Friday, February 22, 2013

billabong sanctuary

got another taste of australian wildlife visiting billabong sanctuary, which is located only a short bus ride away from JCU. some of the animals were contained in enclosures, while others were free to swim/hop/fly around. i got super excited about the kangaroos, who were extremely docile and would let us go up and pet them.



feeding a roo!




we also went around and got a look at lots of other animals, including some reptiles, wombats, and koalas. side note: i don't understand the hype about how koalas are so cute.. i think they look more like weird sleepy old men. people could pay to have their photos taken with the koalas, and apparently koalas have a strict working agreement that they can only work two hours a day every two days. sounds ideal to me.. 



 wombats i found to be really adorable- and i previously had no idea what they even were. other marsupials here included the pademelons; these look like a cross between a tiny kanga and a mouse. cute! 



and while i am slightly terrified of snakes, i did like watching them and getting the chance to hold them. we got up close and personal with the inland taipan, which is the most venomous snake in the world (don't worry, we weren't allowed to hold this guy). 







another highlight of the visit was watching the adult croc feeding, where we got reassured that salt water crocs (the most dangerous croc in the world), are in fact found in estuarine environments on occasion. guess i won't be back to the river for a bit.. while smaller, the female crocodiles are more dangerous than the males because they have flexible necks.



the dingos look just like dogs!


and more pretty flowers..

castle hill


 yesterday evening seven of us hiked up castle hill, which rises above townsville and offers a view of the city, clear blue ocean, and magnetic island. there are several routes up; we opted to take the "goat track," involving lush greenery and and a pretty sharp incline most of the time. it took us about an hour give or take in total to make it to the top and the sweating was definitely well worth it. we were just in time for the sunset, and even a few rainbows could be glimsped amongst the clouds. the walk down was much easier, and i was thoroughly impressed by the many people choosing to run both ways. i really like how active the people are here, and also how environmentally conscious the country is from what i've seen. my only complaint is the weird lack of ice for beverages at JCU & most restaurants i've been.. 





Tuesday, February 19, 2013

croc bait


yesterday we walked down this river close to JCU- about a twenty minute walk from main campus. i've heard conflicting stories about freshwater crocodiles living here, but luckily there were no signs of them. swimming in the water was quite strange though, you'd be in a warm patch one second and the next it would get cold- hard to say if it was refreshing or not.


there were however many turtles!


i think these flowers are really cool looking. the plant and animal life in australia is so diverse.


last night was a toga party! each floor of my college was assigned a different color- i am normally not a pink person.. 


also i super randomly got sort of hired to write the menu for this cafe on their blackboard. they were talking to us about how they wanted someone with good hand writing to help them out, and I offered. however towards the end i got a little tired.. needless to say they probably wished they'd gotten an art student to do the job! i won't be offended if its erased in the near future.


Sunday, February 17, 2013

townsville

so i have been in townsville now since thursday afternoon, and it is absolutely beautiful here. the campus feels like its right in a rainforest- i hear interesting sounding birds in the mornings and already have seen about ten wallabys just when wandering around. wallabys are super cute, like tiny kangaroos. its a lot different from occidental, here the dorms are called colleges, and each college has its own dining. my college is called st. marks, and theres only around 160 of us so it seems like a pretty close community. there are all these traditions, and right now is O-week so the "freshers" (freshman) are all being initiated. that includes us americans, and we get referred to sometimes as sepos, which stands for septic tanks.. apparently we are full of shit! the teasing is all in good fun though.





JCU isn't exactly in walkable distance from townsville's city and beach area, but there are buses here that can take you to and from. on saturday we went down to the strand, which is the stretch of beach that has nets in parts to keep out the jellyfish so we could swim. there is also a man made rock pool, but i liked being in the actual ocean better- the water is so warm here! it was mildy alarming seeing all the signs warning us of the stingers and vinegar that was available if you got stung. you can see magnetic island in the distance, and i hope to go there sometime soon. also had fish and chips that were sooo delicious, the seafood is all so fresh here. generally i've found the food is good here, although they weirdly serve spagetti-os and beans at breakfast...









so far we've just had to go to an international students orientation and im really excited because i got all the classes i wanted! i am taking: australian vertebrate fauna, functional biology of marine organisms, evolution and ecology of reef fishes, and life history and evolution of reef corals. people from billabong animal sanctuary were outside with all these animals, and i got to hold a crocodile and a python! it was hilarious when i held the crocodile because it immediately peed on me... but supposedly that is good luck. we are going to visit the actual sanctuary on friday.






victoria

can't believe i have already been in australia for a week! this time last week i arrived in melbourne, which is in southern australia and in the state known as victoria. after sleeping for 13/15 hours and causing fellow passengers to worry if i was still alive, i managed to collect all of my bags and met the group of kids who also got into JCU through the arcadia program. side note-- i definitely packed too much. words of advice: if you are studying abroad for five months during the australian summer, do not bring four sweatshirts and multiple pairs of leggings. after the airport, we went off to search for kangaroos! we walked through a park where there were heaps (a very australian term) of kangas. 


next we were off to sorrento, a beautiful seaside suburb about an hour outside melbourne. we basically just had lots of orientation type talks, but got breaks to explore the town and of course go to the beach! the beach there was absolutely gorgeous- a great first time being in the pacific in the southern hemisphere. feeling jetlagged, we were also able to wake up to hike up by the beach and watch the sunrise. 




after two days in sorrento, we all went back into melbourne for an afternoon and night. melbourne is a really great city from what i got to see- i really enjoyed the street art and how many alleyways were actually bustling with small cafes and musicians. we mainly walked around the grid-like center of the city which is only about a mile long. but then outside the grid are more streets and gardens, and the ocean. for the evening i met up with my friend alex who i hadn't seen since high school graduation! it was awesome seeing her, we had some delicious $4 pizza and i got to see a different part of melbourne outside the more touristy center. i also think seeing alex made it feel way more real that i am actually in australia!