Hi everybody, I’m still alive! No, I haven’t been mauled by a vicious koala. I’ve just been busy with schoolwork. Ugh. The worst part is that it’s all reading. No practices no work pages, just reading and essays. On the other hand there hasn’t been much going on socially, most of the clubs aren’t very active or don’t advertise themselves well (except for Anime Club, go figure). I have been getting exercise though just walking to class, which is a 15-20 minute walk away! Goodness this campus is sprawling! To combat this problem I bought a bike! Yay for transportation!
On a happier note I went to Magnetic Island with my friend Sarah and we went snorkeling and kayaking! For those of you who may not know Magnetic Island is, obviously, an island 20 minutes from Townsville by ferry. It's a weekend favorite of all JCU students and one of the least touristy islands I’ve ever been to; which is good and bad. Bad because you can barely find anything on the island, good because there is no crowd of tourists everywhere you turn. It feels like uncharted paradise. So, Sarah and I first went to Florence Bay to go snorkeling…which involved a 3km hike one way up and down very steep hills. They were so steep rental vehicles were having trouble going up them! 0_0. Wow. The snorkeling was worth it! The reef was just a few feet away from shore and gorgeous! It was like a scene out of Blue Planet! The fish were so colorful and the coral vibrant and lively. Then, Sarah tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at something to our right. It was a…sea turtle!!!!!! This beautiful green turtle swam next to us; it was over half my size! The way it swam looked like a bird in flight. It was so breathtaking to watch an animal I’ve learned so much about in its natural habitat, it really brings home the fact that these animals are more than the subject of short answer essays and reside solely in aquariums. This is why I want to be a marine biologist, to study these beautiful animals and study their complexity and show that to others. It’s really hard to describe that swim. I think the best summary was when Sarah and I left the water and were hopping up and down squealing, “Did you see that potato cod? That fish was so colorful! OMG turtle!” When you get two people studying marine biology on a reef our vocabulary drops significantly.
After that we hopped on a bus to Horseshoe Bay for a sunset kayak. Unfortunately we got off at the wrong bus stop and had to take a long walk up to the beach. The ocean kayaking was great, but man what a workout. We managed to see a few more turtles and watched the sunset from our kayaks. All it was a spectacular day!
p.s. I have (crappy) video of the green turtle, I’ll post it on facebook! For those without facebook, should I start a Tumblr page so you can see it? Let me know in the comments below!
