Before Break



Note: I’m catching up on my posting because between a busy life and a busy program, I haven’t been keeping up this blog very well.  If you get the chance to study abroad, do it, whichever school you wind up attending.  I have made some fantastic memories and seen amazing things. Plus, it breaks up the routine of school and lets you get to know new people.



After our time in Tasmania, we went straight to camping in the rain forests of Lamington Plateau.  It definitely was a rain forest, our group had the worst storms the program leader had seen in the 20 years of bringing L&C students there.  Despite the fact that there were 30 people camping with everything needed for school and travel (laptops, cameras, phones, etc.) the only casualty was a pop-up shelter which flew into a tree and a few damp notebooks.



Our time there was a lot of fun, we went spotlighting for nocturnal animals, hiking through different kinds of forest, watched many different kinds of birds, and went bug hunting among other things.  We found a bowerbird nest in the woods and found a bright blue crawfish in the stream.  Towards the end of the trip we hiked down to see a wall of glow worms.  Getting a picture was impossible, but it looked like a starry sky surrounding us.



After Lamington, we spent a few weeks in Brisbane working on our venom biology projects.  We got to use the facilities at University of Queensland and had lectures from venom experts there.  Every day we went to UQ we needed to take public transportation and I am thrilled to say I took a boat to school.  Brisbane has a ferry system called the CityCats (they’re catamarans) which run up and down the river crossing back and forth.  I really enjoyed it.



During one of our Brisbane weekends we took a trip to North Stradbroke Island.  We got to stay at a marine science center and spend our days learning about the various ecosystems that survive on a sand island.  We waded through stingray infested waters, followed a stream through a mangrove forest, watched thousands of crabs scuttle across a mudflat, and saw wild koalas for the first time.




Have questions about anything?  Feel free to email me at ameliaberle@lclark.edu