Billy's AFL Game

Saturday March 16, 2013

Nice catch!

Billy taking out a player :)

That player getting a free kick off Billy :(

Field Trip to Pallarenda Beach

Functional Biology of Marine Organisms Field Trip to Pallarenda Beach
Sunday March 10, 2013

Measuring the slope of the beach

Me holding a sand dollar

 

Swimming Carnival

Saturday March 9, 2013

Today all the colleges (the different dorms) competed in the Swimming Carnival, which is the first Fisher Shield Event.

Fisher Shield is the equivalent of club sports, yet it is the highest level of competition: it is within the school because everything is so spaced out in Australia- playing other universities would be too expensive and time consuming. Anyways, one college wins each year and everyone is really into it. Most colleges painted themselves and every college had a huge turn out of supporters.

GR looking tough before heading over to the pool

 me, Alex, Carolyn, and 2 other people....

me, Camila, & Alex

The belly flop competition 

GR yelling some chants (FUH= 'Fu*k Uni Hall)

GR also had a sound system that was louder than the people announcing the events and winners... Although our announcements were much less civilized

Week 1 (of the semester)

Thursday February 28, 2013

Rugby tryouts

Today I tried out for the girls’ Fisher Shield Rugby team for George Roberts. Since there are only a few girls that showed up, everyone made it and we got right to training. We learned how to tackle by running and jumping on a big yellow cylinder pad and then practiced tackling each other. It was a lot more intense than I was expecting, but it was a lot of fun.

The guys train at the same time we do, they know what they’re doing and were working on some more advanced drills. The coach said we’ll get there, but so far no one has even explained the rules to me… so we’ll see how it goes, I think we only have a week or two before our first game.

After tryouts I went to Uni Club

Me, Shannon, Nathan, Meredith, and Jorge 

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Friday March 1, 2013

Palmetum Adventure

Today after class I went on an adventure to the Palmetum Gardens, which is a huge garden about a 35 minute walk from campus with some American friends I’ve made, Nathan and Jenny.

More info on the garden from: http://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/facilities/gardens/Pages/palm.aspx

The Palmetum is a 17 hectare botanic garden displaying one of the largest and most diverse public collections of palms in the world. A 1998 Bicentennial Project, this internationally recognised attraction was supported and planned by the Townsville community and organised through the Townsville City Council Parks Services.

It has a range of habitats to suit flora originating from the dry topics through to the wet tropical lowlands. In addition to the recreated habitat types, there are expansive lawns and water features frequented by numerous bird species.

The palm collection contains over 360 species in 130 genera; several rare and threatened in their natural habitat. The palm family Arecaceae comprises about 2400 species in 190 genera. Approximately 60 species of palms are native to Australia; most are represented. The palm collection is among the top ten public collections in the world. Significant collections of Pandanaceae and cacti and succulents are also displayed in the gardens.

Feature areas

Entry precinct

Townsville's Japanese sister city Tokuyama funded the initial development of the Licuala Walk and Tokuyama Garden, completed in 1996. The Blackhawk Memorial, completed in 1997, is dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives in a training exercise accident at High Range Training Area.

Tumbetin Lodge

Tumbetin Lodge was built in 1934 in Railway Estate for the Roman Catholic Church. Constructed predominately of Australian silky oak, it was until 1975, used as the St Francis Xavier School. In 1993 it was relocated to its current site. Facilities include public conveniences, information and the Palmetum café.

Rainforest

A tropical rainforest contains more palm species than any other environment. Around 2000 species are confined to this habitat and the largest palm genera are predominantly rainforest plants. Many of the palms planted are either understorey or climbers; approximately half of the collection is contained in this habitat.

Cacti and Succulent Garden

Located in the Xerophytic habitat is a dramatic display of arid land plants from the Americas, Africa and Madagascar. Surrounded by local granite boulders and rock the plants are grouped in association with drought-tolerant palms and trees.

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Saturday March 2, 2013

AFL Game: Gold Coast Suns vs. North Melbourne Kangaroos at Tony Ireland Stadium

Today I went to the pre-season AFL game in Townsville at Tony Ireland Stadium. The stadium is in walking distance from campus and tickets were cheap for students, so a ton of people went. It was an insanely hot day and the walk was killer- we stopped on the way at the Tavern for a beer break to cool off. Once we got there, we found a spot on the grass (the stadium seats were sold out), which was unfortunately right in the sun. The first half was pretty miserable with the heat, but we still had a great time. There was cloud cover for the 2^nd half and the game was a lot more fun to watch.

I don’t fully understand the rules, Billy tried to explain it to me at the beginning of the game. I’ve got cricket down pretty well, but AFL was tough to really see at a live event.

Most of the guys from GR were barracking for the Suns, since most people who go to JCU are from Queensland. The only other AFL team for Queensland is the Brisbane Lions. 

The final score was North Melbourne winning with 2.13.6 (102 total) to the Suns with 1.11.14 (89 total).  

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Sunday March 3, 2013

Great Barrier Reef Aquarium (Reef HQ)

Today I went to Reef HQ in Townsville with some American friends: Jorge, Meredith, and Shannon. Reef HQ has the largest living coral reef in any aquarium in the world!

The most amazing part of the aquarium is the underwater tunnel:

This is where all the large predators live:

Sawfish

Hammerheads

Blacktip Reef Sharks

Guitarfish

Nurse shark (named Cuddles who is extremely overweight, he's the one resting on the bottom)

Turtle (Peter, who was in the turtle hospital that they have and had been moved to the big tank for some swimming and diving practice before he’ll be released back into the ocean)

And lots of fish

We also had to get a picture in the old SCUBA helmet: 

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