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 :-)