Crystal Creek

It's about mid-semester already and I've had some more schoolwork than usual lately. The biggest assignment was a report for Marine Conservation Biology. It happened to be based on research conducted at Kimbe Bay; it was really interesting but very challenging to write.

Friday night the water polo team had another fundraiser barbecue, which was fun. Saturday afternoon was a highlight because our Aussie friend, Joe, took Kelsi, Marissa, and me up to Crystal Creek for the afternoon. It's less than an hour-long drive from here up to the Paluma rainforest where the creek is. The water was a little chilly but it is really beautiful there. We went for a dip and climbed a tall rock to jump into the water.





I'm pretty tired due to several late nights of working and this evening's water polo practice, which was intense. It's crunch time since the guys team will compete at Australian University Games in less than a week. When I was guarding someone and he took a backhand shot I managed to block it with my face. It was a hard hit at close range but nothing is broken or concussed and I was able to just swim it off, so I think it simply qualifies as the best block of the day. Plus, I also scored a really sweet goal.

This upcoming Friday morning I have an exam in Marine and Terrestrial Invertebrate Biology, and then it's time to prepare for lecture recess! I'll be on a field trip in the rainforest Saturday through Tuesday. On Wednesday I am meeting Kelsi and Marissa in Cairns to spend the rest of the week together and celebrate their birthdays, so I'm really looking forward to next week!

Working hard, playing hard.

When I got back from PNG, I had to take a few days to recover from the trip and catch up on schoolwork. Then, Saturday September 5th I had a beast of an all-day field trip: a bus ride all the way up to Cairns and back and visits to three separate aquaculture farms. I’m pretty sure I only survived because my closest buds, Kelsi and Marissa, are taking Aquaculture with me.
We had to get upat 5:30 to make the 7am departure from campus. After a two hour drive up the coast, we arrived in the small town of Cardwell to see Seafarm where prawn are farmed in big earthen ponds, as you can see below.

After lunch, we drove for at least two more hours up to Northern Fisheries Centre, a facility that is more research-oriented. Here’s Kelsi standing next to a container of plankton dutifully taking notes.

Next stop: Cairns Marine, where fish are sold for display in aquaria. The short introduction included an explanation on their scrupulous adherence to environmental protection laws when collecting organisms. Then we got to walk around to look at the cool fish in the tanks – so this was definitely the most fun of the three. Below you can see a lionfish and Kelsi and Marissa with a grouper.


We had dinner in Cairns before making the long drive to Townsville, arriving at 11pm. Kelsi, Marissa, and I plan to spend “spring break” in Cairns in September and are looking forward to not having to take notes.

Last week I turned in a few big assignments so I made it a fun weekend (better than the previous one for sure). Friday I had an hour of class and then I spent the rest of the day on campus with Marissa to relax. We spent some time at the pool, enjoying the cool water and basking in the warm sun.

That evening Marissa and I got ready to head over to Bludgers, the Friday night event at Uni Club. The water polo team was there barbecuing sausages to sell as a fundraiser. Marissa isn’t on the team, but she won everyone over by helping to grill sausages and sell raffle tickets.


Saturday afternoon I managed to get some work done (that’s a big deal for me). Saturday night was a big night in town. The club we were at opened the dancefloor with a fire twirler, which was exciting. Also exciting was that there was an enormous drug bust and it was quite a scene. We saw probably twenty people arrested over the course of the night.


Sunday, Marissa, Kelsi and I slept in, made pancake breakfast, and did some homework. I went to water polo practice, then to a barbecue with some water polo teammates.
Today, I returned to the weekday routine - I attended class, turned in a paper, scrimmaged some water polo… Hope to have something good to report again next week.

Papua New Guinea

What a week! Sorry, guys, I hope this post isn’t boring. I sort of had to write a novel to convey how incredible it was…

On Tuesday I attended a tutorial for Marine Conservation Biology in which I was given an assignment about Kimbe Bay’s marine reserve system – very relevant to the trip I was about to make. It turns out my professor and tutor have been very involved in research at Kimbe Bay.

Wednesday after class, my dad arrived and I showed him around and we went out to dinner. Then I had to write an essay which I had to finish and turn in on Thursday before attending a practical; then I rushed home to catch our flight to Brisbane where I was able to briefly meet up with my wonderful old friend, Tim. Friday morning at 6am, my dad and I met Tauni and Rod who would be traveling with us, and together we flew to Port Moresby – so far, so good.

They call PNG “the land of the unexpected,” and I won’t disagree. When we arrived in Port Moresby we were greeted by Paul, a biologist and local, and were informed that our connecting flight was cancelled. So instead of heading straight to Kimbe Bay, we checked into a heavily guarded Holiday Inn and then Paul arranged for us to see a museum of Papuan art and culture. Below you can see a painting and an enormous traditional ceremonial canoe with a crocodile on it.



Saturday was an incredible day. We got up at 3am for a 4:50am flight, which nearly went very awry because of an issue with my ticket. Luckily Paul sorted it out and we made it onto the plane just in time. We arrived at tiny Hoskins airport on the island of New Britain and took a van to Walindi Resort at Kimbe Bay.

After checking in and having breakfast, we boarded the dive boat to see the reef. It allowed us to have a look at the beautiful coastline.



I suited up to dive when we arrived at Lumu Reef and when I jumped in, I could hardly believe my eyes. The visibility was fantastic (at least 20 feet) and the reef was so vibrant! All kinds of life abounded and I was reminded many times of my Marine and Terrestrial Invertebrate Biology class lessons. Rod was very helpful – anytime I had a question, I could point at something and he would write down what it was. He also calculated at least 90% coral cover – a promising sign of a healthy reef. When everyone had returned to the boat we proceeded to Restoff Island where I opted to snorkel rather than dive so that I could use my camera (which is waterproof to 30 feet/10 meters). Here are some photos from the snorkel but I’d like to emphasize that if you think these look good, Lumu Reef was even more amazing!






We then picnicked on the boat and headed back in to the Resort. Next on the schedule would be a trip to the Hot River. The area is home to three active volcanoes and fifteen dormant ones and there are springs that come from the mountainside at very high temperatures. To get there we drove through oil palm plantations, problematic because forests are being clearcut to make room for these nonnative trees. The palm nuts are harvested and processed for their oil. There are also villages tucked in among the plantations and deep in the forest. Here you can see palm oil trees and a photo of PNG public transportation between these remote villages – lots of people crammed into the bed of a truck.



The Hot River was a really enjoyable experience. The water must have been 90 degrees F and it smelled of sulfur. The cool downpour made for a really pleasant experience. Paul found us some “medicinal mud,” a red clay thought to have healing qualities… maybe it was good for my skin.



Our weather luck stayed with us, and just as we had perfect clear sunshine during the dive and pleasant rain during our dip in the river, and the rain cleared as we returned to Walindi to clean up for the evening.

We then went to a barbecue where we were surprised with a wonderful performance of traditional song and dance (I wish I had known to bring my camera) before watching presentations about the work being done at Walindi. Annisah told us about the the Nature Conservancy’s six-step process to creating marine reserves, which requires not only scientific research but also the involvement of the local communities. Fidelma talked about Mahondia’s programs for raising awareness of marine issues among local communities through programs such as youth education. The Women in Conservation program really caught my attention because communities in the region are patrilineal (although matrilineal groups exist in PNG as well) and women are the gatherers who do the most damage to reefs by walking on them and collecting. I like the idea that this program engages and empowers women while also addressing conservation.

We were served an amazingly delicious dinner of traditional foods, including taro, sweet potato, and coconut rice and I had the chance to talk to a local named Annette and meet her beautiful children. Then Reuben gave a presentation on community involvement in Locally Managed Marine Areas. Locals are engaged in the establishment and enforcement of the LMMAs, and have seen success in the form of rising numbers of fish and decreasing use of severely damaging fishing methods. The barbecue was such a wonderful event because it showed me a bit of the culture of PNG and it afforded the chance to learn about the amazing work being done here to protect the reefs. The people conducting this work are so passionate and committed – it is truly inspiring.

Sunday we already had to leave Walindi but first we met Allison, who works with Rod, over breakfast. She told us about the awesome monitoring buoys NOAA is putting in Kimbe Bay, and how Kimbe Bay is being used as a model for other marine conservation programs all over the world. We then drove to the airport where Paul once again had to save me from getting left behind when my ticket was faulty. Rod, Tauni, Paul and my dad then had a meeting to discuss in detail the Nature Conservancy’s history, work and progress, which was actually quite interesting. Paul’s wife Matilda joined us for dinner at a Japanese place and then we returned to the hotel for bed.

Monday morning we left the hotel at 5:30 am (with security) for Variarata National Park to see the Bird of Paradise. We had a great view of the males displaying their incredible mating season plumage, which I managed to photograph. I'm also including one of my favorite photos, of a woman carrying her child, which I just managed to take from the van as we were driving back to the hotel.



We checked out of the hotel, bought some souvenirs, and headed to the airport. I parted from the group in Brisbane and was back in Townsville by 9:30pm.

I feel so lucky that my dad’s work is something I’m interested in, and it has granted me this wonderful opportunity to see beautiful Papua New Guinea and to learn about the issues of marine conservation, which are so important. I learned a lot about the country and its culture, and it was refreshing to see first-hand that the things I learn in class have practical applications. Above all, it was inspiring to meet people who are working so hard to preserve the beautiful reefs.

A little update

This week was pretty relaxing so I can't regale you with many fascinating stories or photos. Classes are mostly quite interesting and - even though it's winter- my ten-minute bike ride to campus already has got me arriving to class glistening with sweat. It's about time for all the Swatties in the US to be returning to campus, which has got me a little nostalgic, but luckily I'm enjoying myself too much here for that to be a problem. Among the week's highlights I might mention going out to Uni Club (the club on campus) with friends on Thursday and going to Cactus Jack's for chocolate nachos on Saturday. Cactus Jack's is a fairly nice restaurant/bar in town that serves TexMex food but also has a signature dessert dish that was just irresistible. For chocolate nachos, Instead of tortilla chips, the chips were chocolaty and coated in chocolate sauce with a mound of ice cream and whipped cream on top. It was delectable... The following day, I went to the pool and swam 2500 meters before water polo practice.

I've been attending water polo three times a week, and am really enjoying getting exercise, refreshing my degraded water polo skills, and befriending the other players. Practices are co-ed and the team consists of mostly Australians with a few Americans thrown in and it's really a fun group of people.

I can also report that my cooking skills are slowly but surely improving, as this is the first time in my life that I've had to shop and cook to provide my own regular meals. My successes so far include burritos and pasta (duh), as well as soup, tofu, asparagus, baked potato, and most recently couscous. It's not quite the makings of a gourmet menu, but I feel like I've already come a long way already and am continuing to try different dishes.

So there you have a little update on daily life. What I'm really looking forward to at the moment is my dad's visit - this upcoming weekend we will be traveling to Papua New Guinea! Let's hope we don't contract malaria or typhoid or dengue fever or Japanese encephalitis or... Okay, don't worry. We have vaccines and pills and DEET. Nonetheless, expect next week's post to be full of wondrous tales!

Cowboys, Culture, & Crocodiles

This schoolweek was awesome because I had a few cancelled classes so I could pretty much take it easy.

Townsville is the home of the National Rugby League team the Cowboys so on Friday I headed over to the stadium to watch them play the Bulldogs from Sydney with my friend Marissa, also a Southern Californian. The Aussie uni students (nobody here says “university,” it’s just “uni”) who drove us there explained the general rules of the game in the car so we could follow what was happening. The game is impressive – the players wear no pads, and they hit hard! After head-butting an opponent, one of them was knocked out for at least five minutes. Also amusing was that although there seemed to be no proper mascots, there were inexplicably costumed people walking around the edges of the field. We took a photo with Energy Man. The Cowboys lost 22-12 but it was so much fun to watch.




Saturday afternoon I went to the Strand with Marissa and Kelsi to check out the Culture Fest. We arrived just on time to watch a traditional Aboriginal dance performance. I took a video of it on my camera and plan to upload it at some point so you can see too. We browsed the stalls selling all kinds of exotic goods as well as the stands selling food from all over the world before leaving to lounge on the beach.

I spent Sunday afternoon with friends at Billabong Sanctuary, a zoo of native Australian animals. I watched a crocodile feeding, during which the presenter calmly said, “If you place yourself on their dinner plate, they can and will eat you. Their dinner plate is right about where I’m standing.” There’s also a photo of my friends standing next to a model of Goliath, a 5.2m (17’2”) crocodile and the largest ever held in captivity in the Northern Territory.


I got to pet a kangaroo (with a joey in its pouch!) and a dingo puppy, and I had the chance to hold a koala, baby crocodile, and sand python.

Maggie Island and Mountain Bikes

On Magnetic Island there is a Full Moon Party each month, which a number of people said I shouldn’t miss out on – so on Friday I took the ferry over to the island with a number of friends. It was fun and I got some cool shots of the party’s lights on the crowd but didn’t stay too late into the night. I don’t think I’ll go back if only because of the expense and hassle of trekking out to Maggie for a party – but enjoy the pics!






On Sunday I drove up Mt. Stuart with my landlords and some housemates to watch their son and our friend compete in a mountain bike race. It was fun to watch as bikers sped over obstacles and jumps, although one of the guys crashed and might have broken his hand. There’s also a beautiful view of the valley.





Today I have attended a lecture and turned in my first practical report. I have one more lecture to attend this afternoon and tonight is water polo practice!

Another weekend

I’ve joined the JCU water polo club and will be practicing with them three times a week. It’s been awhile since I played formally but it’s a lot of fun to be doing it again. On Saturday I hiked Castle Hill for a second time.







That evening I hung out with my housemates. Here’s a photo of all seven residents of my house – we represent the US, Australia, Ireland, and Germany.