Heron Island Underwater

While on Heron Island the entire group went snorkeling at least once a day. Several, including myself (Zach), Travis, Lisa, and the Hyatt twins went diving on two occasions. Below is a collection of photos taken throughout the snorkel and dive excursions. they are slightly out of order...
The first group coming in from their night snorkel
A wobbegong shark at the end of the night snorkel. If they bite you, their jaw locks and you not only are bitten but have a shark that is stuck to you...pleasent
Jaw's little cousin...a white tip reef shark
I found nemo...unfortunately the camera fogged up during the dive....
A semi-wide angle phot of a section of Tenements 1-2 reefs showing coral diversity with branching coral being the dominant species

A school of pelagic fish hanging out underneath an overhang
a big fish...
Crown of thorns starfish.
This I believe is a feather star, or a brittle star...
My favorite picture...

Travis taking some photos
You can tell I learned a lot in marine ecology...this is a striped fish next to a ship wreck in the harbor
A parrot fish. They wil bite off chunks of coral and grind it up to get the algae living on the coral
Sting Ray
A moray eel with the group in the background

Kaitlin enjoying the snorkeling in the harbor
I'm not sure who this is, but it is a cool photo
Katie and AmyAmanda Bucci holding a starfish
Colette modeling underwater next to a reef

Heron Island

After spending the weekend in Rockhampton, we set out for Gladstone on the morning of September 30 to catch a ferry out to Heron Island. The 2 hour ferry ride was quite amazing.

A view of Heron Island as we approached on the Reef Voyager. (Yeah... it was a pretty small island.) Have you ever seen the ocean so calm?

This is an old war ship that was sunk to shield the harbor.

This is kind of a cool shot looking from in the trees near our tents out to the ocean.

The sunsets and sunrises were spectacular on the island... by far the most beautiful that I've ever seen. This probably would have been a nice picture if Brandon, Amanda, and Steve hadn't gotten in the way!

And the cloudy sky at sunrise...

Standing on the water at sunrise.

A cool shot looking down the shore at sunset.

Is that Prabi harrassing a sea star? I have to apologize for my severe lack of marine pictures... someone else will have to include some snorkeling and reef walking pictures. All the beautiful creatures living around the island were amazing.

And at the end of the week we again had to reluctantly pack up and head back to Brisbane...

-Dan

Saddler Springs

After enduring a couple of weeks in the lecture hall, we set out for the outback early in morning on Monday September 24. The bus ride was quite the adventure to say the least... good thing we had the best bus drive in all of Australia at the helm. After about 11 hours on the road (well... most of them could be considered roads) we officially arrived in the middle of Nowhere (Saddler Springs).

Check out this view of camp showing the main building (kitchen and mess hall) and the fire pit.

The activities of the first day consisted of an all day hike out to Carnarvon Gorge through the dry Eucalypt woodland of the Australian outback.

What a spectacular view. This place really made you feel small...

On the way back from the gorge, several bush fires were set in order to reduce the fuel load build-up and promote the regrowth of the fire-loving flora of the outback. This is the fire that I got to set! Not every day do you get to the forrest on fire...

The mission of the second day was to tour the outback and visit a couple of Aborigional art sites. This human figure is the largest Aborigional art figure in the world! It was pretty humbling knowing that this was painted thousands of years ago.

In the evening on the third day, a small group of us hiked up a ridge behind the camp to watch the sunset. Here's a pic of Doug (& Andrew) showing how he felt about the situation.

Here is a view from the ridge behind camp... some beautiful country.

And finally the sunset. The next morning all of us reluctantly packed up and set out on our next adventure...

Peace. -Dan

Byron Bay

Following lectures on Friday September 14, Sarah A. led a crew a several beach-seeking Americans to Byron Bay for the weekend. For many of us, it was our first venture into New South Wales. Transport was provided by a Brisbane to Byron Bay shuttle service and accomadations were provided by a hostel known as The Backpacker's Inn.

One of the main activities of the visit to Byron Bay was a trek to the oldest lighthouse in Australia and the eastern-most point on the Australian mainland. Check out this view of the beach at Byron Bay along that trek.

Here is a sweet view of a headland along our trek. We thought that this was the most easterly point, but we weren't entirely sure. Also, included is Chi's account of the this glorious triumph.

The most easterly point must have been around there somewhere.

And finally we reached the famous lighthouse! It was actually quite nice.

Then it was finally time to accomplish the principle goal of our expedition to Byron Bay... lounging on the beach! Check out this fantastic shot of this lovely sun bather lounging in a sweet sand recliner! I wounder who was skilled craftsman of that superb sand creation?

Peace out kids... -Dan

The Australia Zoo: "Home of the Crocodile Hunter"

On the morning of September 10, we arose early for a day trip to the Australia Zoo. The anticipation among the students couldn't have been higher. A relatively short bus ride was required to get from UQ in Brisbane to the zoo in Beerwah. Following a short introduction from the staff at the zoo and greetings from a koala bear, we were free to roam.

One of the first events of the morning was to meet and feed the beautiful Asian elephants.

In several students' minds, the highlight of the visit to the Australia Zoo was the koala bears. There were several opportunities to pet the the koala bears and you could even get your picture taken with them.

One of the coolest spectacles of the day was the show at the Crocoseum. Here, Norman goes after a treat from his trainer.

Another awsome part of the zoo was the kangaroo park. Visitors could go and hop around with the friendly little buggers. This guy was just livin' the dream.

What is that cute little creature? Well, that's a wambat of course!

The tiger show was awsome! Here, one of the tigers chews on a bone.

A visit to the Australia Zoo wouldn't be complete without a Steve Irwin impersonation. Here, Steve show's us his best Steve Irwin leap! Crickey!

Later!

-Dan