Hello Internet!
This week has been fabulous! It has been so much fun and I have done such a lot, it’s weeks like this that remind me what an incredible experience I’m having and that I should be cherishing every moment! Although, sometimes it’s hard to see the difference between countries when you’re spending so much time in the library!
On Friday I went with a few of the usual exchange students to Southbank to celebrate Buddah’s Birthday. There was incredible food and an amazing display of their culture with dancing and fighting and acrobatics, it was beautiful. They’d decked out the Piazza with tonnes of decorations and it was incredible to watch. I had a lovely time, I love the fact that the city puts on events like this where you can immerse yourself in other cultures for a little while.
Saturday morning I packed up my dive gear, jumped in a car (just after dawn) and then headed on up to Pelican Park so we could get the boat across to Moreton Island. MORETON ISLAND! A new place! Time for more adventure! The weekend was incredible. It was a camping trip with the dive club and we got to dive the Curtain Artificial Reef, Flinders Reef (The southern most part of the Great Barrier Reef) and also some night dives and snorkelling. It was such good fun. Flinders reef is apparently the MOST biodiverse place on the great barrier reef, as it has the overlaps of the tropical and subtropical species. And it was amazing. I had such a good time. The camping was also a lot of fun. I scrounged a tent and a yoga mat off of some friends and then took a pillow and a duvet and I was set! We all chipped in with the cooking, spent most evenings on the beach eating cheese and crackers and watching the sun set. It was perfect.
Alas, all things come to an end and so on Monday we packed up camp and headed on home. The boat ride home was fun as I was practicing for choralfest the entire way, since the performance would be the next day. It was pretty windy though so my singing was swept away with the wind and didn’t get to annoy any one!
That evening I dumped my dive stuff in my room and then ran to Choralfest rehersals, we were sounding really good, and there was a definite buzz in the air. I’m so glad I decided to join the choir, all the people in it are so lovely and I’ve gotten to know a few of them pretty well! It’s also given me another little community to be a part of, and it has certainly been an experience.
Tuesday brought the performance itself and it was one of my favourite experiences ever. I was pretty nervous heading in, I think we all were, but I think we did an amazing job and I am so, so proud of us! I’m actually gutted that it’s over now, that Choralfest is finished, but at least I get my Sunday and Tuesday evenings back!
As well as all the fun things, I also properly started my project this week, setting up all the algae concentrations and sorting out all the fan worms. I get a tank in the aquarium and I’ve been taught how to use a hemocytometer (how you count cells) and a photospectrometer which has been pretty cool! So I guess that now it is just onwards and upwards and making the most of the time I have left!
We were treated to some spectacular sunsets
At the top of Moreton Island – just breathing in the sea air because I’m sad like that
Funky old light house
Moorish Idol (?)
Chromodoris annae (I think)
A cloud of feeding Parrotfish
Another incredible sunset. This place was gorgeous!