Moreton Bay Field Trip

Hey Everyone!

I went on an awesome field trip with my Marine Environment class this past weekend. We traveled about 2 hours to this ferry stop and took a ferry across to Stradbroke Island where we spent the weekend. It was kinda like a Marine Biology Camp sorta thing that we did. I'll explain.
Day 1- When we got there we checked into the Research Center where we would be staying and it was a pretty cool place. The Research Center is owned by The University of Queensland and it's a place where grad students can come to do there degrees and such. It's also an animal rescue place for animals that get hurt out in the wild, people can bring them in to get help. After checking in, we picked our rooms and Kim, Becca and I chose a room with 3 other girls. Taylor is from Joliet (weird right, soo close) and goes to St. Francis Unversity, Liz is from Oak Lawn (weird again?) and goes to St. Xavier and Jenna is from Portland. We had a really fun time together. Later that day we went tide pooling and saw tons of little creatures and cool underwater plants. Kim, who is a marine biology major, was teaching me about everything. After that we did what is called "Seine Netting", which is where we took this HUGE net and on both ends of it there is like a rope loop hole where you put your arm and leg and you drag this net out into the deep water and after awhile the waves and stuff start catching fish and other creatures into it and then you drag it back onto shore and see everything you've caught. It was soo cool. We saw so many awesome underwater animals. Lemme think of what I saw...Flounder Fish, Puffer Fish, Stingrays, Squid, and Crabs. We all got to hold and touch them all. I had so much fun!
Day 2- Today we got up super early because we had to go to our science experiments at low tide. We each were assigned a hypothesis we had to try to prove correct or false. So we had to go out in the ocean and gather information (a little nerdy but I had a great time doing it..hehe). Kim, Becca and I had a great time flipping huge rocks over and seeing what was growing or living on the underside of the rock. One rock we flipped over had an OCTUPUS on it! It was crazy. This thing was brown when we flipped it over and then all of a sudden it starts turning NEON blue and we are like wow that's so pretty. Well, while we are intrigued by this awesome octupus one of the teachers come over and is like umm DO NOT TOUCH THAT. He goes on to tell us that it's a blue ringed octupus and it's the most venomous octupus there is. If it bites you, it can make you stop breathing instantly and you can die from it. I've never seen 3 girls run so quickly from an animal before in my life. It was hilarious...how cool that we got to see that though! Don't worry I'm still alive. Later that night we had to present our science experiements and the three of us told our story about encounter with the deadly octupus.
Day 3- Our last day on the island was so much fun. They took us on a gorge walk across the island today and it was gorgeous. The Pacific Ocean is so pretty. We all had so much fun climbing up high onto these huge rocks and looking out over the ocean. (Pictures are to follow.) We got some homemade gelato as well which was scrumptous. Later that day they took us to a beach where we could relax and hangout in the water. The waves were HUGE. Funny story actually... Kim, Becca and I were playing in the waves and I could feel the top of my suit getting loose. Well what do you know the next huge wave comes...and there goes my suit. It literally flew off over my head...so then you see me ducked down in the water trying to find my suit as quickly as possible and retie it as Kim and Becca are dying laughing at me. I was like "and that's enough water for me." I got out and layed on the beach the rest of the day. The coolest part about today was while we were on the beach...a pod of dolphins swam by us and were jumping through the waves and stuff...it was beautiful...i love dolpins! We also saw tons of sea turtles! Oh a story about sea turtles for you. While we were at the Research Center one day...this fisherman drives up with his truck and in the back of his truck is this HUMONGOUS but pretty seaturtle. He said that while he was fishing the turtle had got caught in his net and he wanted to bring it in to make sure it was ok and not cut up. We all got to help carry this HEAVY beast of an animal into the center. She was the prettiest turtle ever! It was sooooooo coool! She was ok and after about an hour of doing tests they set her free back into the wild (good story I know). hehe.
It was a great weekend and not only did I have fun I learned a lot too. If anyone has any questions about fish or tide pooling or anything..I'm definitely your girl. Haha. Hope everything is going good at home...miss you all lots. Hope you all are enjoying this blog thing, I know I am!

Stay beautiful. :)
Manda