Shannon in Australia & New Zealand: September 2009

Last weekend was enjoyed by going to the Brisbane River Festival in order to view the phenomenal display of fireworks. It was without a doubt the best fireworks show I have ever seen. They were going off left and right from the tops of city buildings, bridges, and barges out on the water. Nevertheless, the F111s lit up the sky by releasing their fuel above the river.
Once Monday rolled around, instead of going to UQ for classes, the gang loaded up on the bus and began our journey to Lamington National Park. We stopped along the way to view Mount Warning, as seen below. It is the ancient center of a volcano that was formed by Australia moving over a hotspot. We were able to see the remnants of the caldera and the flanks of the volcano, which consist of basalt and rhyolite. Upon our arrival to Binna Burra Mountain Lodge, we unpacked our belongings into the 9 person bunk rooms, compiled of 3 triple bunks. With the evening approaching there was no time to waist. We immediately jumped into one of our many hikes through the rainforest. Throughout the week, we probably hiked over 20 miles. My feet were surely tired, but it was entirely worth the treks because we were able to see some of the most spectacular views of the Australian rain forest. There are enormous trees wrapped with spiraling woody vines, steep waterfalls trickling with fresh water seeping out from the basalt bedrock, and the peaceful bird calls echoing throughout the valleys. I thought Tarzan and Jane were going to swing by me on a vine at any given time.
One of my favorite days at Lamington began with a 5am wake up call. Half of the group rose early out of bed in order to hike out to Bellbird Lookout in the dark. There we sat in silence and listened to the bird calls while simultaneously photographing the picturesque sunrise. Later in the afternoon, some of the boys and I decided to hike some more. We trekked down to Gwongoorool Pool to go for a swim. We were warned about a giant eel living in the swimming hole down there, and sure enough we found him. He is not very shy, considering the instant we arrived at the site, he swam right up to the surface of the water to check us out. I quickly jumped in despite this--It was pretty warm out that day. We continued to venture further up stream in order to find another swimming hole, and sure enough we were able to jump in and cool off without the fear of getting chomped on by an eel.
The experience at Binna Burra and Lamington was nothing less than awesome. We were all immersed in the rain forest environment, and we were able to learn so much about how this ecosystem works. Our tutors undoubtedly added to the experience here, providing insightful knowledge about the terrestial stuff, but also about all the insects that live in the area. In addition to our tutors from Straddie, we were joined by another entomologist by the name of Claire Baker. She did research on glow worms for her PhD and was the glow worm specialist that worked on the set of Planet Earth. She is the go to girl for glow worms. Just out of this world! It was awesome having her with us.
To conclude our trip, we had a campfire on Thursday night at the Binna Burra cottage. We shared our American tradition with the Aussies by roasting marshmallows. Yum! Shabana also serenaded us with her amazing voice and by playing the guitar. Before we headed home the next day, we made a detour to Natural Bridge. Here there is a waterfall that flows down into a cave, and in the cave are thousands of glow worms. Claire Baker led our group quietly and carefully down to the cave in the dark. Once we were inside, it was a magnificent sight. It appeared as if you were looking up at the stars during a crystal clear night sky, but the sky is only 6 feet above your head. They were beautiful.
Now I am back in Brisbane for about 2 weeks before we take another field trip, which is to Heron Island on the Barrier Reef. We have midterms this coming Tuesday, which is dreadful. Who wants to study while in Australia? Definitely not me. On the bright side, I do indeed have some travel plans for the near future, which include a possible day trip to the Gold Coast for some surfing and a weekend trip to the Sunshine Coast to dive. We'll see what happens!

Brisbane River Fire on South Bank, ferris wheel at night

Mount Warning, Lamington National Park

Binna Burra Cottage

Sunset view from the Lodge

Coomera Falls

Strangler Fig Tree

5am wake up- beautiful early morning sky

Early morning hike out to Bellbird Lookout, spectacular view down into the valley

Sunrise at approximately 6am

Shabana posing with a giant tree

Jon taunting a large eel at Gwongoorool Pool

Playing around in streams, Gwongoorool Pool

The roots and base of a giant tree that had fallen over

Looking out over the valley of Lamington National Park

Campfire on the last night

Carpet snake, right outside of the Binna Burra Cottage

Natural Bridge with a waterfall through the center of it. Fabulous glow worm sightings in the cave!

For the past week I have been studying terrestrial ecology and marine ecology on North Stradbroke Island. It is a large sand island that encloses Moreton Bay just off the coast of Brisbane. The group stayed at the Moreton Bay Research Station, which is run by the University of Queensland. Our fabulous tutors were mostly PhD students from UQ as well.
For the first few days we went on numerous bush walks all over the island with our fearless leader, John Hall. He is pretty goofy, yet extremely intelligent. Quite the character. Our studies with John took us into the heathland and across dune systems. We learned just about everything there is to know about eucalypt, banksia, acacia, casuarina trees and so much more. Basically, all those bush fires you thought were so detrimental to the existence of Australian flora are just the opposite. Fire is essential to the growth and reproduction of numerous trees in the bush. They are well-adapted to withstand extreme heat conditions of fire, and this actually triggers the trees to release their seeds to germinate in the ash beds left behind. With John we were able to see some amazing wildlife. One morning at 6am, a few of us woke up with the sun and went on a bird walk. We saw everything from lorikeets (parrot family) to koalas. One day at Flinder's Beach we also spotted a goanna, which is related to the komodo dragon!
We took two trips to Point Lookout where we saw an insane amount of marine life and picturesque views of the Pacific. We saw humpback whales breaching, dolphins, sea turtles, sting rays, and even a small shark in the tide pools.
Half way through the week we transitioned into marine science mode. Kathy Townsend met up with us and took us out onto the tidal flats to observe some interesting marine life. Everyone got down and dirty in the mud and started flipping mollusk covered rocks. Underneath, we saw an assortment of icky creatures. These included cowries, octopus eggs (but no deadly blue ring octopus unfortunately), sea squirts, sea sponges, sea stars, hairy mussels, oysters, crabs and sea cucumbers (the focus of one of our projects). The tidal zones and rocky shores are bustling with life, you just have to dig for it. Our marine section concluded with an afternoon spent body surfing and relaxing at Cylinder's Beach near Point Lookout. It was a much needed day of fun after a week of field work. The last day of the trip was spent learning about Aborginal culture and art of North Stradbroke. Nevertheless, we got to chuck a boomerang around for a bit before we caught the ferry back to Brissie.
The next week consists of classes at UQ. After that we are back on the road to Binna Burra at Lamington National Park for some more terrestial fun with Mr. Hall. Enjoy the pictures!

Moreton Bay at dusk, right outside of MBRS