While in the rainforest we also saw a lot of these hanging in the trees; they're green ant's nests, According to our guide the green ant babies have the ability to produce a sort of glue, and as such the adults use them as sort of "glue gun" to glue the leaves together to form the nests.
The final part of our tour was spent at Mossman Gorge where people often go to swim because of the clear waters. The water level was quite low as you can see from the exposed rocks.
And of course there was the obligatory danger sign near the gorge for all swimmers and passers by. Craig and I thought the pictures on the left were particularly amusingly drawn.
As the sun set behind the green green mountains we made the long drive back down the winding road with the ocean on our left and soaring cliffs and mountains to our right.
Trip to Cairns – Day 3: Cape Tribulation, Daintree Rainforest Tour (Part I)
This was by far the longest touring day; 12 hours out on tour. We started with an early morning pickup, around 7:00am. We started out on the long drive out to Cape Tribulation; I think the drive was about an hour long. We made a quick stop at a lookout point to see the view of the Daintree River and some of the foliage of the rainforest.
We were then taken to an information centre in the rainforest where we had morning tea (cookies, tea, juice, etc.). Shortly after having tea we were given a brief history of the rainforest and its animals. We were then taken to a tower that allowed us to see the different levels of the rainforest. At each level the guide discussed the different types of plants and animals that are commonly found there.
It was a short walk back down to the base of the tower and onto a walk through the rainforest on raised platforms. It was all quite lush and green and we even saw a neat little spider that was camouflaged on one of the railings as we were nearing the end of the path. If you're not paying close attention the spider actually looks like an etching into the metal instead of a live creature.
At the end of the walk there was a little gift shop (as there are in many places in Cairns). This particular shop sold the usual stuffed koalas and kangaroos as well as assorted jams, dressings and spices.
After a few minutes it was a short drive to the ferry which took our whole bus (and several other cars) across the river to the other side; the whole trip took about a minute.
Once across the river we drove down a road where there is a famous piece of graffiti on a sign on the side of the road.
The sign originally depicted a warning about an upcoming speed bump and the sign below it is a picture of a cassowary. Similar to warnings of deer that cross the road, there are cassowaries that cross in that area and are often hit by cars.
We went to a lovely beach where the sand was packed perfectly flat and there were mangrove trees with their roots showing just above the sand. Our tour guide also introduced us to several of the different plants that grown near the water and showed that some of them are even edible.
People can swim in the water, but are advised to be careful during the summer months as there are box jellyfish in the water.
Oh the Australians have a talent for making signs I must say!
Lunch was served in the middle of the rainforest where there were several picnic tables setup.
It was quite tasty and it was included as part of the tour and included steak, sea bass, a type of Australian bread and several different kinds of salad.
For dessert we were treated to several different kinds of tropical fruits.
Cantolope, watermelon, pineapple, star fruit, mamey sapote, honeydew and papaya.
After lunch we went for a cruise up the Daintree River to hopefully spot some wildlife. This was the most disappointing part of the trip as we got stuck with another tour group of noisy Italians. They basically were loud and quite boisterous and scared off just about every kind of wildlife in the area. So all we saw were a few birds several metres away and a few tiny crocodiles sunning themselves in between the mangroves.
On our way back to Cairns we stopped by a small shop for afternoon tea; this time it was muffins instead of cookies though. The shop also sold souvenirs including Daintree Tea which is harvested and made right in the rainforest.
Just outside the shop was the most amazing and scary sight you can imagine. There were a bunch of trees growing in which you had to walk underneath to get to a clearing. Upon looking up you could see a set of webs that several spiders had woven. It was quite a unique sight to see as spiders are usually quite territorial.
Trip to Cairns – Day 2: Hartley's Crocodile Adventures
It was breakfast on the verandah, a trip to the photo developing place to get our photos from yesterday developed and some time at the local Internet Café for the morning. By late morning we were off to
Hartley's Crocodile Adventures for the afternoon. The "tour guide" who took us there wasn't very good, he kept saying the same things over and over again, but it didn't matter because he was more of a bus driver than anything. On the way to the park we passed by the Cairns Zoo which had several flags flying in the sky. Ahh, home...
The park is completely hidden within trees and if you were driving by on the road you would never suspect that there was a crocodile park there.
Once we reached our destination we hopped off the bus and took our first glimpse of a crocodile!
I can't remember his name but apparently he used to live at Hartley's, well I guess technically he still does, but anyway there he was, all decked out for the holiday season.
It was then off to the reptile show, where the snake handler talked extensively about Australian snakes and reptiles, he also brought out a couple snakes to show the audience.
We left the show about 5 minutes early to get to the reptile ferry ride on time. The ferry took us around the swampy area of the park in which many crocodile call home. The ferry drove around to various places and the boat driver pointed out several crocodiles lounging about or slinking into the water as well as some birds.
Nankeen Night Heron
The driver stopped the boat in an open area and tried luring the crocodiles to the boat with a long stick and a piece of raw meat attached to it.
One crocodile seemed particularly interested in the bait and swam right up to the boat. It leapt out of the water with the grace of a ballerina snapping its jaws with the strength of an elephant. They did this demonstration a few times on either side of the boat in various places in the swamp with different crocodiles, it was quite exciting.
After the ferry dropped us back on land Craig and I went for a walk around the park to see the "Croc Attack Show"; this was by far the most exciting part of the day. The zookeeper talked all about crocodiles and their life in the wild. He also demonstrated the "death roll" and "head shake" that crocodiles use to kill and take down their prey using a rope with a piece of cowhide attached as bait.
The zookeeper actually ended up losing the rope while he was doing this and another zookeeper had to go in to help get it. During the show he fed the crocodile little fish and I mean LITTLE fish!
After the show we went for a walk around the rest of the park to see the other animals they had there. Including the most deadly of creatures, the green garden hose snake.
One of the creatures that we saw while walking around the place was in fact not officially part of the park. Australian green ants, described in the Wikipedia as such:
Australian green ants are eaten by the aboriginals. Their abdomens taste like lemon sherbet, are high in vitamin C and have antibiotic properties. Squashed green ants mashed in water makes up an excellent lemon-lime flavored drink.
I also hear they're excellent as a tea if you have a cold. :S
My National Geographic Type Shot of the Ants
It was then off to the cassowary feeding where people had a chance to feed the cassowaries. For those of you who don't know, the cassowary is the third largest bird in the world behind the ostrich and the emu. The zookeeper brought out two buckets of various fruits and vegetables in which people were encouraged to feed the cassowaries through the bars or over the fence.
We were then back on the bus back to the Cairns CBD (central business district).
One of the nice things about the particular hotel that we chose to stay in was that it included a free dinner at a local restaurant or 20% off the menu. Considering the free dinner choices consisted of things like, a small bowl of soup or a small salad we chose to go with the 20% off discount for a better meal. We had our meal out on the patio.
The only problem with eating on the patio was the noise… (396kb)
For those of you who are listening to the clip, these are lorikeets, green colourful birds that like to gather in groups around 6 or 7 o'clock at night and continue on like this until around 9ish. If you can get past that the atmosphere is quite pleasant heh…
Anyway, for anyone who finds themselves traveling to Cairns, I would highly recommend checking Hartley's Crocodile Adventures.
Trip to Cairns – Day 1: The Great Barrier Reef
We woke up early for our trip out to Green Island and the Great Barrier Reef. A continental breakfast was provided by the hotel and served on the verandah. The morning was quite pleasant and not too hot; the sun rises early so it was well in the sky by 7:00am.
We waited just outside the hotel for our pickup shuttle sent by the touring agency, they sent a coach bus to pick us up; we were the first to get on. We sat at the front of the bus and enjoyed the ride to the docks. Five minutes later we arrived at the docks, I felt kind of silly being chauffeured by a huge coach bus to a location that was within walking distance of the hotel but oh well. :)
One of the first things you'll notice when you get to Cairns (as long as you don't arrive in the middle of the night like we did) is the mountains. They're incredible, not mountains of rock but mountains covered in lush greenery; completely covered in trees. The bases of the mountains seem to dive right into the edge of the water.
We traveled for about an hour on a large (air conditioned) boat to get to Green Island. When we got to the island we had a choice of several activities including a glass bottom boat tour of the reef, snorkeling or something they called a "water walk" in which people wear suits and go on a walking tour of the floor of the ocean; we chose snorkeling. As part of the tour package we were provided with snorkeling gear.
The rest of the day we were pretty much free to explore the reef at our leisure. The island wasn't too crowded and everyone seemed to be doing something different. Some chose to simply lie on the beach or play in the water but I can't imagine why a person would go all the way out to the Great Barrier Reef just to treat the island like any old beach.
The water itself wasn't too deep, and an adult (even a short one like me!) could stand in most places. We were asked not to stand on the actual reef but to look for sandy patches before setting down. There were lots of fish everywhere and Craig and I made good use of our disposable cameras to try and take a shot of everything that looked interesting.
After a few hours of snorkeling it was back to the boat for a light buffet lunch included in the cost of our tour. It was then back out again to do some more reef snorkeling, this time to a new location that Craig had spotted that seemed to be attracting a lot of attention.
We swam closer to the docks this time and Craig noticed that large amounts of fish were gathered underneath it. We later learned that this was probably due to the fact that as the boats leave the dock they often do a "fish feeding". The fish didn't seem to pay any attention to the fact that people were swimming amongst them. In fact one little fishy had the audacity to swim right up to both Craig and me and swirl about in all directions.
After a long day of snorkeling we were back on the boat again for the trip back to Cairns and the short trip back to our hotel. Just as we were leaving it started to rain and once on the boat it actually started to pour. But that didn't stop the tour people from doing their daily "fish feeding" in which they threw pieces of fish food (I'm not exactly sure what) over the back of the boat and the fish literally jumped out of the water for it.
The day was long but enjoyable and considering that it was pretty much sunny all the way, you couldn't have asked for a better day to go.
Flying Into Cairns
Since we had to check out of the hotel before 10:30 we spent most of the day walking around Kings Cross. We had breakfast at "The Fountain Café" which is right out in front of the El Alamein Fountain; a short distance from the hotel.
We then spent the rest of the day in the park. We arrived in Cairns around 9:30pm and didn't get to the hotel until around 11:00pm. Thankfully the hotel we were staying with included the cost of the shuttle.
Trip to Sydney – Day 4: Taronga Zoo
We got up to go to the Taronga Zoo with our friend Glenn. It was important that we go early because Boxing Day is the day when the
Sydney to Hobart yacht race begins. For those of you who don't know where Hobart is, it's in Tasmania (about 630 nautical miles from Sydney). Since we had to take the ferry to get to the zoo we wanted to make sure that the harbour hadn't filled up before we got there.
As expected, there were many different kinds of animals at the zoo, some big and scaly...
Some silly...
And some just plain cute�
The weather was quite nice for the day, and overall the zoo wasn't too busy. While we were there we stopped by a place near the water and saw an airplane doing some skywriting advertising. Apparently this is quite a normal affair and I can imagine considering the clear blue skies and warm weather.
After going to the zoo Craig, Glenn and I went back to the city for some lunch, and then for a bit of a walk around the harbour. There were a lot of performers out and about including a few didgeridoo musicians and some street mimes too.
Thanks for a great day out Glenn!
Trip to Sydney – Day 3: Christmas at Manly Beach
Christmas in Australia is a funny thing, they don't really celebrate it like we do back home; in fact, they don't really celebrate it at all. The popular thing for Australian's to do is to go to the beach on Christmas day, so you know what they say, when in Rome�
In Sydney the popular beach to go to is Bondi Beach (pronounced Bond-eye Beach), so Craig and I decided to go to the slightly less popular "Manly Beach". On our way to the train station we passed by the El Alamein Fountain and it looks like it was a white Christmas after all!
There were a fair amount of people traveling on the ferry to Manly Beach and I was a bit concerned that the beach would be crowded but it was fine. There were lots of people at the beach but there were plenty of places to sit.
The day was perfect, the sun was shining and not a cloud could be found in the sky. There were all sorts of people at the beach both young and old; some swimming in the ocean and others just lying around.
The waves were pretty big and it was a lot of fun bouncing around in them, and the ocean was, as expected - salty.
We had lunch at a restaurant by the beach, there's a 15% surcharge on public holidays, and the seagulls were particularly angry for some reason.
As the day wore on more and more people showed up and the beach got much busier. By that time Craig and I had left the beach for ice cream.
Overall it was a pretty good day. Merry Christmas!
Trip to Sydney – Day 2: The Sydney Aquarium
Ahh Christmas Eve and barely a single Christmas decoration in sight. Australians really don't seem to get into the whole Christmas holiday spirit here, sparse amounts of decoration at best and maybe a few Christmas carols here and there. But anyway, onto the day...
Craig and I took the train into Circular Quay (pronounced key) which is only a few minutes ride away from where we were staying. From there we spent most of the day at the Sydney Aquarium looking at all the neat underwater animals they had. There were all sorts of neat and weird looking creatures there including a shark tank that you can walk through via a tunnel that was put underneath it. Looking upwards we could see sharks, sting rays and other various sea creatures swimming above us.
Along with the fish there was also the obligatory crocodile tank in which a single crocodile was put. The unique thing about this particular tank was that you could view the crocodile from both the side and top of the tank.
Craig and I found this sign most humorous, but the message is so true.
As with most crocodiles in the zoo this one wasn't doing much.
On the way back to the train station from Circular Quay I spotted what looked like the base of a highly decorated (and very sparkly) Christmas tree inside a mall. I called Craig over to investigate with me and to our surprise we found that the tree was indeed huge. It took up all 3 floors of the mall with a total height of 24 meters or 78.7 feet and was made by Swarovski. According to the sign at the base of the tree (link) it had 15 000 Swarovski crystals, 40 000 lights, 8,000 baubles, 400 bows, 3700 branches and took almost a year to complete.
This is a picture of me and the top 3rd of the tree.
After a nice day out Craig and I went out for dinner at one of the restaurants overlooking the bay.
Trip to Sydney - Day 1: The Blue Mountains
We left the city around 8:00am and headed out in an air conditioned coach towards the Blue Mountains. Our first stop was the Featherdale Zoo, which I have to say, is one of the most interesting zoos I've ever been too. When you first walk in there are a few gates that tell people to please keep them closed. On the other side of the gate are wallabies, owls and other wildlife simply walking around amongst the visitors wherever they please. It was better than a petting zoo because you could sit on the ground right next to them and feed them or pet them, some of the little birds would even come and sit on your arm if you let them.
The zoo also had a few caged animals as well including some of the more dangerous animals such as the crocodile and Tasmanian devil.
After the zoo we went to a local inn where we were served with a light buffet lunch. It was then off to the Blue Mountains, our tour guide drove us to a lookout called "Echo Point" where we got to take a few photos of the range. The first thing you notice when you look at the mountains is a blue haze that covers over the entire area. This effect is caused by the gases released by the eucalyptus plants mixing with the air.
Our next stop was "
Scenic World" which is a park that was setup within the Blue Mountains where you can take several different rides to get different views of the mountains.
Starting with the Skyway which is a sort of cable car with a glass floor that goes across a valley between the Blue Mountains we saw an overhead view of the forest from above. It was then onto the railway which is the World�s steepest railway track sloping at a steep 52 degrees.
From there we walked around the area for a look at the surrounding foliage as well as a look into the history of the mining that was done in the Blue Mountains back in the 1800's.
The last leg of our journey had us traveling up and over the mountains on the Skyway which gave us a great view of the "Three Sisters"; an outcropping of three large pointed rocks that are said to be the remains of three sisters who were turned into stone.
Our last stop on the trip was to the Sydney Olympic Park where the 2000 Sydney Olympics were held.
Here's a picture of the Telstra Stadium where the opening and closing ceremonies were held.
And remember this thing? It was used to hold the Olympic flame for the duration of the games.
Check me out; here I am five years later standing underneath it! They put it up on these weird stilt things and turned it into a water fountain for kids to play in at the park!
And thus ends day 1 of my trip to Sydney, stay tuned for more posts in the upcoming days, and don't forget to check out my Flickr album for more photos, because Craig and I took LOTS!
Going on Holidays!
Well I'm off on another adventure, this time to Sydney and Cairns for the holidays. I'll be leaving early tomorrow morning so I probably won't be updating my blog until I get back in a couple of weeks.
On a side note I'd like to congratulate my friend Meghan who got engaged at the beginning of the month. Congratulations to my friend Forbes who passed his PMP exam! And last but not least I'd like to congratulate a past professor of mine, Darryl and his wife on the coming of their first baby Justin who was born less than a week ago.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!
Oh yes, and if you're looking for something to do in between eating and meeting with relatives this season, might I suggest listening to the comical
Christmas episode (~ 40 mins long @ 40MB) of the British podcast
Clever Little Pod. I highly recommend listening to the last 7 minutes or so.
Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year!
I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas?
I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto! Or rather, I don't think we're in Canada anymore Kitty!
Mythbusters Workshops - Completed
Ok so the 2 day Mythbusters Workshop has been completed and I think it was a success. We did workshops for both teachers and students in both the morning and afternoon.
We started off the morning with the Killer Coconut experiment.
For this experiment CRO's (Cathode Ray Oscilloscope) were set up and attached to motion sensors which the kids built. All of this was placed on carts that were covered in clothes to help block out the natural infared rays that the sun provides.
Adrian checks the readings on the CRO's to see what kind readings were given off so the velocity of the coconut can be calculated.Next was the most exciting part of the experiment; simulating a worst case scenario. Picture a bald man having a nap while lying underneath an 8m tall palm tree resting his head on a rock.
Aidan calls out to those under the bridge to clear the area.To simulate this we placed a watermelon underneath the bridge. It should be noted that a watermelon is considerably more fragile than a human head. We attempted to take a video of the fall to see the effects of the impact.
The camera is setup to take a movie of the next drop.
Once everything was setup the demonstration was about to begin!
The unsuspecting watermelon sits waiting underneath the bridge.
The kids were invited to go up onto the bridge to get an arial view of the drop.
All others were warned to keep behind the black and yellow warning tape.
The aftermath...
Moving on to the Mobile Phone workshop, here is a completed circuit, tada! I built it all myself, soldering work and all! Basically the way it works is, you dial a phone number on your cellphone which causes the antenna to resonate and pick up the signal which causes the LED (light emitting diode) to light up.
The teachers thought this would be a great idea ot have one of these on each desk in the school to keep the kids from texting each other during class. haha!
After an eventful morning it was time for lunch. Because I was helping out with the workshops I got to go to the teachers lunch at the Eco Centre instead of the hotdogs and boxed juice lunch that the students got in the Undercroft.
Painting at the Griffith Eco Centre
Lunch were sandwiches made on ciabatta bread with basil pesto mayonnaise, sweet potato, "rocket" (assorted leaf lettuce) and sundried tomato. A surprisingly good combination if I do say so myself! There was also fresh fruit and assorted cakes for dessert with coffee, tea and water to drink.
After lunch it was back to the workshops, this time the Destructive EMP workshop. Here David Thiel the head of the Microelectrical Engineering department gives a talk on GPS systems and various ways the signal could be disrupted; for the teacher workshop I got to do this talk.
For those of you wondering the big grey thing on the right is the horn we used to send out the microwaves to try and disrupt the GPS.
Here the kids take a look at the GPS to see that the satellite signals have been disrupted.It was 2 long but fun days and I learned a lot and got to meet a lot of new people. Doing the presentation for the teachers was fun too. I even learned a new skill, how to solder and got to teach it to some of the people who were doing the workshops. In some ways the whole experience kind of reminded me of my cake decorating instructor days.
Tomorrow I hope to get out to the city and do a bit of last minute shopping before my big trip to Sydney and Cairns. And hopefully I'll be able to see the new Harry Potter movie sometime this week as well!
Mythbusters 2005
Well it's been a little while since I've written an entry in here so I thought I might post a little update on what I've been doing. Exams have been finished for a while now and I've been volunteering at the school helping out in the Department of Microelectrical Engineering. Each year they run what they call Mythbusters workshops.
The advertisement describes the workshops as follows:
The Myth Busters event is open to all Year 11 and 12 students with a keen interest in exploring the adventures of science, environment, engineering and technologies. The event is held at Griffith University December 8-9 andcosts $50. Accommodation is available at $49.50 per night. Workshops include exciting topics such as Killer Coconut, Phone ESP, Ultrasonically disturbed animals, Geeks are poor and can’t get girlfriends, High School Mathematics is not useful in real life – busted!, Lights, camera, action!, Espionage – How you can cross an international border with vital security information hidden, Robots will take over the world! Virtual Reality – Better than life? and many more!
I've been helping out with the Killer Coconut, Phone ESP and Distructive EMP workshops.
Electronic Breadboard with a few resistors, chips and wires.
The Killer Coconut Experiment attempts to see if a person can be killed from being hit in the head from a coconut falling from a tree. The students will be putting together sensors to measure the velocity of the coconut just before it hits the ground. I didn't help out too much with this experiment other than packing up all the kits.
The next two experiments I did a lot of work for. The first being the Phone ESP experiment in which students test to see if a person can really predict when their phone is going to ring before it rings. My job was to help design experiments for the students to do in order to prove or disprove this. Included in this workshop students will be building their own "phone detection circuits" that light up an LED if it detects a cell phone signal.
The third workshop is the most involved one because it has the most experiments in it. The basic idea is the students get to see if EMP (electromagnetic pulse) weapons are possible. We test electrostatic interference using a Van DeGraaff generator (the one we have is like a mini version of the one at the Ontario Science Centre).
Another experiment in the Destructive EMP workshop takes place on the roof of the technology building. Basically we try and disrupt a GPS from getting a signal from satellites by using microwaves. The microwaves are generated using a signal generator and attaching it to a horn (see picture below). The signal generator we use is very powerful and we have to make sure that no one steps in front of the horn while the machine is on unless they want their insides cooked.
All the rest of the experiments are being done in one of the upstairs labs normally used for 3rd and 4th year engineering students.
So there's a quick summary of what I've been up to recently. As for everything else, most people have moved out or are moving out within the next few weeks either permanently or just for Christmas. The weather is getting warmer but it's been raining most nights. I'm told that it's storm season this time of year but it should be over in a few weeks.
The malls are staying open later for the whole month of December 9am - 9pm; as opposed to 9am - 5:30pm which is the usual time the malls are open. Honestly I don't know how people get anything done around here, by the time you get off work everything's closed with the exception of a few grocery stores and family owned shops.
Finally, I've added a little Flickr Badge showing off a few of the pictures I've taken so far since I've been here; you can click on it to get to my Flickr album and see more of my pictures.
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