Brisbane & The Ekka

Yesterday we went to the Ekka in Brisbane! We had to stand up at five in the morning which was pretty early… The Ekka is a big exhibition which was originally about agricultural things but now there are beside cows, horses and sheep also rollercoaster! We went first into to the cow stall where we made a picture sitting on the bull which won a price last year! That was really funny. After that we walked around the different stalls and the house about agricultural things. We spent nearly 1 hour in the food court tasting different bread, beef, apples and other things. At a table with spicy sauces I tasted a sauce which was 10++/10 and yes it was really hot, hotter than fire!

After the food court we watched a dog show where different types of dogs were judged. One dog had so many hair in his face that we couldn’t see his eyes. He looked really funny but he didn’t win the price of his category. Our next stop was the high flyer. It’s a carousel 20m above the ground. In the first moment it was a bit scary to be 20m in the air but then we enjoyed the view over Brisbane.

After 4 hours at the Ekka we went with the train into the city centre of Brisbane. We had a walk through Queens Street which is the main street of Brisbane. We walked to the middle of one of the bridges to have a better view over the river and the “House of Performing Arts”.

Then we went back to the train station to go back to Caloundra.  

Mooloolaba

Here are some pictures of my day trip to Mooloolaba!

The first boating

Last wednesday I had my first boating lesson with a power boat! I was the first one in my group to drive the boat away from the beach into the canal. First I was really afraight because I won't crash with another boat or a post. So I drove really slow to be carefully. When we went out of the canal I started to drive faster, because there was more space and so I wasn't afraight anymore to crash with something. The boating teacher told us to drive an eight that was not really difficult, but at next we had to drive straight away from the beach which was really difficult because we went backwards. After that we had to rescue a "person" which was acted by a pylon. In the end everybody tried to park the boat at the jetty which was not as easy as we thought it would be and so everybody needed more than one try haha.
After 90 minutes it was unfortunately over, because it was so much fun! Now I'm looking forwards to my next boating lesson in term 4. And for all german students, yes I got marked on driving a boat haha! :D

Heron Island - The Great Barrier Reef

What an amazing week!
On sunday night I went with other marine studies students and some internationals to Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef. First we went with the bus to Gladstone and then with a boat to Heron Island. The 2 hours on the boat felt like a never ending time, because the wind was very strong and the boat swung the whole time up and down. In the beginning it was funny but after 30 minutes I got seasick and went to the outside of the boat, which was much better!
After 2 hours we finally arrived at Heron Island, and the first impressions were the best I ever had!
White sand, turquoise water and a blue sky! This is paradise!
We brought our things into the rooms and after that we had our first reef walk. At this walk we chose a organism we want to explore for the week. Cecilia and I took a blue clam.
After lunch we had our first dive. We should find our organism again at high tide. When Cecilia and I went nearer to the place where the clam must be three black-tip-sharks crossed our way. I was really surprised but I found it also very interesting but Cecilia was so scared of them that we went back. On our way back to the others we saw a shark which was as big as me!
On the next day they we were surprised by the water, because there was no water anymore. The guests of the resort left the island, but the teachers decided to stay. In the afternoon we had another dive in the reef. And on this dive we saw a ray, a turtle and some really big fish.
On wednesday the water came back but we had to be very carefully with it. On midday we went with the boat in the middle of the ocean and had a really amazing dive. We saw a cornet fish and many different corals.
In the evening we had a harbour dive during the sunset. This was so beautiful, because we saw the sun at the horizon while we were in the water. In the night we went to the jetty to watch the spangled sky, the sky was so clear that we saw every little star and also 5 shooting stars!
On our last day we stood up at half past five to watch the sunrise. We sat on the beach and watched the sun go up. This view was really amazing, because the sun dyed everything into red.
At half past twelve we went again on the boat, but the trip was very good, because there was nearly no wind. After the long bus trip from Gladstone to Caloundra I was really tired and just felt asleep when I was back in my australian home!

A shell!

Sunrise!

Research Station!

The beach!

A seastar!

Jetty!

Me haha!

Sunset!

Sunset!

Our clam!

A shark!

The Great Barrier Reef!

Sunrise!

Me at the reef walk!

A ray!