Birthday Celebrations!

Hello All!!

So, this is an update about the past weekend and my birthday celebrations. Basically, I had a three day celebration that lasted the entire holiday weekend. It was spectacular. I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant to be in Australia to celebrate my birthday without family or close friends around, but I needn't have worried. 

Let me begin by telling you that turning 21 is a huge as deal in Australia. Even though the legal age is 18, like Canada, everyone goes all out for their 21st. I've been told by my Aussie friends that some people spend the equivalent of a small wedding on their party. This was not my plan at all, but I was warned that I was going to have a good time. And by good time, they meant that I would probably not remember the next morning. Derek did tell me that if I didn't throw up, he would not have done his job as my cousin.....

Plans first started off with Marilyn and Jean who were going to plan a dinner party for me at the house Marilyn is staying at in Brisbane. It was just a family type dinner, with cake and some good company. This was going to be on the Sunday of the weekend, which was Anzac Day. I was pretty excited for this, as Andrea and Derek were going to make it back to Brisbane in time for the party so not only was I going to get fed a fantastic meal, I was also going to be able to catch up with them after 3 months!!

However, I also knew that I needed to include my uni friends in something, and we all were itching for a good night out on the town. Since Anzac Day is a public holiday and things close at midnight on the Saturday and Sunday, I chose Friday night as the ideal night to party with the gang and hit up some clubs in the city.

                                 Start of the shot game....

We started out at my place with some drinks and appetizers. Andrea, Derek, my housemates and about 10 of my uni mates all came over to my house and we just chilled for a bit on the balcony, sharing some laughs. Highlights of the night included a "shot game" where I was supposed to find the sprite amongst the shots of vodka on the table....surprise! There was no sprite - only vodka. It was rough. And all Derek's doing. As well, at one point, I was sprayed by champagne and had to wash my brand new dress before going out.....at least I think I remember putting it into the dryer, but I don't think I actually ran it through a wash cycle. Maybe I just rinsed it in the sink....

                                           Me and my housemates

After we had decided that we probably should make a move, we aimed for the city as our destination. Along the way, we stopped to snap some photos with bronze statues in the park, scare some innocent walkers and probably disrupt the general public. Our first spot was a bar called Union Jacks, where I spent no time getting right up on stage and dancing, Chynoweth-style! I was wearing this big Aussie hat that said, "It's my 21st BDAY!" so I had heaps of people buying me drinks and wanting to dance. They also mostly wanted to steal my hat, and I did spend a fair amount of time trying to get it back off of random people's heads!!

                  Derek and I did climb onto the garage roof. It was Derek's fault.

Our next bar was a karaoke bar called the Victory. I remember doing some tequila shots while waiting to sing Don't Stop Believin' by Journey, but apparently the queue was too long so we left before we got a chance to sing. Probably for the best, since it was at this point that things got a little hazy for me....

I was told we then went to the next bar, Down Under, where I entered a dancing competition to win $200. I don't remember dancing on stage, losing, or exiting the bar shortly after. I'm told that I was practically carried down a couple blocks to Pancake Manor (a 24-hr pancake hub) where I ordered pancakes and wedges....I do remember eating some, but I was SO tired and the only proof of the manor was a doggy bag in my fridge at home the next morning. 

Saturday was probably the worst hangover I have ever had - I could barely sit up until around 3pm, when my housemate forced me out to eat Maccas. Then I spent the rest of the day lying on the couch watching a movie (The Hangover, actually, fitting eh?) and then early to bed. Overall, the photos tell a great story and I will post some of the more appropriate ones here for you to see!!

Sunday evening was Marilyn and Jean's party for me. It was a nice meal, followed by cupcakes and presents! I was so surprised and overwhelemed at how they went all out for me. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

After the dinner party, Kelsey and I went to a bar called Normanby's to meet up with her mates for a while. We lasted a couple hours before peacing out and walking home (turns out that this bar is really close to my house, and it's really good so we plan on coming back!). I didn;t drink much on Sunday - partially because I was still recovering and partially because I knew I needed to be semi-functional for the next couple days and get some work done.

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend and I can't imagine how my birthday celebrations spanned an entire weekend. I almost felt like it was non-stop partying, but I guess that's how the Aussie's do a 21st!! Now, I'm in the process of cleaning my house, organizing school work and preparing to get back into the swing of things over the next couple days!

Thanks to all who sent me birthday messages and cards - Auntie Cheryl and family, Uncle Morris and Auntie Elaine, Gma, Auntie Sharon, Auntie CC, Dad and all my friends on facebook. I feel so loved and despite missing you guys, I know you are all thinking of me!

All my love,
xoxo Daniellle

The last of the midterms and newfound loves

Hello All!

I've surfaced for a bit of air in between the end of my midterm exams and the upcoming 3 major projects which are all due next week within days of each other. I've decided to write about a couple things - my last midterm in bio, as well as my night out last weekend where I had the pleasure of attending my first ever live rugby game.

I'll start with the boring bit - the midterm. It actually went quite well I think, but I probably have to attribute that to actually studying. Unlike Anatomy, I had some time to prepare, and got together with a group over the weekend to review key concepts. The only area where I had difficulty was the timing - I had 4 short answer questions left with only 15 minutes to go in the exam...not so good. Apparently, I like to write lots down! I also struggled with one question about the origin of possums in North America, since they apparently originated in China and never was China attached to NA for them to "walk" over. I made up some bull**** answer about them drifting across the sea on oceanic debris and colonizing North America....I even drew a nice little picture, so perhaps I will get pity marks??!!?

Anyways, onto the better part of the post, which was the rugby game I went to last Saturday. It was Rugby Union - one of 3 types of rugby that is played in Australia, and the teams playing were the Queensland Reds vs. the South African Blue Bulls (I think. Everyone kept calling them the bulls, and fans told me they were from SA....). It was a riot. Serious fun was had by all, especially in our section. Can you believe that $20 got me a seat, just off the center line and only 20 rows from the field? Yeah, Oz knows how to sell game tickets! Our section was also really awesome - we had some hardcore bulls fans right in front of us, and hardcore Reds fans a row in front of them, so between the banter we had no problem with a lack of entertainment!

                            The hardcore Reds fans with their facepaint

I've never been to a rugby game before, nor do I know/understand the rules and so I had to follow the crowds reaction and just cheer when everyone else did. I laughed pretty hard at the various penalties that were shown on the jumbo-tron, things like "tackling line out man in the air." To me, they sounded like random words strung together, but the true fans seemed to understand. At one point, I tried to get the Bulls fan in front of me to explain what had happened, but he was too engrossed in my friend's pink hair to answer.

    Reenacting the kicker's position before he kicks the ball. This was after a couple drinks, obviously.

The Reds managed to win 19-12, despite falling behind in the first couple minutes 0-7.....apparently, these two teams have quite the history and rivalry, which helped to explain the heated conversations between the rows in front of us!

After the game finished, we headed back into the City to hit up a couple pubs, drink some beers and dance the night away. I was pretty tired after the first couple places, so left the crew as they ventured on to hopefully find karaoke. All in all, it was a blast and I can't wait until the next game! I may have found a new sport to love....but I think I need to learn the rules better first!

Speaking of karaoke, I'm celebrating my 21st birthday in a couple days. Tomorrow night, I'm hitting the town with a whole crew of mates, and it will probably get pretty messy. My cousins are back from their tours of Aussie and will be joining as well, which naturally means disaster. I'll be sure to document the entire evening on my camera, but I have to warn you that some photos may not be internet/family-worthy! (Sorry Dad and Gma - have to leave some things to the imagination!!)

I have to run to my french class now, but I'll be back to write about my birthday extravaganza in a few days!

xoxo Danielle

Heron Island Day 5

Day 5

Well, I guess I should actually mention something I forgot about Day 4 - that evening, before the presentations, we caught the sunset on the Jetty and it was beautiful. I've never experienced something so surreal as the sun disappearing in front of my eyes....I mean, I've seen sunsets before, but never over the ocean. It quite literally is there one second and gone the next - if you blink you would miss it as it all happens in an instant! I took some really trippy photos with the sun setting, as well as some classic ones that make me think of movie endings or something.

Day 5 began with another early morning snorkel - and our last one! Alexa and I decided this time to head to the harbour, as news of our success at Shark Alley had gotten around and many people were headed there. As our luck would have it, we found out later that there was no action in the Alley this morning, so we caught the best of the scenery down under the Jetty.

This morning's snorkel was another surreal moment. The water was quite murky since it was an overcast day and without the sun's rays, it was hard to see anything far away. As we swam around the turbid waters, we literally came upon a pod of over 60 rays, quite shallow in the harbour. We tried our best to go one direction, but ended up face-to-face with more rays, and so couldn't actually move for over 10 minutes! Alexa and I basically just floated above all the sleeping rays until they awoke, swam away and let us have a path through them all! I tried to take photos with my camera, but they came out under-developed. Boo. Alexa and I spent the next 30 minutes trailing these rays and watching in amazement at their gliding under the water.

We then decided to swim out to the shipwreck and take a look for anything cool near there. Nothing much was seen except one reef shark, and a couple turtles. I actually had one turtle that was trying to swim away from Alexa and ended up coming right up beneath my stomach! I was able to reach out and touch his shell before he scooted off, scared. Another really cool thing (which I have heard about but never thought I would get to experience) was a little fish that would not leave my goggles alone. He would swim in front of me, basically on my goggles and no matter how or where I turned my head, he followed. It was quite amusing for some time, then I got slightly annoyed since I couldn't see anything clearly with this little flashy guy in my face 24/7!!

After our morning snorkel - and we took some great photos of us in the water, we got out and enjoyed the last breakfast buffet on the island. The rest of the morning was spent packing, cleaning our dorms and returning the snorkeling gear to the sheds. Of course, our dorm was naturally quite quick at this, so we had finished up long before the others. Instead of spending time outside, since it was rainy and glum, all the girls in our rooms went back up and slept on the bare beds. I was so exhausted - I think all the snorkeling activities, both field trips etc had finally caught up with me and I crashed for a good couple hours before lunch and the ferry ride back to the mainland.

No one got sick on the ride home - the ferry was the smoothest it's been in years according to our professor. In fact, I felt more sick on the bus ride home than I did the ferry.....After another long ride on the bus (over 8 hours!!) we made it back into Brisbane around midnight, and I caught a taxi ride to my house, literally walked in the front door, took off my shoes and fell alseep on top of the bed with dirty clothes on and all. You can imagine the laundry I had to do the next morning - over 10 days of dirty, field trip clothes. It took me 4 loads to finish it all!

At the end of the day, I had a fantastic Easter Break - one I will probably never forget. From dingoes, to sharks, beaches to coral reefs....I had so much fun, made tons of new mates and memories to last me a lifetime. Sounds corny and cliched - I know - but it's true. I'm actually sad that I don't have more trips planned, which is why I think the group of us are toying with the idea of a Fiji excursion in the next month....

Anyways, I will leave you with some random other photos from the trip, the dives and everything in between. Thanks for being patient while I took the past week to write these up between study sessions!!!

Miss you all,

xoxo Danielle

Midterm update

Hello all,

I  interrupt my Easter Break updates with a few updates regarding midterm exams at UQ. I've had 2 so far - both parts of Anatomy, and I have one in Biology left on Tuesday morning. Then, it's just 3 assignments all due on April 30th, and I'm virtually home-free until finals in June!

My first part of anatomy was an oral presentation that went swimmingly. I didn't prepare except for the night before, relied on my PLA skills and rocked it. I was told that I was one of the only students to present the material as if I was actually teaching it, not memorizing a script beforehand like all the others. Turns out, 10 minutes of prep the night before landed me a 14/15......beauty!

The second part of the anatomy was a theory exam in class last Friday - not as easy as the presentation. I only studied for a couple hours (unlike my normal study habits!) and it will probably show in the results. Out of 30 MC questions, I knew about 18 solidly, had to guess on quite a few and the rest were just bizarre. One of the weird things out here was that if you didn't know the answer (and you had choices A to E) you could fill in the last bubble, which was a "?", for 0.2 marks. It was like they didn't want you to guess if you didn't know the answer. The exam then became this strategic game of, "do I take a chance and go for the full 1.0 mark, or cop out and take a guaranteed 0.2??" Never seen anything like that before, and it kind of threw me off. I ended up putting two of those question marks down for 2 of the muscle questions. I hate origin and insertions!

I think the biology one on Tuesday will be a little less intense, which is nice, but I have yet to get my head in gear and really study. That's what I'm off to do now, so I'll wrap this up by saying that the last blog entry will be coming soon, as well as as update on my experience with my first live rugby game ever!

Miss you all!
xoxo Danielle

Heron Island Day 4

Day 4

Day 4 started off with probably the most epic beginning out of the whole trip. Again, the three Queen's ladies decided to get up for another early morning snorkel, but this time our destination was Shark Alley to catch some sharks in action. We headed down to that portion of the island, and quickly realized that although the tide was in, it was rapidly moving outwards which made it much more dangerous for us as snorkelers. Before heading into the alley from the end of it (and we decided to swim towards the mouth, since that was the direction the current was heading in), we had a quick debrief about how we were going to approach this. We decided to snorkel single file, along the wall closest to the ocean, leaving a wide berth for the sharks on our left-hand side. What we didn't anticipate was the strength of the water going out to sea, bashing us up against the rocks on our right! It didn't really matter though, as we felt safer against the rocks than being bashed up against the sharks!!

                       One of the sharks at the alley - again, not one of my photos.....

We entered the water and started swimming, but didn't see anything right away. I was the chosen "leader", and in first position....let me tell you, it is scary as when you see an entire pool of large fish swimming MADLY towards you - and away from something behind it! It wasn't long before this happened and sharks were close behind. I literally was about 2 feet from 8 reef sharks at one point. It was crazy as. I think I've explained how this works, but basically, the sharks circle at the mouth of the alley, then one by one swim down the center to break apart the pools of fish and disorientate them. They then swim back up one of the sides of the rocks and repeat the process. While in the alley, we were flanked by a couple sharks, but it was at the mouth that things really began to heat up. Here, there were 6 sharks in a circle, and the tides changed a bit at the mouth, which meant unless we put a lot of effort into swimming against the current, we would end up in the center of the shark circle. This isn't a bit thing necessarily, as long as you get out quickly, since the longer time you spend disrupting the process, the madder the sharks get. We swam up the alley and back, then decided to continue down the coast towards Ray Bay, since we didn't want to end up as brekkie for the reef sharks!

Ray Bay was another spectacular site - multiple schools of sting rays would rise up from the floor as we swam past, and put on this amazing display of gliding through the water. In all, we probably saw about 40 different rays in about 3 schools. After snorkeling the equivalent of half the island, we got out on the beach and walked back to the research site for breakfast.

Today's activities basically were presentation preparation, with another organized boat snorkel in between data analysis and collection. Luckily, our group had basically finished the presentation, so we were able to spend more time out snorkeling on our own than multiple other groups. The destination for the boat snorkel today was the Canyons - an area of reef off the island where the reef beds have deteriorated in certain places and the current has carved canyons into them. Here, I saw the most spectacular display of coral reef fish yet. All beautiful colors, patterns.....it was insane. I was able to capture a few photos on my camera, but it really doesn't do them justice.

Apart from a day of snorkeling, preparation, eating and relaxing on the beach (another sunny day meant my burn only got worse, despite 60SPF), we had nothing pressing to do. The evening was devoted to presentations, as well as a competition beteween the presentations. Unlike the last trip, we all knew about the competition, so the presentations were much more intricate than last time. We didn't think we did all that well on our own, but ended up coming in second place by only a fraction of a margin. Damn. It would have been cool to place first both times.....

After the presentations ended, we all decided to drink some beverages out on the jetty, under the stars. It was our final night, with nothing to do the next day except pack up, so it was a late night out laughing and sharing stories amongst new friends. After finishing some wine with a few mates, I just laid on my back and watched the stars, before heading in for a sleep. I was one of the first ones in around 1am, but I had made up my mind that I was not going to pass up a last opportunity to snorkel again once more in the early morning. Luckily, Alexa wanted to go again, so she headed back to our dorms with me.

All in all - Day 4 started with a bang, ended with a bang and was one of the best days on the island!

Heron Island Day 3

Day 3

Today, Alexa and I woke up at 5am to watch the sunrise and go for our first morning snorkel. We chose the harbour as our destination, and man was it ever spectacular! The undisturbed dawn waters had huge sea turtles, multiple rays and our first encounter with the reef sharks. We saw 3 black tips - 8 foot beasts that swim up close to you to test if you are edible, but once they detect the size of you (about 7ft with our fins on) they turn away. Freaky at first, but eventually it is a really cool experience! We snorkeled for a good hour, before heading into the showers to clean up for breakfast at 7am.

After breakfast, we spent the entire day in and out of the water, snorkeling to collect data for our group project. You couldn't really call it work even - we had more fun with the snorkeling between our collection sites, and even when we were "on duty" observing, watching the fish come and go from the coral was entertainment enough. In all, we had to collect data 4 times throughout the day, so in between snorkel visits, we lounged on the beach, ate some food and did a couple bits of data analysis to make our final project layout a bit less work later on. It was this day, in combination with day 4, that I burnt my back really badly from being in and out of the water. I'll wait until the next entry to upload that beautiful picture....a week later and I'm still peeling/itching!

After dinner, our next organized activity was the night snorkel. We gathered at the harbour around 7pm, donned glowsticks on our snorkels, and wrist torches, then entered the pitch-black waters. It was seriously scary. The high intensity snorkel lasted only 30 minutes, but you couldn't see more than 5 feet in front of you at any point, making the trip seem much, much longer. Luckily, nothing super scary popped out of the shadows like sharks, but we did see some octopus, multiple sea turtles and one ground shark - the wobbygong shark. It basically rests along the sea floor, camouflaged with the environment. It was sleeping, so that made it a little less scary for us all....

We headed to bed shortly after this, since Alexa, Andrea and I all decided we wanted to get up early again to try and attempt a snorkel around shark alley. We all had caught shark fever, and desperately wanted to see them in their feeding zone. Our tutor told us dawn was the peak feeding time, so we should expect to see more than 3....possibly up to 10!! Needless to say, we were quite excited about the prospect of the next morning's adventures!

The photos I've attached to this post are a couple of us collecting data, the sites and buoys we used as well as a couple of those sea turtles....my underwater camera was an epic fail - I picked up the film today and out of 27 photos, only 10 were exposed enough to see. Damn. At least I can get a couple photos offline from others who posted theirs!!

Heron Island Day 2

Day 2

Began at 7am with a nice buffet breakfast to keep us going for the morning. Today was oriented around another "relaxation" day before we started our data collection and scientific projects the next couple days. Our first big thing this morning was an organized boat snorkel to the Blue Lagoon. Basically, we took these huge yellow boats out onto the reef, about a 10 minute drive from the shore. On the way out to our destination, we were fortunate enough to see a pod of dolphins! I didn't really get a good look, since they were quite scared and swam away from the boat, but I was able to catch a glimpse of their dorsal fins sticking out of the waves.

The Blue Lagoon was amazing. Basically, we jumped off the boats, swam around this shallower area and saw heaps of coral fish, rays, and a couple sea turtles. We also swam out to one location that typically has a couple sharks hanging out, but they weren't there for us to see. I think the coolest part was this one ray that I didn't see until he was right under me.....I basically stopped kicking my fins and just floated with the current as he moved under me and continued on his way. The underwater camera that I bought before the trip definitely got some use this trip, and I have the film getting developed as I type. I should have the CD in a couple days to post some photos, and hopefully they turn out ok!

                        On the walk around the island...see the wreck in the background?

After our snorkel, we had some lunch, then some time to relax on the beach before a quick debrief on our projects and the next step in the data process. We were each sent out in our teams to walk around the island for an hour to try and determine key aspects to its formation, like wind direction, sand-grain size and any changes we saw along the beaches. Our group had loads of fun coming up with stories about how the island formed....mainly things involving volcanic eruptions and cyclone deposits. It was on this trip that we localized some cool lookout points for future swims and walks.

After our walk, the tutors led us out on yet another guided snorkel, but this time it was around the island. We were able to see the island from the water point of view, as well as see the different areas around. We got in at the harbour, swam north to Shark Alley - this area where a 2m by 10-ishm area is flanked by rock walls on either side. This area is prime area for catching fish in the tides, and therefore all the sharks go stir-crazy feeding here. We were told that the sharks circle the opening of the alley, then swim down the center and up the sides to split up the pools of fish, disorienting them. The sharks in question are 8-ft reef sharks and lemon sharks - harmless to humans unless you provoke them or they are REALLY hungry. When we visited, the tide was too low to see any sharks, but I vowed to return in hopes of seeing just one before the trip ended.

Next up around the island was an area called Ray Bay, where as the name implies, you see a whole ton of different species of rays. From eagle rays, to sting rays, whiptail rays, shovel nose rays and manta rays....this bay had them all. Here, we were given a chat about how to swim with the rays - not over them as they can whip us with their tails, but to either side, giving them a wide berth to move if they feel threatened.

We continued around the island to the soft coral beds, the shipwreck and then back to the harbour and jetty. It was getting late and about suppertime, so we hopped out, showered up and hit the dining hall for some much required food. You would think that being fed 5 meals a day would equal massive weight gain, but with all the snorkeling.....we really needed the energy!

After dinner was our last meeting to create smaller teams from our 10-man team - I was put into a group with that same US guy from before....Mr. Know-it-all. He was better this trip, but I was still anticipating some issues with work habits and efforts on his behalf. We were also assigned topics to research, and we ended up with coral health and climate change. Our group then went into brainstorm mode - thinking of possible studies we could desgin and perform in 2 days time. We came up with the idea of testing fish diversity around healthy versus unhealthy corals - which meant that our "data collection methods" involved us snorkeling all day for the next 2 days. Brilliant.

                       Me, back at the research station holding a sea cucumber....

Before an early bedtime, since Alexa, Andrea and I decided to wake up the next morning to do an early morning snorkel, we sat out on the beach under the stars. They were so pretty - so clear and pristine....and I saw so many constellations, the milky way and a couple shooting stars. Made a few wishes, pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and then hit the sack for a good sleep before our 5am alarm.