Mangroves at Strattie

Brown Lake champions

Brown Lake

The activities of Strattie continued. Day 3 was the morning of seagrass exploration and data collection at low tide. That afternoon, we had time off and most of us used it to process the data from the previous days as we were always busy each day. This was a good time to catch up. At night we had an interesting guest lecture about Manta rays, these big sea creatures that can grow up to 9m wide, gigantic animals! On day 4, we visited the National Park to look at Blue lake. It was a nice and quiet walk through the forests and the lake was peaceful and clear. Blue lake is a window lake that formed when the parent rock surface dipped below, and exposed the ground water. The water in the lake is actually the exposed water table. Afterwards we drove to Brown Lake, which is a perched lake. It got its color due to the presence of the eucalyptus trees around the lake, whose tannin stains the lake water brown. The source of water in the lake is rainwater and runoff. We had the chance to swim in Brown lake, unlike Blue lake, which is very sacred for Aboriginal people, and we could not swim in it.

Blue Lake - not really ( camera setting :-))

After the wonderful mornings in the water and forest, we visited the mangroves in the afternoon. We walked into the Rhozophora and Avicenna trees, knee deep in mud and collected data about tree types, height, girth and distance from shore. It was quite a long process but my group exercised efficiency that made the work so much less strenuous. we had some laughter and fun too along the way. After the mangroves we returned home for another warm, nice dinner and a guest lecture about Sea Turtles in trouble. I was usually ready for bed by 8pm due to the full days out in the field. On Day 5, we were all feeling the strain of hard work and getting tired. Fortunately, one lab was cancelled and the sharks were left with the Dune Succession lab, which took a while on our last lab days, but we were all happy to be done with labs.  That afternoon was spent processing lab data and trying to study for the final exam that was the next day.

Sunset watching with friends - Teresa and Graham

However, between all these field trips, each evening, I was happy to spend time watching sunsets with friends, and witnessing the creation of (new) friendships between people. The sunsets were always beautiful, different and spectacular each day. Graham and Teresa were my sunset buddies and they were always excited to watch the splendid sunsets, accompanied by fun photo sessions. Strattie was proving to be wonderful on each day. Where else could one finish a long day by watching the sunset by the beach while having dinner. It was wonderful! But, after all this, we were ready for the big city ---> Sydney!!!

Happy times watching sunsets

The beautiful sunset

The usual photo shoots :-) - with Graham

Stradbroke Island aka. Strattie

View of  Stradbroke from Point Lookout

What a wonderful time we had at Strattie. I know this was not the stereotypically fantastic island and location like Heron Island, but I believe that the activities, the environment and the surroundings catered so much more to my needs. We arrived in Strattie after spending a day in Brissie, where we all used the internet and basically tried to connect with the world in 24 hours. But, wonderful news, we also had a good internet source at Stradbroke. It took us about 40 minute to cross from the Brisbane Marina to Strattie. We arrived at the University of Queensland Research Station, a nice place I must say. Per chance, maybe it is because I was very fortunate to share a 4 person bedroom instead of the usual 8 people bedrooms. It was very comfortable, and for the first time on this trip, I had a wonderful night's sleep every day.

Beach Walk

The first day we arrived, we were divided into three groups, the Sharks, the Turtles and the Dugongs. I was with the Sharks, and on the first day, we had to go out into the waters on a field trip about Dugong grazing. The boat ride was so much fun, well maybe depends on how you define "fun." Unfortunately, I was on boat # 1, the boat with the luck of the Titanic. It was so low in the water we basically were splashed with cold salty water for a solid 40minutes as we went out. Our boat filled with water, at one point I was afraid we would literally go down under. By the time we arrived for the experiment, we were all cold and not very excited to get into the water. However, I was lucky as I could not get into the water, but was able to record data for my teammates who were in the water. Afterwards, we were back to the station, all cold and wet, and were welcomed to a nice, warm, and wonderful dinner. I fell in love with Strattie right then. The following days were filled with activities out in the field with our water proof papers - furiously taking notes (not really).

Pandanas Field Trip -The group that did not get the ice-cream :(

On day 2, we had our coral reef lab and we went snorkeling again in the waters. Strattie did not have such clear waters like Heron, so the snorkeling was different albeit interesting. We followed this lab by a hike into the  Point Lookout in the afternoon, where we studied the Pandanas Trees. Omg!! there were so many mosquitoes that day and we had not known to put on bug spray, so yes, we made for wonderful dinner for mosquitoes, and this was unfortunate for all of us. But, after the lab, we had a wonderful beach walk, with wonderful Italian gelato and ice-cream. This was followed by a swim at sunset on the beach. It had been an awesome first two days at Stradbroke Island and I had a good feeling about it!!!

Sandhill

Work and Play at Heron Island

Morning walk around Heron Island

I know by now it sounds like we never got any work done in Heron Island. Yes, all play with no work would make the Stanford in Australia group a pretty dull group. But, we did actually do a lot of work. Heron Island had very intense days were we would spent the better part of the afternoons in labs counting zooxanthallae and protein on coral branches, ID-ing fishes, invertebrates and planktons, looking through the highly magnified microscopes until our eyes wanted to burst out of our heads, having group presentations till after 10pm, having afternoon lectures where our brains were boggled by the thermo-haline circulations, the million plus invertebrates groups (slight exaggeration!) with their phylum and characteristics, the bony and cartilaginous fishes, the futile trials to spell or more like misspell all the Latin names for the species, and even worse still, trying to pronounce them are some of the unforgettable moments of Heron Island. The two days of species card presentations made for great group bonding sections. People presented their mega or micro fauna with such charisma and humor that we were all soon laughing our tongues out during the different presentations. From choreographed tribal dances, to acting skits, from gangster mimics, to “disgusting nature” assimilations, from written songs and poetry, to cleaning equipment stunts, from dry humor to not-so-specific to Heron Island species (such as the stanfordutus bushpig), our group executed such talent and humor that has not been really apparent to the naked eye before.  Thus, we were all able to cruise through Heron Island with no permanent injuries sustained from terrible sleep patterns, bad eating habits/food, caffeine highs and lows, laughter, late nights and saline water. When we did have free time, it was party all the way, well as in; we all did activities that gave us that exhilarating feeling of absolute freedom. One of my most valued free-time activities (when not napping J) was a walk around the island, the forest or along the beach. Some days if we were lucky, we would catch the sunset and watch it sink beyond the seas, sometimes we would watch the birds diving for fish, at times we would walk along the shore at low tide and venture further into the waters, trying to save tiny stranded animals, and at times we would just enjoy a photo shoot around the island. There was never a boring moment in Heron Island, but the distance between us and civilization was soon calling us back to the “real world” aka good internet, food, shopping and people J

Heron Island evening walk!

Sunsets in Heron Island

Sunset in Heron Island

Beach volleyball had finally started among students and our professors. Everybody was excited from all time players to new recruits in volleyball. I was one of the new players and was enjoying the game with ferociousness, laughter and determination. Who would turn down a game of volleyball on the beach, playing and kicking up the fine sand while watching the blue oceanic waters disappear into infinity. The sun had finally decided to grace us with its presence and the place was just teaming with excited Stanford students ready to bask, read, play and enjoy in this natural beauty. One late afternoon, as we were playing volleyball, I was about to serve when the most beautiful sight ever, astonished me à the sunset over Heron Island. I just stopped and looked and I believe my teammates stopped to look at the sunset too. We all stopped playing volleyball in order to just to appreciate this beauty. I am sure that many people would travel miles just to see the sunset beyond the ocean.

Appreciating the beauty 

Our research station is located on the western side of the island, in pure proximity to the sunset lookouts – which are basically everywhere on the western part of Heron Island. The big ball of red sun that was dipping far into the horizon was casting a long red shadow, a reflection of the sun into the blue waters. The contrast was splendid, and the sight was just unbelievable. I just starred and could not believe that I was seeing this. No camera could ever capture the beauty I saw on that day! No words could do it justice. That sunset was plain marvelous. The array of the sun’s rays over the waters, the shimmer and glitter of light touching the waves as the water became a sultry golden color was a beauty to behold.  The clouds had an accentuated beauty that was a splendor to look at. I remember jus sitting down with a group of other students trying to capture every single moment of that day, before the sun faithfully sunk into the horizons, as if it had been swallowed by sea. The experience was simple amazing, and soon we were had back to the station to fill our empty stomachs, promising ourselves to return the next day for the next sunset - and we did :-)

Loving the sunset :-)

Having a photo shoot on the beach

Pure joy right here!

This was fun!!

Heron is beautiful!

Serenity and peace

The clouds in the distance

Walking into the blue clouds

Peaceful!

Of Heron Island’s Beauty, Beaches and Butterfly fishes

Credit: Sam Ecker

Heron Island, what a beautiful place. Your beauty shines forth every single day. In all weather conditions you never ceased to shine. Come rain, come sunshine, Heron Island you remained the best. The first few days we visited you, you had overcast skies, and rainfall. We were all mortified because all we wanted in Heron was sunshine, and beaches, just to complete our stay. But, oh how we were wrong. Even in the midst of mists and rainfall, with your ocean winds travelling at several knots per hour, we braved the beaches in order to view your magnificent array of fishes, corals, sharks, sting rays, invertebrates, plankton, sea stars, and sea cucumbers as we entered the stone cold water in your ocean. Decked in our black wet suits, colorful flappers, and snorkel masks, we were off from the start into the waters. Bracing ourselves for the first dip into the cold water, we sooner rather than later forgot all about the cold, as your beauty caused us to marvel. This was The Great Barrier Reef.

Credit: Katy Storch

Credit Katy Storch

Credit: Sammy Nguyen

It was just amazing what we were able to see in the oceans. Just the diversity and vigor of life underneath the waters was a pure wonder. Learning all about the amazing coral reefs and realizing that such diversity is threatened in our lifetime was astounding. Due to climate change, the Great Barrier Reef is vulnerable to disappearing by the year 2099. The increasing carbon dioxide levels in the oceans from anthropogenic activities and the increasing temperatures due to global warming will increase the likelihood of coral bleaching. Bleaching occurs when corals overheat and lose their symbiotic zooxanthallae, resulting in loss of energy for survival. If these corals are destroyed, our seas will become deserts of nothingness, and the colorful spectrum of life in corals will disappear. The Great Barrier Reef may disappear! This is sad news L. 

Credit: Ana Guerra

We want to live in a generation where even our children’s children will be able to experience the beauty of nature at its best. Nature as paraded by the beautiful stripped surgeonfishes, the laborious cleaner wrasses, the cruising sting rays, the bargaining cute baby turtles, the pointy-mouth butterfly fishes, the sly wrasse fish mimic, the slender lemon sharks, the elusive clown fish, the charismatic hump back whales, the lost- years loggerhead turtles, the gigantic manta rays, and the dancing anemone fishes. All these brilliant fauna found in the oceans is threatened by climate change, but if each and every one of us does our part, from reducing plastic waste, to saving light energy, we can all be a step closer to sustaining our natural environments. But, as it stands, Heron Island is still one of the most scenic places to visit, and we hope that it remains through time.

Sunset over the oceans

When Stanford conquered Heron Island ...

Heron Island was just fantastic!!!

Heron Island from the boat

Corals at the bottom of the sea

We arrived at Heron Island about two weeks ago after spending some time in Port Douglas. We left Port Douglas to travel to Gladstone by a sleeper train. For most of us in the group, this was the first time in a sleeper train. The train had different cabins, and in each cabin there where three bunk beds, which could be used as couches during the day, and beds at night, and also a sink in the cabin. I was in a cabin with two other girls, and the journey started very early in the morning. We were going to be on the train for 26 hours. However, this was about to be the best journey yet. We all started by being studious and trying to catch up on our Targeted Research Projects (TRP). But, that did not last a while. Soon, I was moving around the train, visiting people in their cabins, having morning tea, watching a movie, having a break for lunch, playing a game of cards, and trying to get back to studying again, and by this time is was after 5pm. The train was moving slowly but surely through the beautiful countryside filled with Eucalyptus trees that spread out into the sclerophyll forests. At night time after having a sumptuous dinner on the train, and hanging out with friends it was time for another movie before we all fell asleep at the sounds of the train wheels honking and clonking all the way to Gladstone.

Tracy and Abby snorkeling in the open ocean 

Postcard perfect - Heron Island beach

Finally, we were at the Gladstone Marina the next morning waiting for the boat to Heron Island. We were all very much excited, and after taking our seasickness medicine, we felt ready to conquer the opens seas. Maybe not! Half of our group still suffered seasickness despite having taken medication. I was super excited for the trip, I hung out with my friend upstairs and outside to watch the graceful and sometimes terrific waves. Then, when the boat started to swerve from side to side and my stomach with it, I knew that the motion was slowly getting to me. Soon, I succumbed to seasickness and lay on the floor wishing the 2hour-ride would end very soon. Finally, we arrived at the Heron Island jetty, and we were more excited to land on firm ground, than to see the beautiful, small, and remote island appear in the horizon. To say Heron Island is beautiful is an understatement, because the place is like a dream come true. The first day we arrived, after all the health and safety introductions, we all set out to our rooms, had lunch, collected our snorkel gear and by 3pm, we were out on the beach front ready to embark on snorkeling at high tide. This was going to be my first time snorkeling. I was slowly but surely freaking out and praying that I will survive. As I stood there, I heard my name being called and I was assigned to a group with Professor Kevin. 

Out into the waters everybody went. The water was so cold, omg!! I went into the water for the first time, and my expression said it all…It was too cold, I was scared and I just wanted to give up right then. But, deep down, I wanted to experience the beauty and novelty of something new. As I watched seven of my team members’ swim out to Kevin in order to demonstrate their skills, I just stood there waiting, waiting and waiting. Finally, Kevin came to give me a hand and allowed me to test out my gear whilst holding onto his hands. Soon, he was slowly leading me out to the ocean, staying as close to the shallow waters as possible. And then I saw it. The reef flat was swarming with schools of damsel fish, parrotfish, clams, hard and soft corals, sea hares, sea cucumbers, sea stars, sting rays etc to name a few. It was beautiful, amazing, terrific, astounding and just pure excellent. I had never been on the waters before, and soon all fear was forgotten as I began to experience the thrill of seeing such awesome things in the ocean. This was my first day at Heron Island Research Station!

Happy Feet

Curtain Fig Tree, Lake Eacham, and Volcanic Craters

The awesome Fig Tree, can you see all the roots?

Have you ever seen a crazy big tree? Well, I just did. This is the most visited tree in Australia, receiving about 1.5million visitors per year. It is really awesome. It is made up of a network of roots that shoot from half way up the tree going down into the ground in search of water and nutrients. In the meanwhile, they create this splendid view for all to enjoy. The fig tree is an epiphyte, a tree that grows on another tree, not as a parasite, but uses the host in order to get nutrients, water and light. So, to begin this process, a bird dropped a fig tree seed onto the branches of the host, and the tree began to germinate and grow its own roots. The roots reached further into the ground from up the host tree, and then after a while, the whole tree died and fell over horizontally. The fig tree kept sending out roots, which grew in this fixed pattern like a curtain. now, this fig tree is one of the most famous tree in Australia, and I had the pleasure to visit it.

Wallaby Group picture :-)

Beautiful Lake Eacham

After we played around the fig tree in the morning, we went off to visit Lake Eacham. This lake was created when magma welling up from the mantle came into contact with ground water. The ground water was heated up until a lot of pressure was created underground that it blew up all the sedimentary rocks above it, creating a huge crater, kilometers long and very deep, which was then filled with underground water and rain fall to create this beautiful lake. Lake Eacham has such clear waters, that are awesome for an afternoon deep when the sun is at its hottest. The view was so calming, I just wanted to curl up on the grass and read a nice novel. I really enjoyed the lake a lot and was sad to leave it that afternoon. However, our activities were not over for the day, because we visited another volcanic crater, but in this one, the water pressure blast out through granite rocks and caused a very deep crater to develop in the ground, This is the only feature of its kind across the world, because a lot of pressure has to be built up to blow away granite rocks. It was very deep and we could see it from the top. The hole was covered at the bottom with water, and algae made the surface of the water green. We then visited the  water falls in that area and the rain forests surrounding it. The water in the waterfalls was very cold, but as could be expected, a lot of people did take a deep and cross the waterfalls.

Granite Volcanic Crater

After this, we visited the Bonadio's Forest were we went on the river for platypus spotting in the evening. Platypi are very interesting mammals, they are primitive, lay eggs and live in water. They came up at dusk to forage for food, and would stay above the surface for about 10seconds before they disappeared again. I was excited because we were able to spot this one platypus about 10 times before the evening was over. Then, just as we thought we had seen all there was to see in Aussie, we were invited to dinner with this wonderful family who looked after the Banadio Forest. There was crocodile and kangaroo meat to taste for those who were excited by this idea. The people who had it seemed to like it, especially kangaroo meat, apparently its very good. After dinner, we all went out animal spotting at night and saw some wombats, rabbits, wallabies and spiders. We then headed back to Wetherby after a long day out to prepare for the next two days of hiking up Cloud Forest Mountain!!!

Sunset during platypus spotting in Banadio

Chillagoe and The Caves!

Sunrise in Chillagoe. Photo Credit to Bryant Cabrera.

During our time at Wetherby, we took a short two day trip, carrying backpacks only, to Chillagoe. Chillagoe is a small town in Cairns outback with only about 350 residents in it, but apparently receives about 20,000 tourists per year. Wonder why? Yes, I asked myself the same question! Chillagoe is popular for its Limestone Caves!!! The caves were formed when ancient coral reefs were compressed to form rocks, and due to erosion and weathering, the rocks gave way to such ragged formation of caves and rocky, sharp mountains. The caves are the major attractions in Chillagoe, but other activities involved bird walking early in the morning, spotting animals using flashlights late at night, watching the sunsets and sunrises which were all splendid and beautiful.

Swimming in the Creek

We visited the deciduous forests and saw nature and trees fighting for survival in this sunburnt environment were water is a necessity, that certainly is rare during the dry seasons. We went swimming in the spring fed pools in late afternoons, when the heat was almost unbearable, but the water was such an awesome relief.

Relief from the heat!

We walked and climbed over the balancing rocks which looked spectacular and so surreal. This was a time of intense communion with nature, and just marveling at its plain beauty. It was so beautiful and not trying to impress, yet very impressive! Inside the limestone caves, we were able to see spiders that would shine their light back at us. Thankfully, we did not encounter any cave snakes, but we did have some moments were, in total darkness, we would scare each other about them. Underneath the ground the atmosphere was very cool as compared to the burning heat outside. There were some spots that were really small, and we all had to crawl hands, bellies and knees to get completely through them.  We played games and tried to tell the images that the caves had formed naturally, such as the elephant and the pretty lady.

Group Kangaroos at the Balancing rocks!

We saw kangaroos, wallabies and peacocks in the red dusty landscape. We lived at the Ecolodge and shared suites completely with bathrooms and air conditioning. This was really such an amazing experience, and we all had a great time. We drove back to Wetherby on the last day, and had a wine tasting event on the way. This was at a mango winery, were they made the wine straight from the mango trees grown on site, and the place had a pretty good review from members of our group, though personally, I may have held different opinions.

The ragged rocks!

Light from the inside the caves!