Staddie part 2:Terrestrial ecology

So we returned to Straddie for our second round, this time doing terrestrial ecology with John Hall, one of the most amazing profs ever. We did hiking all around the island and learned how giant sand islands are created. On the first night we watched Fern Gully with everyone. Ever since we went to Lamington and learned that the movie was based on the writer's experiences there, we had to watch it. It was really cool because the movie is surprisingly accurate and even named all the correct extinct volcanoes. We did various activities looking at the change in ecosystem structure and plant life moving from the waves up into the dunes. We also went on a hike and saw 7 wild koalas!!! It was so much cooler to see them in their naturally habitat/ We also had part II of the best gelati ever! Unfortunately they had no passionfruit this time (I guess its a little rarer) but the other flavors were still amazing. On Wed we went to the little ship club for the last time :(. We had a blast. John took us to this place called 18-mile swamp and we climbed to the top of a sand dune and got a view of the whole thing. It was spectacular. We sat and watched the sunset on the island and took in the beautiful nature around us. We also started doing this thing that we called "fast faces". I actually got the idea from Lindsey but what you do is move your mouth and eyes in random directions really fast, then you snap a photo and you get facial expressions that you didn't even know existed. On one day we hiked to brown lake and swam across it. You might be wondering how a lake can possibly exist on a sand island, wouldn't all of the water just drain out? Well the massive amount of organic input from leaves settled on the bottom of the lake and formed a sealed layer that retains the water. There are no rivers going in or out so the lake is slightly acidic and looks like a cup of tea. Our bus driver for the trip was super cool and used to be a cop. He also used to raise baby kangaroo orphans from mothers who were hit by cars and killed. On the last day we went to lookout point again and went to go frolic in the ocean on main beach. There I experienced some of the strongest surf i have ever encountered. It was the perfect amount of surf where it was just enough to be really intense and fun, but any stronger and people would have gotten pulled out to see. We had a tackling game into the water and 3 of us teamed up and tackled John Hall, it was great. Now we are back from straddie and I just had my first midterm for marine bio. It was pretty easy, I am more worried about the terrestrial ecology midterm on Thurs. This weekend we are going to the gold coast to lay on the beach, snorkel, and play in the rainforest!