Hey everybody. I only have a brief time on the internet but thought I would keep you all posted - sorry again for the lack of photos.
Last day in Cairns was spectacular - I really enjoyed seeing a real rainforest and both the sky gondola to and train back from the little village of Kuranda were amazing. Kuranda itself was pretty cool as well - little shops, walking paths, a butterfly sanctuary.
THis morning Morgan and I got up very early (4 AM) for our 6:30 flight to Adelaide. Got in about 10:30, picked up our rental car, met her friend Aran (who I had met in Brisbane), dropped stuff off at our hostel, and promptly headed over to Adelaide Zoo, which was phenomenal - the only giant pandas in Australia, plus TWO species of tapir (when I had been tapir-less for more than four months), and a lot of other great anmal life on the side. Adelaide is a very nice, quaint little city that has a very rural, friendly feel to it.
Off tomorrow to Melbourne, hoping to arrive on December 1st. Stops along the way include the Grampians National Park and the Great Ocean Road. Look em up - they promise to be spectacular.
And in other news - Huskies 16, Bears 13. GO DAWGS!!!!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
I'm On a Boat!
…or at least I was for the past few days. Morgan and I got into Cairns late two days ago, then had to be up early the next morning for our two-day tour onto the Great Barrier Reef which we just returned from. Unfortunately no pictures available yet, but I can tell you that it was incredibly incredible and absolutely worth the money. We got to snorkel at multiple reef sites, saw more incredible fish than I can describe (plus sharks and sea turtles, and giant clams that I could probably have fit inside), got treated like celebrities, got to sleep on a boat (soooo relaxing), and maybe best of all got to take two scuba dive lessons that were pricey but very, very cool – I can easily see how people get hooked on diving. And perhaps best of all, last night we got to watch Finding Nemo – on the Great Barrier Reef!
Now we’re back in Cairns and are going on a trip to the skyrail and Kuranda scenic railway – seeing the rainforest – before heading off to Adelaide. Very much looking forward to that. It is hot and humid here but also pouring down rain, which hopefully will let up a bit. Fruit bats everywhere.
That’s all for now. Take care back home.
Now we’re back in Cairns and are going on a trip to the skyrail and Kuranda scenic railway – seeing the rainforest – before heading off to Adelaide. Very much looking forward to that. It is hot and humid here but also pouring down rain, which hopefully will let up a bit. Fruit bats everywhere.
That’s all for now. Take care back home.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Saying Goodbye to Brisbane
Had a fun day yesterday, Morgan and I went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary with a few of her friends. This was just a small wildlife park, but there were some very cool animals there. I especially liked the dingo puppies, wombats, black cockatoos, and the sheep herding/shearing show, but the highlight was definitely the platypus. When you get to be as big of a zoo/animal nerd as I am, there aren't a whole lot of animals you haven't seen in person, but I had never seen a platypus before and it was awesome. Everyone knows platypi are weird, but you don't really appreciate just how bizarre they are until you see them in person. We probably spent a good half hour just sitting on the couch in the platypus room watching it swim back and forth.
Puppy!!!
Platypus - it was really hard to get a good shot, this was my best effort.
After the wildlife park, we went and saw the University of Queensland campus where Morgan had been studying. They had a very nice pizza place where we all got pizza because we were hungry, then went to their Great Court and relaxed for a while. The campus was very nice, although not quite as big as UWA and with more of a compact, crowded feel.
Great Court
They had possums on their campus! 
Puppy!!!
Platypus - it was really hard to get a good shot, this was my best effort.
After the wildlife park, we went and saw the University of Queensland campus where Morgan had been studying. They had a very nice pizza place where we all got pizza because we were hungry, then went to their Great Court and relaxed for a while. The campus was very nice, although not quite as big as UWA and with more of a compact, crowded feel.
Great Court
They had possums on their campus!
Coming home last night, Morgan and I got to do some final trip planning as well as have a nice long Skype chat with our friends Randi and Aimee back home. Heard all about the snow in Seattle - sorry bout that folks, it's sunny and warm here. Plus, we leave for Cairns in a few hours, which will will be even better weather (at least in theory, there is potential for serious rain). Just doing some final packing and straightening up, then it'll be off to the airport in a little bit. Wish us luck. I will try to post as often as I can the rest of the trip but can't make any promises as to the reliability of my internet access.
Sunset over Brisbane
Monday, November 22, 2010
Australian Advertising
For your enjoyment, here's a bus stop ad Morgan and I passed on our way back home last night. You can't really beat it for simplicity or straightforwardness.
Brisbane!
Hey folks -
Arrived safely in Brisbane yesterday afternoon after a flight I remember almost nothing of as I crashed after having spent the whole night awake, hanging out one last time with the Currie Hall gang all together (we had to catch a cab to the airport at 3:30 so it was definitely worth it). I managed to make it to the rendezvous point with Morgan safely and all in one piece, and it was very nice to see a friendly face in a new city - and finally another Seattleite!
After a couple hours at Morgan's we took off to go see a cricket match. Being Americans naturally we knew nothing about cricket so we were very fortunate to be with her friend Aran, who is Irish-Scottish and actually could explain it to us. The game we went to was a 20/20 match, which is a condensed version that only lasts a few hours as opposed to three days like some matches do. In the spirit of trying to jazz things up, they played rock music and had giant flame shooters that burst out jets of fire whenever a big play happened - which, even in the spruced up version, wasn't too often. I was extremely tired at this point and actually dozed off a couple times during the match. But overall it was a fun experience, I started to understand most of the rules and it was a fulfilling experience.
Later last night we went out to West End, the artsy part of Brisbane, and had a couple drinks and met up with my Currie friends Billy and Alison, who had been in Brisbane for a few days. Had a pleasant hour or so with them then walked back to Morgan's house and crashed - first time I've been to bed before midnight in a while.
Today, it was a lazy morning but Morgan and I made it out to the cultural centre around noon, where we saw the natural history museum (pretty cool) and met up with her friend Rachel, an Aussie who goes to UQ but will be studying at UW starting winter quarter.
Just outside the museum - yay Brisbane!
We had lunch and went to a gourmet cupcake shop, where I had a totally delicious blackberry mud cupcake with a pretty little flower on top. Awesome.
The girls also took me to see some of the city, which I am enjoying a lot so far. It's a fair bit bigger and has more of a hustle-bustle feel to it than Perth, and being almost in the tropics it's a lot greener/lusher.
Story Bridge in the background, Brisbane river along with me, Rachel (on the left) and Morgan (on the right). 
And that's all from Brisbane at the moment. We have a trip planned to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary tomorrow, plus hopefully a peek at the University of Queensland campus, and then on Wednesday it's off to Cairns!
Arrived safely in Brisbane yesterday afternoon after a flight I remember almost nothing of as I crashed after having spent the whole night awake, hanging out one last time with the Currie Hall gang all together (we had to catch a cab to the airport at 3:30 so it was definitely worth it). I managed to make it to the rendezvous point with Morgan safely and all in one piece, and it was very nice to see a friendly face in a new city - and finally another Seattleite!
After a couple hours at Morgan's we took off to go see a cricket match. Being Americans naturally we knew nothing about cricket so we were very fortunate to be with her friend Aran, who is Irish-Scottish and actually could explain it to us. The game we went to was a 20/20 match, which is a condensed version that only lasts a few hours as opposed to three days like some matches do. In the spirit of trying to jazz things up, they played rock music and had giant flame shooters that burst out jets of fire whenever a big play happened - which, even in the spruced up version, wasn't too often. I was extremely tired at this point and actually dozed off a couple times during the match. But overall it was a fun experience, I started to understand most of the rules and it was a fulfilling experience.
Later last night we went out to West End, the artsy part of Brisbane, and had a couple drinks and met up with my Currie friends Billy and Alison, who had been in Brisbane for a few days. Had a pleasant hour or so with them then walked back to Morgan's house and crashed - first time I've been to bed before midnight in a while.
Today, it was a lazy morning but Morgan and I made it out to the cultural centre around noon, where we saw the natural history museum (pretty cool) and met up with her friend Rachel, an Aussie who goes to UQ but will be studying at UW starting winter quarter.
Just outside the museum - yay Brisbane!
We had lunch and went to a gourmet cupcake shop, where I had a totally delicious blackberry mud cupcake with a pretty little flower on top. Awesome.
The girls also took me to see some of the city, which I am enjoying a lot so far. It's a fair bit bigger and has more of a hustle-bustle feel to it than Perth, and being almost in the tropics it's a lot greener/lusher.
Story Bridge in the background, Brisbane river along with me, Rachel (on the left) and Morgan (on the right).
At 6:00 we went and saw the new Harry Potter movie, which I actually liked a lot, and then had dinner and met up with some more of Morgan's friends in the city for a bit, where we went to an arcade and had fun with air hockey, DDR, shooting zombies, etc. Also a bit of fun climbing on statues outside the courthouse.
On our way home there were two ringtail possums ambling along a telephone wire, mom with baby riding piggyback. There are a TON of possums here, and they apparently fight all the time at night and wake people up.
And that's all from Brisbane at the moment. We have a trip planned to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary tomorrow, plus hopefully a peek at the University of Queensland campus, and then on Wednesday it's off to Cairns!
Take care at home all! And go Huskies, praying for a win over Cal next week...
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Saying Farewell to Perth
That time has come, the time to say goodbye and start on new adventures. Wrapped up Australian academics for good on Thursday when I had my last exam, the practical for zoology. It ended up being a bit harder than I thought it would (typical question: "here's the body cavoty of an animal. There are five pieces of string labeled A-E all attached at odd points that look like they could be any one of about five organs. Which organ do you think the instructor meant each string to be attached to and what is their function? You have four minutes, go"). Although, all in all, I think it did pretty well.
The past couple days have been a whirlwind of packing, farewells, and taking the last chance we have to hang out. Thursday evening my friend Cristina was kind enough to invite a group of us exchanges over to her parent's apartment for pool, barbecue, and drinks (and her parents must be loaded, because that was a nice freaking place). Last night, our friend Stevie returned the favor, hosting us for the last of several dinner parties she's been kind enough to throw (you might recall she also hosted us while in Geraldton) and surprising us at the end with beautiful, handdrawn, framed pictures of our little group. It was seriously one of the nicest presents I've ever been given and a huge shout out to Stevie for them.
(Back row L-R: Vanessa, Me, Sindre, Alyssa, Noam. Front Row L-R: Cindy, Stevie, Matt, Leslie)
Wrapping up such a long stay in such a great place makes one think quite a bit, and overall I am tremendously happy with my experience. UWA, Perth, and Western Australia were all ideal fits for me, in terms of people, experiences, and activities. The community was very inclusive and I never once felt unwanted or unwelcome. The landscapes, the wildlife, and especially the weather have all been incredible and an awesome change of pace from Seattle and the Northwest (not a knock in any way on my hometown). More than anything else though, I think the decision to stay at Currie Hall was what really made my time in Perth as good as it was. Currie was amazing at including exchanges, giving me an opportunity to meet and hang out every day with amazing people from all over the world - not to mention all the activities, events, etc that our res club organized for us. I don't think my experience at UWA would have been half as good had I not chosen to stay at Currie Hall.
One last note - thanks everyone who sent me stuff Down Under! My final count was three mega care packages plus 27 other cards, postcards, letters, etc. It was always awesome to hear from back home and I can't say enough how much I appreciate the support.
So long to Perth! See you next in Brisbane!
The past couple days have been a whirlwind of packing, farewells, and taking the last chance we have to hang out. Thursday evening my friend Cristina was kind enough to invite a group of us exchanges over to her parent's apartment for pool, barbecue, and drinks (and her parents must be loaded, because that was a nice freaking place). Last night, our friend Stevie returned the favor, hosting us for the last of several dinner parties she's been kind enough to throw (you might recall she also hosted us while in Geraldton) and surprising us at the end with beautiful, handdrawn, framed pictures of our little group. It was seriously one of the nicest presents I've ever been given and a huge shout out to Stevie for them.
(Back row L-R: Vanessa, Me, Sindre, Alyssa, Noam. Front Row L-R: Cindy, Stevie, Matt, Leslie)
Wrapping up such a long stay in such a great place makes one think quite a bit, and overall I am tremendously happy with my experience. UWA, Perth, and Western Australia were all ideal fits for me, in terms of people, experiences, and activities. The community was very inclusive and I never once felt unwanted or unwelcome. The landscapes, the wildlife, and especially the weather have all been incredible and an awesome change of pace from Seattle and the Northwest (not a knock in any way on my hometown). More than anything else though, I think the decision to stay at Currie Hall was what really made my time in Perth as good as it was. Currie was amazing at including exchanges, giving me an opportunity to meet and hang out every day with amazing people from all over the world - not to mention all the activities, events, etc that our res club organized for us. I don't think my experience at UWA would have been half as good had I not chosen to stay at Currie Hall.
One last note - thanks everyone who sent me stuff Down Under! My final count was three mega care packages plus 27 other cards, postcards, letters, etc. It was always awesome to hear from back home and I can't say enough how much I appreciate the support.
So long to Perth! See you next in Brisbane!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Fun Times
Time in Perth is winding down. This time next week I will be in Brisbane.
My Wildlife Conservation exam on Friday went well, and since then I've had a few days off with no real need to start studying for a zoology practical on Thursday (I'll start tomorrow) and some time to kill. This had led to some fun activities.
Saturday morning I went out with my friend Julia to explore King's Park a little further, starting with Jacob's Ladder. This is a steep, twisting staircase that is sort of a backdoor entrance to the park near Perth downtown. It's quite a hike to get to the top, which probably explains the presence of huge amounts of joggers out there on Saturday morning:
The rest of Saturday and Sunday were pretty uneventful - hung out, watched some movies, played some tennis, shot some pool (and snooker, which the exchanges have been learning), watched Australia lose to England in rugby. Then Sunday night we were all bored and trying to think of something to do, when Cindy (middle of the picture below) had the brilliant idea that we should all construct a fort in our common room. In the spirit of acting like responsible, mature adults, we all rushed off to our rooms, grabbed all our bedding materials, and proceeded to make a truly awesome fort. As you can see below:
(inside)
(and outside)
We then hung out and watched Toy Story 3 in our fort before ending the evening playing cards.
Monday morning (today) I went on yet another trip to the zoo - this was #8 and probably my last time unless I get ambitious and decide I want to go for double digits - with my friend Bee, a fellow exchanger from Vermont who I had Wildlife Conservation with. She's a bit of a fellow animal nerd (Animal Science major) so it was nice to be able to talk with someone about animals and have them actually know what was going on.
Lots of animals out and about today, including an incredibly cute baby lemur:
As well as the usual giraffes, zebras, etc
Right as we were leaving we also ran into the zoo's daily elephant walk, where they take one of their elephants for a loop of the zoo grounds along the public paths. It's definitely not something I'm used to, but it was very cool to have an animal of that size walking past you with basically no barriers or restraints.
My Wildlife Conservation exam on Friday went well, and since then I've had a few days off with no real need to start studying for a zoology practical on Thursday (I'll start tomorrow) and some time to kill. This had led to some fun activities.
Saturday morning I went out with my friend Julia to explore King's Park a little further, starting with Jacob's Ladder. This is a steep, twisting staircase that is sort of a backdoor entrance to the park near Perth downtown. It's quite a hike to get to the top, which probably explains the presence of huge amounts of joggers out there on Saturday morning:
The rest of Saturday and Sunday were pretty uneventful - hung out, watched some movies, played some tennis, shot some pool (and snooker, which the exchanges have been learning), watched Australia lose to England in rugby. Then Sunday night we were all bored and trying to think of something to do, when Cindy (middle of the picture below) had the brilliant idea that we should all construct a fort in our common room. In the spirit of acting like responsible, mature adults, we all rushed off to our rooms, grabbed all our bedding materials, and proceeded to make a truly awesome fort. As you can see below:
(inside)
(and outside)
We then hung out and watched Toy Story 3 in our fort before ending the evening playing cards.
Monday morning (today) I went on yet another trip to the zoo - this was #8 and probably my last time unless I get ambitious and decide I want to go for double digits - with my friend Bee, a fellow exchanger from Vermont who I had Wildlife Conservation with. She's a bit of a fellow animal nerd (Animal Science major) so it was nice to be able to talk with someone about animals and have them actually know what was going on.
Lots of animals out and about today, including an incredibly cute baby lemur:
As well as the usual giraffes, zebras, etc
Right as we were leaving we also ran into the zoo's daily elephant walk, where they take one of their elephants for a loop of the zoo grounds along the public paths. It's definitely not something I'm used to, but it was very cool to have an animal of that size walking past you with basically no barriers or restraints.
And that about brings my life up to speed. One more exam then I'm good to go on traveling.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Trip - Map
Just to make thing easier to visualize, here are all the major stops on my upcoming trip:
(map from: www.unconditional.co.nz)
(map from: www.unconditional.co.nz)
Exams, Random Thoughts, and the Trip
Got through my first and hardest exam this morning, Vertebrate Zoology Theory. I felt like it went pretty well, but we'll have to wait and see. Now coming up I have Wildlife Conservation on Friday and my Zoology practical next Thursday. But I just had lunch and don't feel like studying just now, and it's raining out, so instead I'm blogging.
Less than two weeks to go now for my time in Perth and I'm a little sad about it. I've made a ton of friends - Currie Hall has really been great - and I would love to have more time to meet people and do things around the city and around Western Australia, particularly down in the Southwestern part which I didn't really get to except for the brief excursion down to Margaret River back in August.
But on the other hand...I do have a pretty awesome six weeks ahead of me. My plans are pretty much finalized at this point, and it's going to be pretty epic. Since I don't know how often I'll be able to upload pictures or have internet access during my voyages, I'll try to lay out where I'll be when so at least you can have a general idea.
Nov 21st - Nov 24: Brisbane.
I fly out early morning on the 21st and in Brisbane I'll be meeting up with Morgan (she has a blog too! snarkandblather.blogspot.com) and seeing the sights of the fine city of Brisbane for a few days. Hopefully will also be meeting up with my friends Billy and Alison.
(photo: blog.statravel.com)
Nov 24th-28th: Cairns.
The biggest city in tropical/northern Australia, and the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef! We get in late on the 24th, then on the 25th and 26th have a two-day cruise that includes unlimited snorkeling and intorductory diving lessons. Very pumped for that. Then the 27th we go on the SkyRail, which is a train/cableway trip through the rainforest and claims to be "Australia's Best Attraction". Read about it: http://www.skyrail.com.au/
(photo: static.howstuffworks.com)
Nov 28th - Dec 4th: Adelaide/Melbourne.
We fly into Adelaide early on the 28th and will pick up a car. Planning on seeing Adelaide Zoo (only pandas in Australia!) and then the next day heading out for Melbourne along the coast. This is supposed to be one of the best drives in the world, especially nearer to Melbourne when you go along the Great Ocean Road. We get into Melbourne on the 1st and will hopefully be shown around a fair bit by Matt, who's a native Melburnian. Theoretically also meeting up with Alyssa and Sindre.
(photo: http://www.cyf.vic.gov.au/)
Dec 4th - Dec 13th: New Zealand.
This is the part of the trip I'm most looking forward to, not least of which because I'll be able to see actual mountains again! We fly into Christchurch, on New Zealand's South Island. We have a couple days there in which we plan on checking out the International Antarctic Centre and Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. Then we head off the Queenstown, in the interior of the South Island, for a three-day spin that will include jet boating, a helicopter ride, a gondola (all one package tour), a canyon swing, and kayaking or mountain biking (or both!). We get back to Christchurch the 11th, hopefully meet my friend Sam, and have one more full day which will be devoted to a Lord ot the Rings Tour, which seems a little touristy (especially if you watch the promo video they have) but should nonetheless be awesome.
(photo: http://www.wayfaring.info/)
Dec 13th - Dec 19th: Sydney.
The last leg of our journey is Sydney, home of the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Taronga Zoo, whch we will most definitely be visiting. The rest of our visit isn't too well planned out, but may or may not include botanical gardens, the Sydney aquarium, a harbour bridge climb, Bondi Beach, and a trip to the Blue Mountains.
(photo: travel.nationalgeographic.com)
Eventually all good things must come to an end, and Morgan leaves to fly out of Brisbane on December 18th, leaving me a day to peruse and ponder the end of my Australian voyage before I fly home on the 19th. And I will be most definitely looking forward to coming home for Christmas and seeing everyone back home again. Now back to my damn exams...
(one last note: this is my 50th post. woohoo?)
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Cowboys and Penguins
The sheriff saws howdy.
So Australians don't really celebrate Halloween, a tragic fact that the Americans at Currie Hall felt needed to be remedied. So Sunday night we had a Halloween party complete with all the proper amenities - candy, bobbing for apples, mummy wrapping, etc, etc and I think it went quite well - at least, everyone seemed to enjoy it. The mustache looked awesome but actually was insanely annoying - I gagged a couple of times when the hair went into my mouth and it was next to impossible to eat or drink anything. Looked good, though (and thanks to Noomayra, the girl with the purple hair, for the photo).
Monday I was able to finish up my last two papers and now I am officially done with my two history classes. Now just three exams - the first on this coming Wednesday - and I am home free as far as school goes. It does mean a fair amount of studying over the next week, though. In other, happier news, I am nearly done with most of the logistical aspects of the trip I will be taking when the semester ends, starting Nov 21. I am getting more pumped for it every day. I will have more on that in future posts.
The past couple days I've been giving myself a little bit of a reprieve before I started studying in earnest today. Tuesday was mostly devoted to relaxation although I did help out with the Currie Hall carwash, which was not well organized but still very fun as we had music and an inflatable swimming pool. Tuesday was also Melbourne Cup Day, Australia's biggest horse race and waaaay more popular here than say the Kentucky Derby is in the US. I but a couple dollars into a betting pool. My horse didn't win.
Yesterday was the most fun of all - the trip to Penguin Island. I managed to wrangle up Alyssa and Vanessa (a lot of people have finals beginning Saturday so they couldn't come) for the trip down. This little island about a 45 min train ride south of Perth, in Rockingham, is home to the northwesternmost breeding colony of little penguins in Australia. These are the smallest penguins in the world, sometimes also called fairy penguins or little blue penguins. They're also insanely cute and look like this:
Unfortunately it was a really hot day (about 90-100F) and we got there about 11 AM so we weren't able to see any wild penguins. This guy was one of ten they have at the Discovery Center on the island, all rescue birds. They do a thrice-daily feeding show that was very good. One of the volunteers at the penguin pool had moved to Australia from Seattle about ten years ago, and we had a nice conversation.
Despite not getting to see any wild penguins, there was still plenty of cool stuff on the island, including some awesome rock formations and little caves.
So Australians don't really celebrate Halloween, a tragic fact that the Americans at Currie Hall felt needed to be remedied. So Sunday night we had a Halloween party complete with all the proper amenities - candy, bobbing for apples, mummy wrapping, etc, etc and I think it went quite well - at least, everyone seemed to enjoy it. The mustache looked awesome but actually was insanely annoying - I gagged a couple of times when the hair went into my mouth and it was next to impossible to eat or drink anything. Looked good, though (and thanks to Noomayra, the girl with the purple hair, for the photo).
Monday I was able to finish up my last two papers and now I am officially done with my two history classes. Now just three exams - the first on this coming Wednesday - and I am home free as far as school goes. It does mean a fair amount of studying over the next week, though. In other, happier news, I am nearly done with most of the logistical aspects of the trip I will be taking when the semester ends, starting Nov 21. I am getting more pumped for it every day. I will have more on that in future posts.
The past couple days I've been giving myself a little bit of a reprieve before I started studying in earnest today. Tuesday was mostly devoted to relaxation although I did help out with the Currie Hall carwash, which was not well organized but still very fun as we had music and an inflatable swimming pool. Tuesday was also Melbourne Cup Day, Australia's biggest horse race and waaaay more popular here than say the Kentucky Derby is in the US. I but a couple dollars into a betting pool. My horse didn't win.
Yesterday was the most fun of all - the trip to Penguin Island. I managed to wrangle up Alyssa and Vanessa (a lot of people have finals beginning Saturday so they couldn't come) for the trip down. This little island about a 45 min train ride south of Perth, in Rockingham, is home to the northwesternmost breeding colony of little penguins in Australia. These are the smallest penguins in the world, sometimes also called fairy penguins or little blue penguins. They're also insanely cute and look like this:
Unfortunately it was a really hot day (about 90-100F) and we got there about 11 AM so we weren't able to see any wild penguins. This guy was one of ten they have at the Discovery Center on the island, all rescue birds. They do a thrice-daily feeding show that was very good. One of the volunteers at the penguin pool had moved to Australia from Seattle about ten years ago, and we had a nice conversation.
Despite not getting to see any wild penguins, there was still plenty of cool stuff on the island, including some awesome rock formations and little caves.
There were also a ton of these King's skinks, which were about a foot and a half long and not at all shy about coming right up to people and trying to steal their food.
Besides penguins, the island is also home to a whole bunch of other breeding seabirds, most of whom were much more visible, including this osprey, which was sitting on a branch just a few feet away from the path and didn't seem fazed at all being so close to people.
All in all, a good past couple days. After this I will have to start buckling down more on studying, but I will try to update when I can if anything exciting happens.
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