Australian Fauna at Featherdale Wildlife Park

This was my favorite day in Australia so far! We went to Featherdale Wildlife Park outside of Sydney and got to see and interact with a ton of Australian animals. We got to pet a Quokka (below top right) and feed wallabies and emus (below top left). It was amazing to be able to familiarize myself with the animals that live here. Most of the mammals are marsupials which means that they have a pouch that they carry their babies in  (see the wallaby below).

Since Australia is such a large land mass that has been separated from other landmasses for so long it is home to tons of unique species that evolved here. 85% of its mammals are endemic (meaning the are only found in one place) which is a crazy high number! Unfortunately this uniqueness also means that a lot of these species are at risk. The Tasmanian Devil (below bottom right) are so endangered that they will go extinct in 5 years. This is due to habitat loss and a type of face cancer that is killing the population. There are so few left now that there is really no viable gene pool left. The Cassowary (below bottom right) is a large flightless bird that is native to Queensland. They are also at risk due to habitat loss. They are gorgeous birds, but also extremely territorial and dangerous. They have extremely strong legs and they can break a human's neck with a single kick. It is always sad to hear that a unique species is at risk due to human activities.

One of the reasons that I love zoos and aquariums (that treat their animals well of course) is that they are the main institutions that help raise funds and spread awareness to help species at risk. When people have concrete experiences with animals they are more about what happens to them and their natural environments. It makes environmental issues more relevant for people. I definitely know that they did so for me when I was little and continue to do so today!

Other wonderful animals that we saw at the zoo were dingos (below right), which look like orange dogs, echidnas (below left), which look like an Australian hedgehogs, and kookaburras (below top), which are super fluffy birds. There were many many more, and I love seeing them all and learning about them. Tomorrow I head to a Koala sanctuary so I get to see even more australian animals and interact with them.

Bondi Beach: Waves, Sand, and Sandstone

Bondi (prononce bond-eye) is Sydney's most famous beach. It's a huge crescent shaped marvel that has enough waves for surfers, but isn't too rough for people wanting to swim. We spent an entire (sunny) day there enjoying a relaxing day in the sun and surf. Swimming areas are marked by flags and swimmers are restricted to these areas. I learned that Surf Lifesaving Australia, the coalition of surfboard lifeguards, are constantly monitoring the beaches and moving the flags to the places that don't have (or have less of) a rip. This makes so much sense and probably prevents a lot of drownings. Apparently since this practice started no one has died swimming between the flags. I played in the waves a bit and then sat on the beach with some good music and a good book, and soaked up the strong sun. Unfortunately, even though all of the students on the trip put on sunscreen almost every one of us was sunburned at the end of the day. The hole in the ozone layer is in the southern hemisphere, which puts in over Australia. That is why the sun is so strong and that is why the country was the highest rate of skin cancer. The good news is that we all learned early on in our time here that if the sun is out the sunscreen has to go on and be reapplied frequently.

After the beach we did a little bit of the Bondi to Coogee walk. this is a ocean side pathway along the cliffs and heads of the coast. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the highlight of this walk was not the view of the ocean (above), but the Sandstone formations hidden from sight on the beach! Sydney, Bondi, and the Blue Mountains are all situated on a huge sandstone formation called the Hawkesbury Sandstone. The formation dates back the the Jurassic and it truly spectacular. The topography of the area was originally steep cliffs but they have been weathered by wave action and several sea level changes. This results in the fascinating rounded weather formations found along the trail (below). It was amazing to wander between these exquisite examples of the power of the ocean, and we all really enjoyed the walk. I was really happy to find that the things I learned about sandstone, weathering, and rock formations in my freshman geology course hadn't left me. However, I'm excited to learn more about the geology of Australia, both in and out of the classroom, during my time here.

A Rainy Welcome to Sydney

After an extremely long journey from Chicago to Los Angeles to Sydney, I finally arrived in Australia. Since the time difference is 17 hours I was expecting to be extremely jet lagged. However, this was not the case. The reason for that was that since I crossed the international date line I skipped February 14th, I went to sleep on the plane on February 13th and woke up on the plane on February 15th. For me this was really cool, it felt like I was time traveling into the future (though not really). Time is just one of the constructs I found changes when you cross the pacific. For us time is really a reference to how far along we are in the Earth's daily rotation, and when you change where you are on the Earth your reference to that rotation changes, preeetttyyy neat. Another construct shift when you travel to Australia, and this one has to do with crossing the equator. Seasons are reversed Down Under! This is due to the Earth's tilt which creates the seasons, when the Earth is tilted towards the sun, it's summer and when it's away then it's winter. So, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away. For me that meant I was expecting to fly from snowy below freezing temperatures into sunny 80 F (27 C) weather. That's not exactly what happened.

Sydney was hot. When I landed it was actually oppressively humid. But, the sunny skies were nowhere to be found. Fortunately, that did not deter me from exploring the city. I walked from the hostel where I was staying with the other students in my group up George Street to Darlin Harbor. We took in the views (though overcast) and the feel of the city. The city had an incredibly distinct feel. It felt safer than most large cities that I've been in, but also very laid back. And even though we were in an area of the city that catered to travelers and tourists there were still many Aussie families out enjoying the cool day.   This is a city where both the locals and the visitors are free to mingle and enjoy.

This was reaffirmed for me my second day in Sydney. We did a walking tour of the city center and it was raining even harder than the previous day. Once, again we didn't let that bother us. We walked out on the Harbor Bridge and got some incredible views of Circular Quay and the iconic Sydney Opera House (above), not even the rain could ruin seeing the site of the ships passing the Opera House into the bay. Later we walked along Circular Quay to get some close up views of the Opera House (below right). Not only is it huge but it is actually three separate buildings! The architecture has an almost optical illusion quality to it that makes it seem like one structure farther away, but standing below its steps it is easy to see the true design. After the Opera House we took a stroll through the Botanical Gardens. Not only was it free (!) it was also really cool to see examples of some common (and less common) Australian flora. Fig trees (below) stretched up and out along the path as we made our way back to the city center via Sydney's own forest. The rain did not spoil the city and, thankfully, this was the last day that we had to deal with it!