A Name Like "Mooloolaba"

One of the best parts about Australia is trying to say the names of places because it's Aboriginal in orgin. It took me about 2 weeks to easily and clearly say Mooloolaba. Every name here has about 20 "o's" just to get you all tongue tied. I mean really they just love it! Anyway the local beach is in Mooloolaba, about a 5 minute drive from the Uni. It's a nice beach, but it's a touristy area so a little north tends to have the better beaches.

Now Australia has just about the best lifeguarding system I've ever seen. They have a marked area that is meant for swimmers, which is nothing unusual except they say ONLY to swim between the flags. They advertise this in the international airport, TV and even at places like the bank or grocery store. It's kind of funny, but they seem to leave out the reason why... 

 The answer is where the flags are, "shark nets" are too. The lifeguards sound an alarm (of which I've heard 2 or 3 times) if a shark has been spotted. Then they clear the water and take a intense rescue boat out and try to spot the shark(s). I understand that the shark attacks are just a mistaken identity for it's intended food, but still not exactly the way I want to leave this world. I must say needing a net to prevent you from getting attacked by a shark it sure does give you a good feeling about swimming!

The other day on the local new 3 sharks were chasing a school of fish around in Kawana, a town just 20 minutes south of me. The footage was actually pretty sweet! The sharks would burst out of the water attacking a few fish! : ) I love sharks!





Cookin' on the Barbie!

Fun fact! 70% of Australian households eat sausages at least once a week.

I for one, ate a free sausages everyday for 5 days straight at orientation's "Sausage Sizzles". I haven't touched a sausage since week one of being here. They just are not that good. It's like a hot dog, but even worse! I haven't met an Aussie that doesn't love them yet though.

One thing that I really enjoy about Australia is the that the love to have a barbecue! It's just a good reason to get people together and cook up some good food! It's something my friends and do a lot at the apartment complex and you better believe that someone is always cooking up a kangaroo.

I have tried roo and it's actually pretty good! Hate me if you must, but cows can be pretty cute too and most people eat them! Most cuts of kangaroo are about are extremely lean with less than 2% fat. They also are more environmentally friendly to eat than regular beef too! They are a soft-footed animal that creates low damage to the land, eat less than sheep and cattle, and produce little to now methane gas. And to top it off the meat is cheaper than most beef cuts !

The Secret to Catching a SHARK!

Freckles!

(Aka the spots she has)



Shark Bag



Meet Freckles! She's a year and 3 month old Grey

Nurse Shark. She's really a special shark because she is an endangered species that was born at UnderWater World. She's gotten too big for her tank so we caught her and moved her to the other tank.

You may be wondering how do you catch a 8ft shark?

Well you use a large marine life bag. Its plastic thats fills with water so that you never have to take the shark entirely out of the water. It closes with only velcro so you have it can be dangerous if she starts to get out. Unlike most sharks nurse sharks do not have to remain in motion to breathe, but you still want to move quickly to make the process less stressful for the shark. With a shark that must be swimming the process would be more difficult becasue you would have to simulate swimming by running water through the gills with a hose.



PVC pipes used a  fence



We use divers to hold the bad in place while other divers slowly corner the her. Once shes cornered the divers use PVC piles to keep keep her fenced in. (This is a very slow process becuase you do not want to cause stress or scare the shark.) It took about a hour to coax her into the bag. Once she's in we shut the bag and mover her as quick as possible out of one tank to the next by lifting her and all the water as well.

 









Freckles in the bag



Bushwalking! :P

 

I did some great bushwalking on campus. I picked a good playlist on my Ipod and got lost in snapping shots of everything. There are some nice trails around the two lakes. I basically just went crazy taking pictures of all the bugs! Australia has soooo many different types of dragonflies! They are hard to photograph unless you wait for them to land on something, otherwise they just zoom every which way. I accidentally found a baby snake...I scared him and he scared me so we avoided each other. (I'd rather not die from snakebite if ya know what I mean.)I

 also chased a few birds around to get some nice shots. At one point I was in like 3.5ft tall grass and I spooked a goose! I couldn't hear him with my headphones in, but he came flying out of nowhere scaring the  be-geezes out of me! Ha i could hardly react fast enough to

take a picture so i have a nice blurry goose picture : ) Enjoy the pics!

Releasing Donatello!



Donatello!

The first week I started at UnderWater World a rescued Green Sea Turtle was brought in after being found floating into the rocks in Mooloolaba. His body condition was pretty good, but his strength was very weak. Almost all turtles that come have Floating Syndrome. This is often caused by eating too much plastic. It also can be caused by eating something sharp that cuts the intestines causing an infection. This infection releases gas which causes the turtle to float.

When a sea turtle comes we begin treating them immediately:

1.Give them a shallow freshwater bath and allow them to rest and rehydrate.

2.Once we are sure the turtle can lift his head to breathe we fill his tank till he begins to float. We then begin a potassium permanganate bath. This is because potassium is deadly to marine life and kills off any barnacles. (The sea turtles is unharmed since they do not actually ingest large amounts of the water.)

3. Once the turtle begins to feed we give them squid with paraffin oil to act as a laxative to stop any constipation. We also begin giving injections of vitamin b, antibiotics, and a parasiticide.

4. Once feeding and health stabilizes we move the

turtle to deep tank and feed them as much food as they will eat till they begin to sink.

On His Way Back Home

After weeks and weeks of feeding the turtle I named Donatello (like the ninja turtle!) was finally was ready to go back home! We loading him up on the the boat and out to sea we went. We took him out to a reef about 2.5 miles off the coast of Mooloolaba. The boat ride was so relaxing with the ocean rollers and a couple of dolphins. Once we arrive I said my goodbyes and off he went! I couldn't knock the smile off my face for the rest of the day.

The captain of the boat Dave allowed me to take the helm and drive us back into the channel. Which just made my day even more! I miss boating!!!

UnderWater World

Rescued Baby Moray Eel

I am currently doing a internship at the local aquarium UnderWater World! It is truly amazing!!!

I mainly work in the saltwater fish and the conservation departments. I do a lot of chopping fish up, feeding and scrubbing tanks in the saltwater section. I love it! Well maybe not the scrubbing, but I'm just the intern.



Rescued Green Sea Turtle

I also get to surface feed sharks every once in a while. I hold a 6ft pole with a fish speared on the end in the water. Wait and then BAM hold on tight because the shark will take the poll straight out of your hands if your not prepared!

The conservation dept is my favorite! I work with any injured/sick marine life you can thing of. So far I've helped to rehab a baby moray eel, seahorse, fish, and my favorite sea turtles. The sea turtles are amazing and so cute! : )

Themed Parties Galore

I've never been to so many themed parties! Good thing I brought a variety of colored shirts!

It's all in good fun : )

Cowboy vs. Indian

Varsity (Red) vs. UniCentral (Blue)
Green Light Party...(Red = In a Relationship) (Yellow = Both?!? ) (Green = Single)
Pajama Party
Mexican Style Party

And more to come I'm sure...



Mexi Party



"Cowboy" vs. Indian Pary

"With a Little Help From My Friends"

Being shy is something I've always been good at.  Thirty percent of the students at the Uni are internationals. For us coming to Australia is a new beginning. Somewhere new where you can just be you.

The first two weeks in Australia was full of confusion, parties, and meeting tons of new people! These two weeks you learned things the hard way. Things like..."What bus do I take? Where is this or that? and Why do the grocery carts have swivels on both the front and back tires?" (It makes you crash or spin out of control. Someone should tell the Aussie people that if you make the back tire stationary it doesn't do that).

But the best of things come from these two weeks...FRIENDS!

I met 4 of my closest friends at the bus stop. All in search of the beach for the first time. We started talking and needless to say we found the beach and some great friends! The thing about everyone being new is it easy to turn to a complete stranger. Most of the time you found out they are just as lost as you! The best part about the high percentage of international students is it turns out to be a very open minded group of people that are all a minority. It makes for good fun and heaps of interesting converstions about different cultures.
The international students live in apartments right off campus. (UniCentral and Varsity) The apartments are a great way of meeting people as well. Its a very open minded and multicultural setting that makes you feel like your on every continent at once. Everyone hosts BBQ cookouts, welcomes guests for dinner and invites you over for a drink. It's great fun! I'll be sad the day I'll have to say goodbye to all the wonderful people I've met!




French, Swedish, and Americans
(met on the bus and at the bus stop)



My French (left two) and German (right two) Friends

(met walking to the grocery store and on the bus)



German and the Americans!
(met at the bus stop)

Glass House Mountains

Family of Glass House Mountains

 After our adventure at Kondalilla NP we stopped at Mary Cairncross Reserve for a brief walkabout in the rainforest.



The Gang!
(Left to Right from New Caledonia, France, Germany, Michigan, Me)



After the long day we were all exhausted so we sat at the overlook of the Glass House Mountains where we enjoyed the sunshine and view of the mountain ranges. The Glass House Mountains are the remaining cores of cooled lava from extinct volcanoes. Aboriginal people tell legends about the mountains being a family.

Just another day in paradise!!!





 

Kondalilla Rainforest



The Crew



At orientation week I made heaps of friends from all over the world including France, Sweden, Germany, New Caledonia, and Australia. We decided to take a trip to the Kondalilla NP back in February. Kondalilla means "Place of Rushing Waters" in the Aboriginal language. The hike was circuit down the rainforest mountainside.

At one point we had to chose at a fork in the path for which way to take down. We turned left and down we went on a skinny path that was practically one giant mud slide puddle and the air was like breathing water. The walk down was beautiful with tropical trees (10ft in diameter), mosses and creatures.



Fungi





Once we reached the bottom of the mountain we were graced by a huge waterfall (hence the cool name). We were in awe by the beauty of the natural world around us as we enjoyed a nice misting at the foot of the falls. Cut short for time we decided to make our way back up the mountainside. Apparently we chose the wrong way down because we had to climb an entire mountain of poorly maintained stair on the way back. Talk about a serious workout and burning calf muscles!  





Fern

Waterfall!

 







Better Late Than Never!!!

Sooo everyone I intended to start this blog when I arrived in Aussieland! Oh well!

I guess I'll start by saying I love it here and it already feels like home. : ) They call Queensland the "Sunshine State" on license plates and the city I live in is called Sunshine Coast...that's just a big joke because it rains constantly! Ha not just a passing shower! When it rains it POURS! But when the sun is shinning the Sunny Coast is sooo beautiful.

The Uni is considered a nature reservation so it has some ponds, grasslands, and some nice bushwalking trails. The wildlife is great too! Roos, birds, snakes (ahhh deadly) and crazy bugs. It's like a natural playground everyday!



Sunshine Uni