Lady Elliot Island Field Trip

(Photo courtesy of Melissa G.)


Well, I put off writing an entry for my Lady Elliot Island field trip until I could steal a sufficient amount of pictures from other people. (My camera ran out of batteries before I even got to the island and I forgot my charger. More specifically, I forgot the adaptor that allowed me to plug my charger into an Australian wall.) Thanks to some Wash U folk and the class website, I now have a collection of pictures that are way better than any I could have taken.
The field trip was four days of absolute bliss with some occasional moments of education sprinkled in. Originally, my Marine Biology class was supposed to go to Heron Island, a research station owned by the university, for our Great Barrier Reef field trip. Unfortunately, two weeks before we were supposed to leave, the entire research station burned down! We all assumed the trip would be cancelled, but amazingly they booked us at Lady Elliot Island instead. Lady Elliot Island is a resort island at the very Southern end of the Great Barrier Reef surrounded by reef and only accessible by small plane. Hello four days of tropical vacation.
We spent most of the time on the island snorkeling on the reef. It was by far the best snorkeling I’ve ever done. We saw manta rays, black-tip reef sharks, tiger sharks, and lots of pretty fishies and corals. I also saw a bunch of turtles. One was twice my size and swam right by me! It was great snorkeling with the experts (my teachers) who could point out the different animals. We also went walking on the shallow reef flat in low tide where we could look at the corals up close when we weren’t busy avoiding stepping on sea cucumbers.
Part of our trip involved conducting a “field study.” My group chose to do a project on Linckia laevigata, a blue sea star. It was chosen primarily for the fact that it didn’t move. Sea cucumbers also fit this criterion, but the sea stars were prettier and didn’t squirt you in the face when you picked them up. The project involved finding sea stars and measuring them in two areas: the reef flat and the reef rim. We waited for the tide to go down. Then armed only with a clear ruler and a notebook, we went in search for the elusive Linckia laevigata. As it turns out, the clear ruler was the fatal flaw in our experimental design- we only had one and we kept losing it in the water when we tried to throw it to each other across the reef. Luckily, we managed to overcome this challenge (after a fair bit of searching and cursing), and found that the sea stars were, on average, bigger in the reef flat. Why this occurs or even if this matters were, of course, beyond the scope of our study. Still, I feel proud to have added this invaluable piece of knowledge to the field of marine biology.
All in all, it was a successful trip! I can’t believe this is school…


Our plane. (Photo courtesy of Melissa G.)




Lady Elliot Island. (Note how the runway is the entire length of the island. Glad we didn't overshoot...)
(Photo courtesy of Melissa G.)




Begin tropical (educational) vacation. (Photo courtesy of Melissa G.)




(Photo courtesy of Mike G.)




Coral sand beach. Owie.
























Black tip reef shark.




Turtle! We really were that close!




Reef flat at low tide. (Photo courtesy of Melissa G.)




Educational reef walk.




The elusive Linckia laevigata.




Clam. (Photo courtesy of Melissa G.)




Lady Elliot was a nesting site for many turtles. They were hatching while we were there! Unfortunately, some of them got confused by the lights on the island, and started wandering towards the land instead of into the sea. This is one of the saved wandering turtles.




The turtles have to run down the sand into the water themselves in order to imprint the beach they were born on into their brains. So, we gave all the confused turtles a second chance to run to the ocean, and helped them by lining up with flashlights. They were so cute!




I actually missed the sunset by 5 minutes, but I'm glad Mike was there for photo-documentation. (Photo courtesy of Mike G.)




Another excellent sunset pic. Bye bye Lady Elliot! (Photo courtesy of Alex G.)

New Zealand Part III: Milford Sound and the Routeburn Track

Next on my agenda was an overnight cruise through the famous Milford Sound. First though, I had to pick up my tickets for the next hike I was going to do. While I was in the Department of Conservation Office, I casually asked about the weather. The lady said there was already snow (!!!!), and recommended I bring lots of hot chocolate and chocolate bars. She didn’t need to tell me twice! I raced across the street to the grocery store and bought at least two pounds worth of chocolate products before catching the bus to the sound.
As the bus barreled towards the sound, the temperature began to drop. Then, right as it started hailing, the bus driver pointed to a group of mountains with dark swirling clouds surrounding it and announced that that was the location of the Routeburn track (the one I was doing the next day). The word that came to mind was a stronger version of “crap.”
Miraculously, by the time we got to the sound the weather had cleared and it was a gorgeous afternoon. The sound was amazing. Actually for those of you who care (AL), Milford Sound is actually a fiord, which is a sea flooded valley formed by glaciers. The English who colonized the area had never encountered a fiord before, so all of the fiords on the coast are called sounds. I was very excited because I got to see all sorts of glacial features like striations and hanging valleys. Also, within the first ten minutes of the ride we saw and entire pod of bottlenose dolphins. The boat took us around for a bit, then anchored in a cove, where we got to get off the boat and go kayaking as the sun set. It was so peaceful and soooo cold. Then, they fed us dinner and I got to fall asleep to the rocking of the boat. The next morning we saw more (!) dolphins, then puttered around for a while looking at waterfalls. Then, we docked and I was off to catch the bus to the start of the Routeburn!


Hollyford camp- a random tourist trap stop on the way to Milford Sound.



My vessel, the Milford Wanderer.



The sound/fiord.



Hanging valley anyone?







My sleeping quarters- all to myself!



Milford Sound in the morning





After all of my worrying, the weather on the Routeburn was PERFECT. Within the first 10 minutes of hiking I met another two Israelis who I hung out with for the rest of the hike. One of them had worked for a URJ camp in California last summer! Also, I met a reform Jewish woman from Melbourne who was really sweet who had also been a Jewish camp counselor in Australia. Basically, the Jews took over the Routeburn for two days. The scenery was some of the best I have ever seen. I ended up taking side trips to summit two peaks and it was completely worth it. Because I had to hike out early on the last day to catch a bus, I had signed up to stay at a smaller, less popular hut closer to the end of the hike. When I showed up that night, it was completely empty! Then, the park ranger, a guy in his 30s, showed up and asked me if I was the one person registered to camp there that night. So, it was just me and the park ranger. We had a really good night talking about the environment, and I got to share all my extra chocolate I had been lugging around. It was a great ending to a great trip!


At Key Summit.



Earland Falls.



Great view of the Hollyford Valley.



On Lake MacKenzie, where I spent my first night.





At the summit of Conical Hill.



View from the summit. You can almost make out Milford Sound!



I harrassed someone hiking the opposite way over the saddle to take my picture.



View from the saddle.









View of the Routeburn Valley where I spent the night.



I was so busy taking pictures of the valley that suddenly I found myself off the trail and practically on the roof of one of the huts (not the one I stayed at). It was quite a scramble.


Taking over my own personal hut.



Sunrise over Routeburn Flats


Afterwards, I caught the bus back to Queenstown, and it was a two-day traveling adventure to leave New Zealand and make it straight to my field trip on the Great Barrier Reef. Tough life, huh?

New Zealand Part II: Queenstown, the Kepler Track, and Te Anau

After Christchurch, I took a flight to Queenstown to begin the more outdoorsy part of my trip. Queenstown reminded me of a summertime Breckenridge with much cooler accents and many more signs encouraging you to jump off or out of things. Since paying money to be scared shitless is not exactly my thing, I decided to forgo the bungee jumping and skydiving (don’t worry mom) and focused on getting ready for my 4 day backpacking trip I was leaving on the next morning. When I got back to the hostel with all of my groceries, I met a very nice Aussie woman who had been in Queenstown for a while. I told her I only had one night in the city and my goal was to eat all of the best things possible, so she took me to The Fergburger, where I had an excellent original Fergberger and fries with garlic mayonnaise, which was (strangely) AMAZING. The woman was very interesting- she basically had been traveling on and off for about 10 years and had lots of funny stories about traveling around the US. After The Fergburger, we went to a café on the wharf that boasted to have the “Best Hot Chocolate in New Zealand,” and boy, they might have a point. Flavors included ginger, chili, and lilac, but I decided to stick to dark chocolate. Yum. We returned to the hostel, happily stuffed, where we joined with another group of girls to override the boys and watch Legally Blonde. It was a great last night in civilization.


Queenstown.



They weren't kidding.


The next morning, I woke up earlier than I want to talk about to catch a bus to the Kepler Track, where I was doing my first hike. The first day started with an hour stroll by a lake to trick you into thinking things were going to be easy before it turned into a relentless four-hour uphill climb. Within the first twenty minutes I met two girls (Canadian and Finnish) who were studying in New Zealand. We kept passing each other all day and exchanging words of encouragement/ looks of agony. The day was gorgeous and when I got to the top I had some great views. During all of my hiking in New Zealand, I stayed in “huts” that the conservation department had set up. Really, they were more like huge cabins with bunk beds, mattresses, running water and gas stoves. It was great! I didn’t have to carry a tent or a stove. Also, I met a lot of people since every night the same group of people would stay at the same hut together. I met some Israelis (the first of many!), along with a lot of “Kiwi” families on Easter break.
The second day of the hike was insane. As in, I was insane to do it. The hike was along the saddle of these huge mountains, which in theory was supposed to supply some great views. In reality, it was super foggy and so windy that I almost got blown off the mountain! It was probably for the best that I couldn’t see how high up I was. I ended up hiking with a German couple, since I wanted to make sure someone was there to witness me blowing off the side so they could point the search and rescue squad in my general direction. The plus side to the miserable weather was that we were rewarded at the end of the day by the brightest rainbow I had ever seen before we descended into the valley. We all oo-ed and ahh-ed for a couple of minutes, then zipped off to the shelter of the trees before another huge gust of wind came. I’m happy to report that I made it to the next hut, along with everyone else that had set out that morning. It was quite an adventure and bonding experience.
The rest of the hike was through the valley. It was mostly rainy, but turned pleasant by the end. I spent the last night in a hut overlooking a very pretty lake before I hiked out with a Kiwi family the next morning.


Brod Bay on Lake Te Anau. The last chance to relax before all of the up.



Luxmore Hut. More like Luxmore Two-story-luxury-cabin.



The saddle in the crazy wind, rain, and fog. That little dot is a person.



Still smiling!



Rainbow!



Walking through a valley cleared by a "slip" caused by heavy rains in the 1980s. On the left you can see one of the many waterfalls that were pouring out of the mountains due to... the heavy rains of the previous night. Uh oh.



Lake Manapouri where I spent my last night. It's finally sunny!



Mist coming off a lake/marsh in the morning.



The Waiau River. For those of you who are interested (Zach), the Waiau River played the River Anduin in the first Lord of the Rings movie when the uruk-hai chase the fellowship down the riverbank.



I'm smiling because once I cross Rainbow Reach Bridge I'm done!


I spent the day in a little town near the Kepler where I showered and got ready for my next hike. The big plan of the day was to see the famous glow worm caves, which had been recommended to me by several Aussies and randomly happened to be near the town I was in. So basically, I had no choice but to go. On my way back from the grocery store, who should I see but 4 guys from Wash U! They were in town to see, you guessed it, the glowworms. I was very happy to have some glowworm viewing partners. The glowworms were at the end of a very cool, very wet cave. They took us in a boat in the pitch black, and it looked like someone had thrown a net of Christmas lights over the ceiling. Actually, it could have been a net of lights and I wouldn’t have really known the difference. The worms glow to attract insects to it that get caught in sticky mucous nets that dangle from their bodies. Eww/cool. Afterwards, I had dinner with the boys, and then met one of the Israelis I had befriended on my hike at the only bar in town where I thoroughly embarrassed myself at pool.



Dinner with the Wash U boys.