Straddie

What a wonderful way to start the term - a week on "Straddie", short for North Stradbroke Island. The Aussies like to shorten everything, so drop the second half of a word and add an "ee" sound and you've pretty much got the australian language. Chocolate gets converted to "chocy" and a biscuit or cookie becomes "bicky." But if you want a cup of coffee with milk, it's a "flat white."

Straddie was magnificent.  It's the second largest sand island in the world (the largest is Frasier Island just north of Brisbane). The students were kept very busy, which helped with getting them adjusted to the time change.  While on Straddie we took 4 marine excursions.  Our first was a trip to Brown Lake for a picnic and then to the east coast to collect bivalves and giant worms.  We didn't manage to find any giant worms, but we were surprised by  a large (3.5 foot long) lace monitor hanging out on a tree at Brown Lake and some humpback whales performing off shore.

The mudflats across from the research station turned up an incredible amount of marine life.. though the tide did come in on us pretty quickly!

Our next trip was a short 1 km walk to a collection of mangroves on the coast. We collected water and sand samples and took them back to the lab to examine under the microscope.  The students were skeptical, but soon we were seeing diatoms, daphnias, copepods, arthropods, nematodes.. it was so exciting! Our last day on the island we headed out to Lookout Point for a walk along the cliff and gorge. At Lookout Point we spotted a manta ray, sea turtle, humpbacks and a huge kangaroo grazing next to the trail.  Our walk ended at a gelato place - the caramel fig gelato was yummy!  Before heading for the ferry back to Brisbane, we stopped at the isolated Crystal Beach for a swim and a game of beach cricket!

Goodbye Straddie, great week!

Back in Brisbane

We are back in Brisbane!  Students have been united with their host families and have the weekend off.  We will meet up again on the UQ campus Monday morning for orientation, ID cards and our first lectures on the mainland. I'll post soon about our fabulous time in Straddie with pictures!

They're here!

Students all arrived safely and everyone is accounted for! This picture was taken at Cleveland Point, a small park next to the ferry terminal where we picnicked before crossing over to Stradbroke Island.  By 7pm everyone was looking pretty bleary-eyed. We were up early for a 6am bird watching walk with Prof. Tom Cribb and managed to spot 20 species of birds AND a koala perched in a gum tree- koalas in the wild are rare sightings! Off to Brown Lake and the east coast for bivalve and giant worms!

Oz

What a spectacular place Australia, Brisbane and the University of Queensland (UQ) are!  I'm still pinching myself when I see a brush turkey rumbling through a mound of leaves in someone's yard, or hear a kookaburra overhead.  The UQ staff have been amazing setting us up with all our administrative and technical needs, and getting us started with exploring the city.  After a whole day of ID cards, UQ internet access and other logistics, I ventured out with the kids to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  Seeing the kids run freely in the kangaroo pen with emus around made me feel how glad I was to be able to give them this experience in their lives. The pictures say it all. Question is, how can it get better than this?

Student parents and guardians: The flight over was very straightforward. From LA to Auckland is a full 12 hours. Staying hydrated, walking around every few hours and getting a stretch of sleep in helped with the time change.  The flight from Auckland to Brisbane is another 3.5-4 hours.  The students will go through customs, claim their luggage, and I will be there with Sue Kohler and UQ administrators to meet them as they exit customs.  We will immediately take them for a picnic by the ferry, before crossing over to Stradbroke Island for their introduction to Australian culture and wildlife.

Mission

Welcome to the HWS-UC Australia/New Zealand Term Abroad site.  The purpose of this blog is to stay connected with family, friends and colleagues. As one of the trip's directors, I will provide commentary of our trip, post photos of students in the field, and alert you to when we go "off grid".  Thanks to everyone for your support in making this trip happen!