Oh, The Places You'll Go...: March 2009

Australia

Australia, Australia where to begin. First and foremost a week is not enough time to explore Cairns let alone the country of Australia. But I will recap on my trip and of course provide you with lots of pictures!

So I went to Australia with Yoko. We left after we had finished our course in Mo'orea. We left Papeete at 2 am November 19 and arrived in Australia at 12 pm on November 20. It was a weird time warp we went through, but one well worth it.

We arrived at our hostel, Caravella's Backpacking Hostel in Cairns (awesome place, I would recommend it to any one not just in Aus to party). We unpacked our bags and then hit the streets of Cairns. It is a very fun city. We were walking around, hitting cafe's walking the esplanade that runs along the mud flats. It is a beautiful place. While we were walking we all of a sudden stop dead in our tracks and look up, FLYING FOXES. They were just chilling in the trees. They are everywhere! These guys can be in trouble though. A species of tick can paralyze the mothers and make them drop their babies (oh no's!). So at these maternity colonies they have signs about what to do if you find a baby flying fox.

Look at the cuteness!

After our day in Cairns we decided to go on some tours so we went to the hostels main office and planned to our little hearts desires! The first thing we did was UNCLE BRIAN'S Antheron Tablelands Waterfall tour or awesomeness in a van. This tour to date was the most fun I have had. We started out by going to the Babinda Boulders. They literally look like they could be from another planet! The creek that runs through them is called Devil's creek. Legend has it the was a beautiful woman who went into the water with a man seeing it. The man then jumped in the water after the woman and died. There are tunnels under all the boulders so you can get dragged and not make it. Apparently all the people who have died since have been young attractive men. Who knows!

Devils creek and the babinda boulders

Very dangerous water, but very beautiful.

Babinda means wet place in the aboriginal language, and this town currently posesses something called the Golden Gumboot. This boot is awarded to the town that gets the most rain every year. Babinda gets over SEVEN METERS of rain per year...the gumboot is well deserved.

The Golden Gumboot

On our way out we found a Amethyst Python (Morelia amethistina), the largest snake in Australia. It had just had something to eat, it looked like a duck from what I could tell.

Look at that gut!

purty snake, probably about 3 m long

Next we went Josephine Falls. This was a three tiered waterfall with a natural water slide. It was so fun you have no idea! Natural water slides rock (har har har)!

As usual pictures do not do it justice.

We also found this crazy fruit on our way out, I still don't know what it is

We stopped at a banana field. They cover them with bags to help the bunches ripen at the same time,

the lucky recepient will get a brianna and yoko with their bunch of bananas

Next stop was onto the Antheron Tablelands...BEAUTIFUL. It reminded me a bit of California with its rolling hills.

Next was onto Milla Milla Falls...BEAUTIFUL.

When you swim underneath the falls it is like the greatest back massage ever

Again with the pictures that don't do the place justice!

Next stop on our tour was a Volcanic Marr. These thing are CRAZY. They in theory are able to be called giant puddles of water. There is no river system or anything all the water is there from past rainfalls. The water is super warm and the Marrs insanely deep like 80 meters!

Volcanic Marr

The final stop on our tour was by far my favorite. We went to a river to find ourselves a platypus!! I saw two. They are so cute and adorable and a lot smaller than I thought they would be. So I couldn't get any pictures but I will put some anyway, because how could I deny you the cuteness? But first, some information on them. The duckbill platypus is one of two monotremes alive today, the other being an echida, which is also found in Australia. A monotreme is an egg-laying mammal. They are rare and a bit off but oh so adorable.

Look at the cuteness...(image from nat geo)

echidna, the only other monotreme.

That ended out Uncle Brian's tour, which was AMAZING. The next day Yoko and I went to the Great Barrier reef for some SCUBA diving. I cannot even begin to tell you about it. We went out to the escape reef, right at the continental shelf. Literally a coral wall straight down. I would be swimming and be about 25 m down and then be 5m and have followed ONE coral head all the way up. There were literally mountains of coral, no adjectives adequately describe it!! There were coral caves and it just was phanomenol. GO DIVING FOLKS!!!

After our diving day we went on an overnight excursion to Cape Tribulation. This took us up to the Daintree rainforest, only the oldest rainforest in the world. How cool is that?? It was around during anICEAGE...craziness! First though we went to an animal sanctuary. We saw a wide range of critters. The cassowary (a big, mean, flightless bird) was pretty crazy looking. And of course we got to see a wallaby and some pretty cute crocs.

Cassowary!

Wallaby!!!

Crocodile, so cute!

Next stop was our hostel. It was amazing the rain forest literally went straight to the beach.

See, beach, rainforest and yoko and I in heaven!

The next day we went zip lining through the rainforest. The company is a sustainable, ecofriendly crew too. All of the stands are held up by suspension. Some of the stands were 20 m up! IT was impressive. They also did not cut any trees down, the zip lines ran along a stream bed. It was SO much fun. If you are even in Australia I recommend it.

yes that is me, isn't the helmet adorable?

On the way home I found a pretty flower at the hostel. There was also a sign that amused me about cassowaries. And then we saw a tree called a strangler fig, which is a parasitic tree that grows around another tree and kills it eventaully and leaves an amazing hallow tree. Apparently aborigines used to put the bones of their fallen into the nooks of the tree, which is why when the explores came they thought the aborigines were all cannibals. They aren't.

Slow down for Cassowaries folks!

Strangler Fig.

That was our last stop in Northern Queensland. We then hoped on a plane and headed down to Sydney for a six hour layover before heading back to good old San Francisco. While in Sydney we did not have time to do much but we took the train out to the harbor and went to the opera house and walked around the bridge and got fish and chips one last time.. I

That's me on those stairs!!

such a nice view

Sydney is a beautiful city, I hope I get to explore it more. After that we went back to states and had to end our semester adventure.

I want to go back!!!

Bodega and Mo'orea

So, as some of you know I went on a field course to the island of Mo'orea. This is covered in painstaking details on my other blog...sooooo if you haven't read about it, click on the picture that says Mo'orea to the right.

Read all about it.

Big Sur

The Big Creek Reserve...how do I even begin to tell you about this wonderful place? This reserve is strictly research use, so no random visitors and campers, it is solely for scientific purposes. As a result the reserve is one of the most pristine sites you will ever encounter. I was lucky enough to have a two week field course there. We camped at a site aptly named redwood camp. I became part of a little fourplex and we all ditched our tents and slept in the redwood duff next to the fire pit. It was amazing.

Our home, I slept in the redwood duff (most comfortable thing EVER) to the right

One of the first things we did was hike up to the fire break. This was the summer of 2008 when Big Sur was up in major flames. We went to see where they cleared the land and learned a bit more about how exactly the fire prevention works. They clear a road and then set fire to the opposite side, by pre-burning the land they prevent the hotter, stronger fire from gaining more momentum and in turn continuing onto the reserve.

Walking along the fire break

View of whale point and the pacific ocean from fire break

Same view 20 minutes later...crazy marine layer burn off!

During our time at Big Creek we continued 3 ongoing studies. The first was an otter census. Our otter census consists of teams of four teams of two walking a two mile stretches from opposite ends. Two teams did one 2 mile stretch, the other two the other. And then the next day switching stretches. How do you do an otter census you may ask? from a cliff side with binoculars. You sit on the edge of the cliff and look onto the ocean you have to make sure you are actually looking at an otter and not bull kelp which from far away looks a lot like an otter head. Then once you think you have an otter you get your partner to find what you're looking at and get confirmation...this is not so easy. There is a lot of, "okay, see that lighter brown kelp patch with the hole that is kinda shaped like this, look to the right and a little up from there...otter, right?" I was partners with Hana we actually got this down to a science very quickly, but it still gets complicated. And then we had a seal (seal friend) who kept following us and mimicking an otter.

The next part is to mark the otter on a map. Now our maps were hand drawn and not so amazing. So there was a lot of are we sitting here or here? You do not want to count the otters twice once your vantage point changes. After the otters are marked you watch them for a period of time. If you can make it out, which gets easier with a little practice you can see pups on mothers of if the otters are eating, playing, fighting, sleeping and you note that as well. The next step? Move along to another vantage point and try to avoid becoming road kill by a cruise america rv or some insane driver along Highway 1. There you have it, otter census.

Our next project was a plant survey of different ecosystems and ecotones. We did 20 meter transects with 2 meter breaks, so 10 counts. Anything the transect tape touched was counted and the number and species of plants was noted. I had riparian (near stream) and redwoods and the ecotone between the two. An ecotone is the region of transition between two distinct ecosystems and is commonly associated with an elevation gradient, but not always.

After we did our plant surveys we got to hang out in a natural sulfur spring. It is AMAZING. There is also this amazing clay buried in tree roots, we all put it on our faces and had smooth soft skin for days to come. Then, we got a surprise visit from a California Congressman...a very interesting visit. This man starts to crest the water fall in tighty whites and a red bandanna tied very rambo-esque...he proceeds to tell us all to move out of the way and belly flops into this not so large sulfur pond. It was a very interesting encounter but very amusing as well.

CA Congressmen in the red bandanna

The next thing we did is drive down Highway 1 a bit to a place called jade cove.

The very beautiful jade cove and my head.

Jade cove has a string of jade running through it. The wave action breaks off pieces of jade and deposits them on the shore. What else does is deposit? Kelp and rotting things. To get the jade you have to did through the rotting kelp and move rocks, cobble, and gravel until you find the elusive pieces of jade. You have to hold it up to the light and if looks somewhat transparent like glass eureka! you found jade!

The crew digging through the rottingness and finding our jade while avoiding the rising tide.

After we had had enough of digging around we decided to check out some tide pools. Look at the tiny starfish we found!!

definition of cuteness right here

The next stop on our journey was San Simeon to check out some Elephant Seals, Mirounga angustirostris. The species in California is the Northern elephant seal. These seals are awesome, the are members of the family phocidae, which are the true seals (ie no ear flaps, rear propelled, different angle of ilium) but they are the only one in the family that are sexually dimorphic. They are HUGE males can be up to 2000 kg. They are also crazy divers, can go up to1500 meters! The deepest recorded is 1581 meters. We got way closer than we should've, so do what I say not what I do! Obey the Marine Mammal Protection Act folks!

Two big males fighting and me being startled by the sounds they make

Look at that proboscis!

Our next project was a steelhead survey. We split up into three groups and did three surveys in three branches of the creek. How do you do a steelhead survey? You start with a 7mm wetsuit, hood, boots, and snorkle mask. Materials? transect tape and dive slates and a watch. You start by measuring riffles and runs. Riffles are where streams have white water, and runs where the water is flowing rapidly. The stream will also have pools as well. You map all the features and distinguishing markers (like NOAA signs or bridges). When you reach a pool two team members put their masks on and put their heads into the water. You count the different size classes of fish and give the largest fish of each class you see. The class are, YOY (young of the year), 1, 2, 3+. The counters call out to the talliers. After you have counted you measure the length, width, and max depth of the pool. And repeat. After we finished out surveys we decided to go swimmin in the ocean, and climbed down the kelp stalks to check out some pretty sweet marine life.

Hana being awesome

After we completed our stream survey it was play time. We got to go on a backpacking trip. The first day we went up to a place called whale point and had a grand old time for the night. The next day we climbed up to a place called Gamboa point for the night. We got there early but then decided to go down to a set of waterfalls and it was AMAZING. We climbed up two falls before reaching the larger one and getting to go swimming in a pool. As we all start jumping in something fell from the cliff face. I thought it was just a branch or something, but that something was a rattlesnake! Crazy couple of moments. We then went back to Gamboa, which is still one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. It is AMAZING you feel like you are on top of the world.