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Meredith's and Shannon's Australian Adventure
Shannon - May 27, 2010 In 30 days I will be home in Lyndell, Pennsylvania. Thirty days sounds like a lot, but in reality, it is very very little time. Most of that time will be spent studying for my final exams which I would prefer not to think about at this point in time, as they will be the deciding factor in my grades here at James Cook University. I am both very excited and very sad to be going home. I love Australia, and have become very comfortable with the Australian lifestyle. Townsville and Saint Paul’s have become my home away from America. I will miss the geckos (see photo), potato cakes for breakfast, Friday nights at the Uni club, and Tim Tams. I will miss travelling, and seeing all the beautiful places of Australia. Mostly I will miss the people I have met here. I have a group of both American and Australian (plus a few Europeans) friends which I have become close to. I will miss simply going to dinner with them and sitting at ‘our table’ and having everyone make fun of how much butter I eat. I will miss study sessions in the common room, and hanging out in various people’s rooms.
On the other hand there are many things that I am excited for. I am excited for an American I say goodbye to Townsville, and all my friends, on June 19th. I then head to New Zealand to meet up with Leigh. My actual plans while there are still undecided, but my flight to LAX is on June 25th. I will be back in Philly around 9:00pm on Friday June 25th. Can’t wait to see you all!!!
Shannon - May 16th
This weekend a friend, Katie, and I went up to Mission Beach for a day and a night. We took a walk on the beach as the sun set and had pizza and some beers for dinner. The next morning we had the adventure of a lifetime: we went skydiving!!! It was without a doubt the coolest thing I have ever done in my life! It’s one of those things you just can explain without actually experiencing it yourself. Basically everyone should do it! It was a very cool morning so I was sitting in the plane shaking from the cold which didn’t help to keep me calm before the jump. However, I was surprised at how calm I was; I was expecting to be very nervous before hand. It was a bit scary when I was sitting on the edge of the plane with my legs hanging out, waiting for the tandem guy to jump. But then he jumped, and we were in free fall, plummeting to the earth! From the very second we were out of the Meredith May 16th Hello Everyone!!
So excited to tell you all that I recently booked a trip to New Zealand. I'll only be there for 4 days but I'm planning to go paragliding and jetboating...actually it's already booked! So excited. Last night in my rugby match, unfortunately I think I broke my pointer finger on my left hand. Bummer. But it's okay; I'm not to worried about it. Just a finger - I have 9 more. The most important news: I leave to go into the rainforest for 6 days today. I'm so excited! We are going to be catching and tagging frogs for research on their survival rate compared to specific fungi that they have in thier system. Hopefully when I get back I'll be more educated than that. Well, it's kind of hard to type so I'm out. Hope all is well back home... HOW ABOUT THEM FLYERS!!!! WAHOOOO.
Meredith - May 1st
I have slowly started to realize sadly that my time here in Australia is beginning to end. I do not have any more trips planned except for the plane ride back to LA which is quickly depressing me. I do however understand that my Mom is ecstatic for me to come home. I mean, if I was your daughter, I know you'd be stoked to see me - I'm so awesome! (Just kidding). I spent the last week back at school writing some papers, learning about Australia, and playing rugby, a sport I have fallen in love with. I will be putting up pictures of the entire season and the 2 professional games I’ve been to a little bit later, when the album is finished. I have made such awesome friends that I am sooooo excited to keep in touch with. (see photo). I guess this is more of a reflection entry about going home and the awesome people I've met here. I am still following the Flyers (2:30am start over here for the game tonight) and the Phillies. Mixed feelings about coming back just because I know I'll miss all these mazing people!!! I am so excited to make the best of the next 7 weeks because it’s going to be filled with emotion, fun, and experience. Hope everything is good at home. Miss everyone. Go Flyers!!!! Revenge the Classic!! Shannon - April 25th
I just got back from a road trip from Sydney to Cairns with my Dad and sisters. It was so much fun! We saw the Sydney Opera House, fed elephants, swam with turtles, and got a speeding ticket!
April 19th
Meredith and Shannon have been too busy getting acquainted with Australian wildlife to write in their blogs! So here are some photos of Meredith and Shannon and their new friends from the Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary. From the top: with kangaroo, koala, wombat, lizards (note the one on Meredith's head), snake, and parrot.
Meredith, 4:56 PM PST February 6
Meredith, 9:16 AM February 11
So....I finally arrived in Melbourne after a long 15-hour flight. We had orientation in this little town called Surrento right outside the city. I learned tons of cool aussie slang, and toured the city; I went on a boat ride, ate fish and chips, saw some kangaroos (see photo to the right), seals, and exotic birds. After that I took a 4-hour flight up to Townsville. I have finally arrived at my new home - JCU-Townsville!!!. It's wet season, so upon arrival it poured the whole day today, but a tropical rain beats the winter storms back home. I have orientation week or "o-week" as the aussies call it, for my university or "uni". It should be rather exciting to meet all the international as well as native kids that I'll be spending the next five months with. Hope all is well. Shannon, February 14
Well there is so much to say about Australia, but I just can't remember it all. Today I saw kangaroo footprints! A gecko has decided to take up residency in my bedroom; he takes care of the bugs in exchange for living behind my curtain. I get to eat three kiwis a day!!! (along with lots of other fruits). Queensland right now is extremely green with lush growth due to the wet season, but that is not what I mean when I say Australia is 'green.' In Melbourne they have a free trolley service to promote public transportation. People really do take 4-minute showers for the most part (at least in Victoria). All toilets have both a 1/2 flush and a full flush; they don’t waste water that is not needed. Outlets on the walls have on and off switches! Most people regularly use wash lines to dry their clothes, the only problem occurs this time of year when there is 90% humidity. To rid the country of invasive species: if a cane toad is spotted in the road, it is your duty to hit it!!! Meredith, 1:16 AM February 21 This past week, was Orientation week or "o-week" and it involved a lot of pretty cool activities. We went to "Alligator Creek" one day (oddly named, since there are no alligators in Australia) and we also went to Magnetic Island (see photo), which is just off the coast of the city I am residing near. Classes start tomorrow, and I have to say I'm rather excited since as I'm taking courses that are far different than anything I've ever had before. I'm enrolled in a Genetics and Statistics class, but the more interesting ones are Biological Oceanography, and Vertebrate Anatomy of Australian Fauna. Both of these include field trips to various locations around Queensland, and trips out to sea to study the Great Barrier Reef. Since I’m so close to the Reef, I have to make the most of the opportunity, so I have joined the Dive Club at JCU. They will teach me how to dive and get my certification over two weekends, and then I’ll go on 11 dives. I'm so excited to see the Reef the way it was meant to be seen. Hope all is well back home!! Shannon, February 27, 2010
Yesterday was the Fisher Shield Swim Carnival. Meredith swam in four events and I played the very important role of cheering from the sidelines. To represent the Combined Catholic Colleges (or the Saints) we all decorated ourselves with red and blue war paint (mine included red hand prints on my legs), and pushed the bongo bus (see photo) down to the pool, where people sat on it and cheered for our team. The Saints won a good deal of the competitions, but we are waiting for the final results. Hopefully we won the spirit award by singing our school song “And the saints go marching in”. I have to remind myself that the reason I am actually here is to go to school, so I guess I should tell you about my first week of classes. Honestly, there is not much to say. I am taking Mathematical Foundations, Australian History,
Meredith, March 1, 2020 Fortunately and unfortunately my classes have begun! I am enrolled in four courses. I am taking Statistics for biologists and we have two field assignments where we actually go out and observe our own data in the “field” (either on the Great Barrier Reef or the mountainous area surrounding campus). I am also taking vertebrate anatomy of Australian fauna where we have started to analyze the variations and similarities the Australian animals have to new world animals. Believe it or not the North American Deer is very similar to the Kangaroo! We also have a field trip for that class over spring break where we go camping and we catch animals such as snakes, toads, and mice, and learn how to carefully handle them, and then of course they are released. I also have biological oceanography, and we already went on a field trip out on the JV Kirby, a fishing boat, and we took samples from 3 locations out on the Great Barrier Reef, which we analyzed yesterday morning. The class mainly focuses on small marine organisms such as plankton and jellyfish, and we also have looked at zooplankton. Finally I have genetics, which isn’t too great, no field trips or field work, but my professor is really funny so it makes class entertaining. I have started to meet tons of friends through my classes and half of them are actually American and some are even from the east coast. We have all already jokingly planned a ski-trip for next winter break. All of my Australian friends have finally gotten past the stage of asking us to say strange sentences, although discussion about our accents does come up from time to time. I’m really glad that I am finally settled in and I am really looking forward to this weekend. I was supposed to be going to Tasmania but instead I am planning a trip with some friends to go kite boarding; it’s like surfing but with a parachute that lifts you up off the water. I CANNOT WAIT!!! Meredith, March 17, 2010
So I am learning tons in all my classes and am actually really enjoying them! Recently we got news that a cyclone is supposed to pass by the coast and we are in for some rough weather! Unfortunately because of this weather my SCUBA trip to the Great Barrier Reef will probably be canceled. I am a little relieved, but bummed at the same time about that. I spent last weekend training with the SCUBA gear in the pool, and it’s a little uneasy to be submerged 3 meters under water, so I'm glad we won't be going if I am under 12 meters of water with rough waters at the surface! I don't think that would be a good first open water dive experience. I recently booked a trip to Brisbane over spring break to go sand boarding, surfing, and camping for 5 nights! It should be tons of fun. I am also heading up to Cairns which is in North Queensland, about a 4 hour drive, next weekend, (hopefully). They have the biggest single-drop waterfall in Australia!! That should be exciting to see as well! I have met tons of friends, most of whom are joining me on these trips around Queensland, and they are from all around the world which is really cool! I am playing on a basketball team to support my college in the Fischer Shield tournament, just like I did for swimming, but I am more natural on land so hopefully I will contribute a little more. Last weekend there was a water polo tournament and my college (The Saints) finished 2nd in both men's and women’s, and we finished 2nd in the swimming carnival as well. Hopefully I am able to survive the storm, as water levels are already pretty high all around campus! Some of the Aussie kids are praying that it’s really bad so that school will be canceled on Monday. That would be cool, but I don't know how I feel about enduring a storm of the stature! Hope all is well back home.
Meredith – March 26, 2010
So, the cyclone missed us; we just got tons of rain once it scattered into a million pieces all over eastern Australia. I had a good week of school - wrote a few papers, handed in some assignments. We had basketball for Fisher Shield. It was fun - we lost 3 of the 5 games, but won the other two, one of which was against our rival so that was good. It gave our college something to cheer about. So the next couple of weeks are going to be filled with field trips and excitement. I head out to Alice Springs Thursday; a group of us are going to see Ayres rock, the biggest rock in the world. Then we get to base walk it and hike up it. Then we watch the sun set and rise over the rock; it is supposed to be spectacular! We spend the time hiking around the outback and camping under the stars while trying kangaroo on the bbq. It should be loads of fun. We get back late Tuesday just in time for classes to start back up Wednesday after Easter break. Then spring break is a week after that. My friends and I are heading to Stradbroke Island to go sandboarding, surfing, sea kayaking, and snorkeling. All while camping on the beach in Brisbane! Everyone is getting really really excited for that trip. Once we get back on April 20th we have a day to relax before we go on a school field trip to Charter Towers to do research on vertebrate animals, capturing and releasing them. We learn how to handle turtles, mice geckos, skinks, snakes, and freshwater crocs! It should be loads of fun!!
Shannon – March 28, 2010
Today was Palm Sunday, so I finally have some sort of plant in my room, which makes me really happy. Here the palms you get aren't just one leafy stock, but basically a whole branch (very much like in Jesus Christ Superstar). Anyways I took two and they are now nicely decorating my desk area- it looks very tropical! I finally made it to the strand (Townsville beach) yesterday, after this weekend I feel that Ihave truly made Townsville my new home. Six months is not going to be long enough. Needless to say, I had a lot of fun. Friday night I watched the St. Paul’s basket ball game which we unfortunately lost. Saturday we spent the day at the Strand. We 'played' on the jungle gym, which was so cool. Then we swam in the netted off area of the ocean. I was expecting beautiful clear blue waters- not what I got. The water looked like the Jersey shore. Apparently the water in Townsville is never that clear, but it’s even worse currently due to the heavy rains we have been getting. However, it was nice because there were some good waves - Townsville does not typically have waves due to the great bearer reef. We got ice cream and lay on the beach a little. At night we went back into town to Molly's Irish Pub. One of Meredith's friend’s band was playing there so we went to hear some live music.
Meredith - April 6, 2010 Hello everyone!! Just got back from the outback, and it was so much better than the steakhouse!! I had an awesome time. We saw Uluru (Ayres Rock) the world’s biggest rock, and the Olgas which are also huge rocks that lie in the middle of nowhere. The best way to explain it is to say...you know if you are gardening, and you can't dig because there is a rock in the way and you have to dig around and around it to finally get it up. Well, natural wind erosion has blown sand away from the sides of this rock, and believe it or not there is still about 90 percent of it underground. I did actually learn how many scientists believe it got there, but I won't bore you with that.
On the trip I met tons of people from all over the world; it was amazing. Two guys were so funny; one was from Ireland (and I could barely understand his accent) and the other was from England. I also met girls from England and Canada and Ireland as well. They were all travelers who weren’t studying, just roaming about Australia working on various farms or any job they could find, until they have enough money to make it to the next tour, or destination of their choice!!!! I was really jealous; silly me came here to study, poor decision. Just kidding, I love school! But maybe I can travel Europe that way one day! Anyway, next weekend I am renting a scooter and traveling around Magnetic Island with Believe it or not I am learning to play rugby, I have my first match tomorrow, and I really really like it. It is so much harder than football, at least for me, always remembering to stay behind the player with the ball!! I am really excited for it though and I hope we do well. I am actually doing tons of work as well; I am just really good at balancing it all. Before I left for the outback I had to write two 2000-word (about 8 pages) essays. One was on hy and how fish larvae can return to their natal reef, and the other was explaining biological and biogeographical reasons why there are no elephants in Australia. They were tedious but I got them both done. I have a stats project due in the next two weeks and a genetics midterm and lab due shortly as well. But no worries, I am doing well (so far) on all my assignments that I've had to turn in for genetics and stats. Hope all is well back home! Glad to hear you all finally got rid of that nasty snow! Even though I'm sad I missed it. Hopefully I can puddle-hop to New Zealand for a ski trip! That'd be awesome. Right-eo until next time! Meredith – April 19th
Happy birthday to me! Of course the birthday didn’t come until after midterms, 3 tests and 2 assignments due last week. I had a 2000-word vertebrate fauna research paper on why there are no elephants in Australia - interesting stuff. Then I had to do a statistics lab report for which I had to collect my own data and run my own experiment to test for distribution patterns. I also had a statistics midterm for my tutorial which was computer-based and makes sure we understand the software. Now, I just have to share this…the test was open-book and open-note, and it was on the computer, so naturally since the Flyers were playing in game one against the Devils I had to get the feed online (along with the Phillies game). So every few minutes I would check the Flyers score online (great victory by the way for the Flyers and the Phils). A Canadian was taking the test next to me and looks at my screen, turns to me and says, Wow, I don’t even know one Canadian who would be watching hockey in the middle of midterm.” That statement made me feel like a hundred bucks! No worries though teachers, I’m pretty sure I aced the test !!!! I also had a midterm in genetics (BLAH). I studied soo soo soo much, days in advanced, and I think I did okay, but we’ll have to wait and see. Also had another stats test in class but that was multiple choice, and I’m fairly certain I did okay….but more importantly!!!!! Aside from the rain I had an awesome birthday weekend. My friends and I went to North Tomorrow at 7 am I head out to Toomba to take part in a vertebrate fauna surveying of some Hopefully I’ll get heaps of good pictures (see photo) from that and you can see all the crazy animals we caught! Hope all is well on the home front.
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summer mostly. I’m looking forward to hotdogs on the grill, pasta salad, sitting on the deck, fresh vegetables, fruit salad, and iced tea. I’m more excited for the 4th of July than I have ever been. I’m excited for lightning bugs, mowing the lawn, and night thunderstorms. Believe it or not, I’m excited to sleep in shorts and a tee shirt (yes it’s hot here, but not at night, and besides it’s different). I’m excited to eat my Mom’s baked goods, especially cake! Cake is definitely one of my most missed foods. And I guess I better mention how excited I am to see my family; I am very excited to see my family!!! I am excited to show everyone my photos and share my experiences. Finally, I am excited to simply be back in Lyndell, to be done planning trips and to be done travelling for a while; no more planes and busses! And although I regret that I have to take Organic II as soon as I get back, I am excited to be back to American education. I have never appreciated the American education system more, especially Gwynedd -Mercy College! 
plane I was amazed! I had no idea how awesome it really was going to be. I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time. My mouth got very dried out, and I am still very thirsty over 12 hours later! The view was spectacular- the Great Barrier Reef, a few islands, and Mission Beach with its tropical rainforest! Our landing on the beach was not perfect because there was a bit of a wind interfering; however, I got very lucky because my landing was the smoothest out of everyone! After that Katie and I relaxed on the beach. We found a few fresh coconuts which we took back to the hostel and opened. It was a lot of work- Katie did most of it. But we were able to get the coconut free and opened it. We snacked on some coconut before noticing some green ants nearby which we decided would finish up our exotic snack perfectly! Yum!
I thankfully avoided a catastrophe - the snowstorm. Instead of leaving Philadelphia on the 6th as scheduled, I left on the 5th, and spent the night in LA. Since my flight to Australia doesn't leave until 11pm on the 6th, I got to enjoy some time in the city of LA. Shannon and I went to the beach and saw the vast Pacific Ocean (see the picture to the right), and we walked around the quiet little town of Manhattan Beach. We will head to the airport in a few hours and we'll get ready for a 15 hour flight to Melbourne, Australia. There we will spend four days learning about Australian laws, their animals (they have the 9 deadliest snakes in the world!!), and all their environmental rules (they are the greenest country in the world). We also go on a night cruise, and spend a whole day hiking before all the US students head off to their various campuses. Mine is in Queensland which is in the northeast of the country. Hope all is well back home! 
Genetics for Biology, and Environmental Processes and Global Change. Mathematical Foundations is, well, math, so it's boring. The teacher seems good, though, so that makes it a little better. Australian History is interesting; we are learning about the first people to go to Australia right now. The teacher is nice and has a good thick accent, and was excited when I told him I would have to be missing a test in week 7 because I would be going to the Outback. Genetics is more interesting for me; right now we are just reviewing the basic genetics we learned in general biology. I’m excited about this course because, unlike most genetics courses, this class is based more on animal genetics than human genetics. We had our first lab this week which included observing and mating fruit flies, as well as extracting DNA from an onion - my eyes were killing me the whole lab!!! Environmental Processes should be an interesting class as well. This class includes a field trip to get field experience; I don’t know much about what this includes yet but it should be fun. We learned about vessel wakes and how they disturbed the environment and have even killed people in smaller boats! It was very interesting.
some friends then going to the Billabong Sanctuary finally!!! It is where they help Australian animals get back on their feet again. Then the following week I leave for Brisbane for spring break where I will be camping with some friends. Then I will head back up on the 20th of April to Townsville to go on a field trip with my Vertebrate Fauna class. I am soooo excited!
Strandbroke Island which is a giant sand island just off the coast of Queensland east of Brisbane. We camped out under a million stars (literally millions!!!) and right on the beach. It rained a lot! Every night and everyday for about 3-5 hours, which kind of stunk but we made the best of it. We went surfing (see photo) and had planned to go sand boarding but since the sand was wet from the rain there would just be too much frictionL. Then we spent the last night in Brisbane, got some gifts at this bargain souvenir shop and had Japanese food (first time for me). We went back to the hostel and got some food and I entered a ping pong tourney in which I came in 4th out of 20 and won a free soda. 