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!

At Wetherby Station!!!!!

Wetherby Station - This is what I looked at every single day for breakfast. Beautiful!

We arrived at Wetherby Station in Northern Queensland about 10days ago and the level of excitement in the group was palpable. We flew into Cairns, in Northern Queensland and then traveled to Wetherby Station for our Terrestrial Ecology class with Claire Barker. As we drove up to the base camp in 4 wheel drive cars - 6 of them each with 8 students, I was just in wonder of what was in store for us. I did not have to wait that long. At Wetherby Station, we were greeted by the dusty long drive to the camp, and we all quickly closed our windows as the trucks zoomed up the windy road. The first site we saw at Wetherby was that of a long line of outdoor camping tents located in the field right in front of cow paddies, a red pond, the forests and a range of mountains in the background. The tents were set up in three levels, and it was just beautiful. We were to each have a tent per pair, and when we went inside, it looked like luxury camping, complete with mattresses, sheets, blankets and toiletries. "Its a five star hotel outdoors" I thought, and it was excellent. We met the people we were going to work with on the first day, the family at whose place we are staying, we visited the cattle pens, and saw a lot of cows, and calves in the field. We went on a farm walk to see all the forests, and ecosystems around the farm. Our trip appeared in the local newspaper, and we finished the first day after a sumptuous dinner and sat around a huge campfire, singing songs and cracking jokes. It was really unbelievable that this was the beginning of a class - with such awesome people and plans in store for us.

Lunch at Wetherby, enjoying the Australian pie :-)

At Wetherby Station before first field Trip.

Of Kangaroos and Koalas

We visited Lone Pine Sanctuary one Saturday morning. The morning started off with Alex and I waiting for the bus on the wrong platform. But, after 30minutes of deliberation and wonder, we were able to figure the problem out, with a simple solution that allowed us to get the bus as soon as it appeared. Just in time! We travelled to the Sanctuary, were we visited Koala - they are lazy, cute, fluffy animals that spend the whole day sleeping, and eat eucalyptus leaves. We saw the kangas' and the little roos, who were chillin' under the shed and wondering why these homo sapiens could not get over how cute they were...not really! The kangaroos were many, and just when I thought I will never see one skip, hop and jump, a tribe of them started doing so, and it was an awesome sight. This was followed by a visit to the crocs (crocodiles) which also seemed to be spending lazy days by the ponds - locked in off course. We also saw many types of birds, including the Emu, a big bird that walks by past people and does not seem to mind them. I was a little scared, but realized that they would not do anything to you, unless maybe aggravated. We also had the opportunity to take pictures with koalas and snakes etc, though I would choose a koala any day.

Entrance to the land of kangaroos

Koalas, sleeping of course

Such a cute animal :-)

Brisbane River

City Cat Ferry- Brisbane

Commuting daily by public transport to the university and back proved to be pretty difficult especially when trying to organize some group work. It was quite a task trying to get all group members to work together after 5pm, before everybody started rushing off to get the last bus of the day - which coincidentally would be before 6pm, giving us an hour to work through the upcoming presentations. All the rush about made it all the more fun, albeit with some tempers flaring up a little. But, we all did very well on the day, and were very happy about the group work and team spirit. Not to mention that my group was called the Krazy Koalas, and we stirred up some heat with our dance mantra at the end of our presentation. Anyways, the public transport was still cool. I loved the City Cat especially. This is a ferry that goes right around Brisbane River and dropped us off at convenient locations, such at South Bank, Brett's Wharf, UQ etc. And of course, the views were superb :-)

City Cat Stop at UQ. The first day we visited the Brisbane Festival

Beautiful View from the Lawn Balling Game

View of Brisbane City buildings from the City Cat

What a blast at Bribie Island...

A  street in Bribie Island

Wow!! I cannot believe that it has been two weeks already and I have finished one course with Ron Johnstone, in Coastal Resource Management. We took the whole course at the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, and we stayed for that period at our home stays, around the city. On Day 2 of the class, we traveled around Brisbane to learn about storm water management in the city. Seeing that the floods occurred shortly under a year ago, it seems fitting that communities should be wary about the extreme rain events that can occur in Queensland. Australia is certainly a land of extremes, with high sunshine and heat on some days to rain and floods on other days. Thankfully, we were only caught in a few drizzles the day we travelled to Bribie Island to hang out on the beach. Well, this day is worth a mention more than that, but before I get ahead of myself, I will take a step to the day before. After the first field trip, we all returned to college, and then back to our separate homes all excited for the next day.

Entrance to Pumicestone Passage

         This was Day 3, when we travelled to Bribie Island, a small island to the north of Brisbane. We went around the island looking at the canal estates and learning about the construction of the beautiful homes with water frontage. The homes, simply put were amazing. What would you give to get a big beautiful home, with a canal of water passing right outside your backyard, and a small jetty parked outback to transport you around the waters , straight into Pumicestone Passage, and then onto Moreton Bay. It was just....AMAZING. But, there is something that you will be giving up. What would that be? One would wonder in the face of such beauty! Well, to build these canal estates, developers have to clear the land, remove the melaluca forests and the swamps, dig the canasl, dredge the soils, and all these activities do not come without consequences. For example, dredging the soils, which is removing all the materials from the creek, exposes the Acid Sulfate Soils that are a characteristic of these ecosystems, and this releases sulfuric acid which destroys the environment. In addition, these activities destroy habitats for species, and cause the loss of many species, reducing biodiversity, and basically making the world a worse place than we found it. Wow, before you think I am embarking on some environmental lecture, I just wanted to share some of the most interesting and standout points related to coastal development. Its not simple, but really complex! So, there maybe a lot of issues you might want to consider before you relocate to the beautiful canal estate homes on Bribie Island :-). Anyways, back to the story about Bribie Island. 

Canal Estate housing with boat jetties outside each house

       On Day 4, we had to wake up very early to get to school by 8:30AM, and if you know the public transport system, it means we had to wake up at 6AM. Our professor had planned an awesome day out at Bribie Island, mind you, not by the canal estates, but by the beach. We were going to head out there, see the creek at high tide, which we did and it was beautiful, and then head to the beach for lunch and a swim. Yeah, you could just sense the excitement in the group about this outing, well, except for the early morning of course. But, just when you least expect something, we arrived at beautiful Island, to find that, on that day, *drum rolls*, it was RAINING!!!! Nooooo!! Well, yes, actually it was. So, unfortunately, we were not able to make use of our beach suits and what note, and had to leap and jump from one shade to another to avoid the rain. Remember when I said Australia is a land of extremes? Indeed, the person who invented that knew what they were talking about. Most of us, aka...me, were not ready for the rain, and I almost got drenched the moment I stepped out of the bus. We ended up at a small fish and chip shop, 47 students at once, we did spike up business that day, and we all enjoyed the delicious and fresh fish and chips by the beach. Not to mention that there was a thrift book store right next door,most of us not only enjoyed the food, but a book or two for very cheap prices to enjoy whilst on this trip. And, I got myself a Sydney Sheldon novel, to catch up on my high school days when I just loved reading fiction thrillers. 

Very tall...no, its flod control to see how deep the water gets during floods

Well, it was still well in the land down under, even with rain on days when we were ready for a sunny dip!!!!!! (ps: Will post pictures related to this blog soon, come back to enjoy :-)

Stanford all the way, even in Aussie :-)