to this: 
We were out there to do some labs, as well as some research of our own.
On Saturday I had to wake up before dawn as our train left the station at 7:10. I had to catch the bus to the station, which was a bit scary because I had NO idea where I was going. I managed just fine though thankfully and made it to the station on time. As many things here, the station looks like it is right out of Harry Potter! It is darker inside; it is made of stone with high ceilings and pillars. I really wanted to ask where platform 9 and 3/4 was but I refrained. I meant to take a picture of it but I forgot. Oh well! So we got on the train, and then a bus, and then another bus and arrived at Fowler’s Gap at about 1 am. It was so cool, as we were on the buses (especially the second) there were kangaroos everywhere. Unfortunately they were jumping all over the road and there were a few as roadkill. We didn’t end up hitting any though so that was relieving. It was still crazy to see them hopping around everywhere! It felt like a dream! As we got to Fowler’s Gap we talked about accommodation and we were supposed to be staying in 2 rooms of 16 but there were a few extra of us so some of us had to stay up at the house. I was lucky enough to be picked! We got to stay up at the house, in a room of two, with a bathroom of our own, and electric blankets! We were so lucky! The only downfall is that it was right by the kitchen so when people got up early to prepare breakfast they often woke us up but it was totally worth it!
We woke up on Sunday and ate breakfast and had to listen to the plans for the week. It sounded like it was going to be a very busy week! As people were finishing up breakfast a couple of the other girls and I found 2 friendly kangaroos. Come to find out that they were hand raised by the family who lives there and then released into the wild. They stay around the buildings as they often get food and are very friendly! It was cool to hang out with them for a bit, they are such unique animals!
We then went out into the field and began setting up our pitfall traps to catch invertebrates and small mammals for one of our pracs (practicals). We did that for awhile as we had to dig 40 of them. We went back in for lunch and then that afternoon my group went to do the prac on the mammals and inverts. Because of the heat in the desert most organisms are nocturnal so we hadn’t caught much by the time we went to look, just a couple of ants. We also had to try to estimate the vegetative cover in the area and that was super tedious! We had to walk 20 meters and then check if there was vegetation every 50 centimetres and estimate that way. We had to do that 20ish times. It took forever! We finally finished, went back in for dinner and had a short speaker that night. He spoke about the station and a bit of the history of it. Thankfully it was short and sweet as we were all so tired!
Monday consisted of 2 more practicals. For the first one we were dropped out in the middle of nowhere with only a water trough and a bunch of sheep in sight. We were looking at the impact of grazing on vegetative cover with distance from a water source. So I counted a lot of poo that morning and a few plants as well. While we were waiting to begin, some wild goats wandered over which was pretty cool. They are not native to the environment and generally cause quite a bit of damage on the native species of both plants and animals.
That afternoon our prac looked at the abundance of birds with the size of the water body. So we just sat there and bird watched at 3 different water sources. It was actually quite fun, although there were some loud people in my group that kept scaring the birds away. People were beginning to get frustrated with them, including the demonstrator. We saw some pretty cool birds though, coming in really all shapes and sizes.
We had to pick the groups we were going to do our independent research with for the next 3 days and unfortunately the group I thought I was working with had another girl sneak her way in at the last second and couldn’t say no and since I wasn’t there my spot was lost in that group. So it kind of stunk because I ended up having to work with another group that I didn’t really know. But I ended up very thankful that I didn’t work with the original group. So it didn’t turn out so bad after all! That night we got to have a bonfire and just hung out and relaxed for a bit before heading to bed. It was a great way to get to know each other a bit more.
Tuesday we started our independent research projects. We went with the idea of looking at the impact of Eucalyptus trees on the diversity and abundance of plants around them. It was fairly easy to collect data because they don’t move (hence why we didn’t use animals), and we didn’t have to be out there at any specific time of day. It was actually quite chilly all the days we were there surprisingly. I wore at least a northface fleece and jeans every day, if not even more. But anyway, it was easy to collect data but extremely boring. We were counting plants for hours every day and these plants were less than an inch tall so it was quite tedious. We did that for about 6 or 7 hours the first day and knocked out most of the data collection.
That night we had a speaker talk about life out in the middle of the desert and what it is like to raise a family and such and it was like 2 hours long! It was sooo long! And we were all so exhausted, so we were having a hard time staying awake! We felt bad, but he talked until 11 pm and we had been out running around all day. After that we just went to bed. We even decided that we were too tired for dessert, which hardly ever happens at this age!
Wednesday we continued on with our research, another boring day of counting tiny plants. Today we resorted to playing 20 questions all day to at least keep our minds semi-entertained. It was funny, took me back to being a kid. Haha! Definitely the highlight of the day was the wildlife that we got to see! We saw many wild roos, emus, and even a shingleback lizard! We even got to see a family of emus with chicks (the dad cares for them, not the mom) and a couple of mother kangaroos with their joeys! So cool! It is still odd to be seeing wildlife that looks so different than anything i have ever seen before!
We finished up our data collection in about 4 hours and then began to work on our data for a bit. After dinner we got to go stargazing and OH MY GOSH! I have NEVER see any stars CLOSE to comparable to this. It was absolutely stunning! I wish i could have taken a picture so that you could see exactly what i was talking about. It was strange though to not look for the big dipper haha! We could see the milky way, as well as the southern cross which is the famous constellation here. It is even on the Australian flag so it was cool to see.
After stargazing we got to go spotlighting which consists of driving around in the dark with a spotlight and looking for things. We saw probably between 10 and 20 kangaroos and some let us get surprisingly close. It was pretty neat! I would love the opportunity to do that again!
Thursday we spent all day cooped up inside doing our data analysis and working on our PowerPoint presentation. We then presented to the full group that night, and listened to other people’s projects. Some were quite interesting, others not as much. After that we had another fire and just hung out. We left at 1:30 that morning so we were doing whatever we could to stay awake. I don’t think I have ever played so many games of spoons in my life! Like I said, we left the station at 1:30 am, got on the bus at 3:45 am and switched to the train at 2:00 pm and FINALLY got back to Sydney around 9pm Friday. My Canadian friends that I travelled with last time I was here were there to greet me and it was wonderful to see them! I haven’t seen them in over a year. They came back to the apartment with me and we hung out around the town for a bit before going to bed. They had to get up early to catch their flight as it left at 10am. I spent the rest of the day hanging out, catching up on some school work, going for a run, getting groceries, doing laundry, and enjoying the weather. Today was the first day that I would say it was legit HOT! The beach was absolutely packed! I would bet that people had no more than a foot in every direction before hitting another person. I didn’t actual go lay on it, I just saw it as I was running by and decided to just enjoy the weather from my balcony instead. I have the apartment to myself and I am loving it. A bit of quiet every now and then make me very happy and relaxed. I haven’t seen my roommates for over a week which is strange. Like I said though, I’m enjoying the peace and quiet. I don’t anticipate it lasting much longer though as the first roommate is back tomorrow afternoon. Oh well! Well today in the states is the big OSU vs USC game... GO BUCKEYES! And then Sunday is Vikings vs Cleveland... GO VIKES! Hopefully it will be a double win, guess we will have to wait and see!
Miss you all and please comment,
Val :)
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