiment. A lot of people had that problem though. The issue was that we only had samples from 2 sites and only on 2 days. But enough science talk!

After presentations we finished up our scientific papers and I went back and chilled in my room for awhile. Then a few of us went out to eat in Fremantle. There were weird happenings tonight! A ton of people in various costumes (4th of July, Hazmat suits, doctors, etc) were doing a barhop, so they went around to every bar and I guess competed for how much they drank. A nice, inebriated stranger was kind enough to explain that it was a celebration of like med students. I'm not sure if they finished med school or what but it was pretty hilarious. We went to a nice restaurant and had some drinks/dinner. I had a mojito which was excellent. I am going to miss ordering drinks when I get back home. Now I am back in my room and finally have some free time so I'll go back a few days and write about that.

So we came back from Coral Bay on Saturday night/Sunday morning. When we first left at like 6 pm there were TONS of kangaroos on the road and on the sides. Eventually we hit one and it was a really loud thud. One of the American girls started crying which was silly because she totally ate kangaroo already on this trip. They're like deer. The license plate on the bus was dented and had "roo fur" on it. The rest of the trip was uneventful. When we got back, the study abroad guy (Russ) took us to a Footie match. There were maybe 36 players on the field at one time with only 3 subs for each team, meaning that there was a lot of running involved. It could get up to 8 miles per game apparently. The ball, which looked like an American football, could only be kicked or punched, not thrown. Also it couldn't be carried down the field more than 10 meters at a time. It was a very violent game because they don't wear any padding and there aren't fouls. They could punch each other with no consequence! A lot of the players were Aborigines and had really strong accents. I couldn't understand most of what they were shouting. That was fun and then we went to the beach for awhile.

On Monday we had lectures in the morning and then worked tirelessly on our projects the rest of the day. Lecture started at 9 am and I didn't get back to my room until maybe 8 pm. It was a very long day and I wish my group had been more focused so we could've finished that day. I had to literally bring my noise canceling headphones to the group work session so I could get some work done. They talked nonstop. When we said goodbye on Tuesday (today) it was sort of how I said goodbye to Lise at the end of the French exchange. "Bye! Nice meeting you!" A lot of other American students said it was like that with their groups. The Australians thought we were sort of dim..one of them actually asked if they would grade easier because Americans were working with them. A bit offensive. In general most of the students were very nice though and I'll miss them. I'll miss a lot of the Americans too.

So yeah I think this is my last blog. I might update it after I go surfing on Thursday. I can't believe this trip is over! I'm excited to come home but I know once I get there I'll really start missing it here. I want to come back and see Sydney, Cairns, and Melbourne someday. I'd also like to go to Ayers Rock. Perhaps when I become rich and famous!

Finishing up

Today is our last full day in Coral Bay. We're just finishing up our projects and maybe going for a final snorkel. Everyone is relieved to be going back to civilization. It has been rough living like this. It'll be sad saying goodbye to everyone though. We're all going for one last hurrah to the pub tonight. Should be fun. I might steal some of my professor's pictures and put them on facebook. Just so people can get an idea of what we've been seeing. Anyways I have a lot of work to do, but I'll update this again when I arrive back in Perth.

Swimming with mantas

Yesterday we went to swim with manta rays. First we went to a nearby reef and snorkeled. It was very cool because it was almost 100% coral cover. Saw some batfish, lots of blue/green parrotfish, and some people saw sharks. The manta swim was pretty difficult. They drove us up until they saw one and then yelled at us to get in the water. After that we had to swim for our lives to catch up with the ray. I was so tired! But once we caught up with it it slowed down and swam underneath us. I hope the pictures turn out! After that we chased humpback whales for a solid hour. It was very cool. They were about 50 feet from the boat. Some of them breached and others just came up for air. After that we went for one more snorkel and called it a day. It was very awesome!

Kind of a Bummer Day

I got up super early to go see the whale sharks. It was a really long, wet, and bumpy trip out to the open ocean. We stopped at a place where reef sharks go to get their mouths cleaned by little fish. It was very cool after I got over the initial panic of seeing sharks about 2 meters away from me. I think they were a little afraid of us. The tourist were really obnoxious. They floundered around in the water, couldn't even swim well, and scared most of the fish away. One clipped me with their fin because they were too stupid to know that they weren't the only ones in there and had to watch where they were going. We traveled over an hour out to the ocean and then they turned us right around because the wind was picking up too much. Waste of time. At least I got my money back. I bought souvenirs and I'm bummed because I bought tshirts for people and I thought I had the right size but I tried it on and I don't think it is. Hopefully they'll let me exchange it. I didn't take any tags off. Nobody gives out receipts here though.. It is nice to have an extra $400 from the whale shark tour that I can use on souvenirs. Before today I hadn't bought myself anything. Tomorrow is another free day but I'm going to swim with manta rays for most of it. It looks like it might take the whole day. The first group isn't back yet. Everyone I've talked to says that the manta rays are way cooler than whale sharks. They'll swim right up to us apparently. And manta rays are the ones that can reach like 6 meters wingspan. I hope my pictures turn out well!

Almost done with camp :(

Well it's Monday and we leave on Friday or Saturday, not sure which. It's bittersweet because I've really enjoyed all the snorkeling and being in Australia stuff. But again, I hate the tents. I'm started to get annoyed with my group also. We finished up our first project yesterday and it was really frustrating because they wouldn't let me do any of the work. I flew 16,000 miles for this class. I don't appreciate being left out of all the data analysis. They're a little younger than me and pretty immature. But they assume that since I'm American they're much smarter than me. Anyways hopefully they let me participate more in the next project. We went out to collect algae but it was really too deep for us to dive down snorkeling so our instructor had dive gear to go collect it. It was extremely choppy and it was really hard to stay in one place. We kept drifting. We decided to do our other site another day when it's less windy. Last night we had the obligatory viewing of Finding Nemo. Our teacher, Mike, is adorable. He kept acting out parts of the movie. I'm excited to swim with whale sharks tomorrow! It's supposed to be nicer and we have the day off.

Start of Research

Yesterday we started doing our first research project. My group of 3 went snorkeling in Paradise Beach to take pictures of the reef along the beach. We set down a square "quadrat" at intervals along the reef, took a picture of it, and counted the invertebrates. There weren't many in Paradise. A lot of the coral was bleached and overgrown with algae. Today we're going to Five Fingers Beach, where we are promised there will be more life. I'm hoping to see a lot of sea urchins and cucumbers. It's pretty cold this morning. I'm not looking forward to taking those first steps into the water. Once the wetsuit fills up it's not that bad but for a little while its freezing. Last night I tried curry for the first time. Even loaded with chili powder I didn't care for it. Tonight is pizza night so that should be good. I scheduled a whale shark tour for Tuesday morning, bright and early. We get to see them from the boat, but also swim with them. We aren't allowed to get close to them because when they swim they create so much force that it could hurt people. I'm ready for an adventure!

First Days in Coral Bay

Yesterday was our first day here. I really don't like the living situation. I'm in a tent with 5 people, there's sand everywhere, no way to do laundry, no lights in the tents..it's just unpleasant. The weather has also been pretty bad since we've been here. It's too windy. Yesterday was fantastic though. We went snorkeling on Ningaloo Reef. The water was very warm and with the wetsuit I wasn't shivering at all. The coral was just amazing, I've never seen anything like it. Tons of brightly colored fish, sea cucumbers, etc. A green turtle was bobbing around right next to me! I looked down at the reef and noticed another one sitting in the coral looking up at me. A few stingrays swam by me and apparently there were sharks. I didn't get to see any because they were hanging out pretty far away from the boat. I didn't want to stray too far because I was new to snorkeling. I don't have any pictures, but we're going out again so I'll bring my camera. This morning we did a coral identification lab. It's very hard! They all start to look the same after awhile. Later we're going to the pub to hear some band play and just hang out. I'll keep updating this as much as I can, but it's hard because we only have internet at the research facility. Not in the tents, surprisingly.