that was the best trip EVER!
i'm so glad i went on it. that was the best experience ever, getting to go to every environment, the differet temperatures of deifferent environments was a bit hard to handle because i need different clothes for the different temperatures.
i'm soo glad to be home though, for the next couple of days i'm going to be jet lagged. i'm gunna sleep for the next 3 days straight =] hahaha
well i'll keep you all updated :)
catch yas x
Sunday, November 9, 2008
NILE RIVER (river environment)
hey,
When i arrived, i had no idea what to do. The length of the river was unbelievable, i would look one end and the river just kept going and going, same happened when i looked the other way, it was never ending. The first thing i did was get my swimmers on and went straight for a swim, the water was prettttty cold but it was nothing i couldn't handle =P. I just layed around the place i was staying and went for some little adventurous walks but the one thing that wasnt so great was the fact there was no tour up apart of the river or around the river and there was no information centre but as i have with the other blogs ive posted, i will give you some information about the nile river, except this information is coming from what i already knew :)
- The Nile River is about 6,670 km in length and is the longest river in Africa and in the world.
- The Nile River runs through Egypt, creating a fertile green valley across the dessert.
- The ancient Egyptians lived and farmed along the Nile, using the soil to produce food for themselves and their animals
- The River Nile is formed from the White Nile, which originates at Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile, which originates at Lake Tana in Ethiopia
I know many other things about the Nile River but as i'm at the airport in a hurry to get on my plane for my flight home. I'm soooo excited to get home :) i can't wait.
i'll send out another post when i get home :) speak soon x
When i arrived, i had no idea what to do. The length of the river was unbelievable, i would look one end and the river just kept going and going, same happened when i looked the other way, it was never ending. The first thing i did was get my swimmers on and went straight for a swim, the water was prettttty cold but it was nothing i couldn't handle =P. I just layed around the place i was staying and went for some little adventurous walks but the one thing that wasnt so great was the fact there was no tour up apart of the river or around the river and there was no information centre but as i have with the other blogs ive posted, i will give you some information about the nile river, except this information is coming from what i already knew :)
- The Nile River is about 6,670 km in length and is the longest river in Africa and in the world.
- The Nile River runs through Egypt, creating a fertile green valley across the dessert.
- The ancient Egyptians lived and farmed along the Nile, using the soil to produce food for themselves and their animals
- The River Nile is formed from the White Nile, which originates at Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile, which originates at Lake Tana in Ethiopia
I know many other things about the Nile River but as i'm at the airport in a hurry to get on my plane for my flight home. I'm soooo excited to get home :) i can't wait.
i'll send out another post when i get home :) speak soon x
Saturday, November 8, 2008
AMAZON RAINFOREST (rainforest environment)
Heyyyy Everyone!
Well i've just finished with my trip at the Amazon Rainforest. As soon as i arrived, i was straight off to explore the forest with my tour group. Our leader was a great guy, he taught us all so much on rainforests, not just the AMAZON RAINFORESTS but rainforests in general. i learnt many different things that i will share later on in this post. After the tour i went back to my room and relaxed, i was tired and needed to lay back. I fell asleep :). When i woke up, it was time for dinnner, i was STARVING. mannn. i chucked together a quick meal and back to bed i was, the next morning was an early start, i didnt have any plans so i just relaxed around the resort thing and yer, i met some friends and had a great time. When it was time to leave, i really didn't want to, i had really enjoyed this part of my trip.
Anyway, this is what i learnt i the tour i went on:
- One and a half acres of rainforest are lost every second with tragic consequences for both developing and industrial countries.
- Rainforests are being destroyed because the value of rainforest land is perceived as only the value of its timber by short-sighted governments, multi-national logging companies, and land owners.
- Nearly half of the world's species of plants and animals will be destroyed or severely threatened over the next quarter century due to rainforest deforestation.
- There were an estimated ten million Indians living in the Amazonian Rainforest five centuries ago. Today there are less than 200,000.
- The Amazon Rainforest covers over a billion acres, encompassing areas in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and the Eastern Andean region of Ecuador and Peru. If Amazonia were a country, it would be the ninth largest in the world.
- The Amazon Rainforest has been described as the "Lungs of our Planet" because it provides the essential environmental world service of continuously recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen.
Visiting the Amazon Rainforest, taught me a huge lesson about the environment =] 
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
ICELAND (Tundra Environment)
Hey Everyone,
I just arrived in Iceland and I'm loads excited as I'm spending my time here with one of my closest friends, Sophie! I can't wait till i see her, it's been forever. We met up straight away at the airport, when we had got our luggage and stuff, we caught a taxi to our hotel we were staying at which was called "Hotel Reykjavik". It was a really nice hotel to stay at. When we arrived at the hotel we checked in, put our bags in our rooms and wen't straight to the resteraunt for lunch. i'm not sure bout Sophie but I was starving. Once i had filled by belly up, i went up into my suite and relaxed, i layed back and watched some television. I was extremly tired so i had a little snooze. When i woke up, i was hungry again so i went for dinner. After tea, i went to bed as i had an early start in the morning. I woke up early as i had a tour that started at 8.30 in the morning.
The tour was around North Central Iceland. I learnt alot on this tour as we had a speaker who continuesly told us about the place, and told us about everything we saw.
Here is some of what i learnt:
- Iceland was founded more than 1,000 years ago during the Viking age of exploration and settled by a mixed Norse and Celtic population.
- North central Iceland consists of three peninsulas protruding into the Arctic Ocean.
- The landscape is a patchwork of mountains, glaciers, lakes, rivers, marsh-land and lava deserts.
- North Central Iceland is home to some of Iceland's finest agricultural land it is also an important region for fishing and fish- processing.
i learnt much more, but as im struggling with time, i cannot fit it all in on this post. i may share some more information with you all later,
See ya later, x
Sunday, November 2, 2008
ANTARTICA (polar environment)
jeeeeez, its freeeezing!
i'm like freezing my little toes off. i flew over and as i got out of the plane i could feel the coldest. and it was like having shivers up my spine continuesly. When i arrived, i saw of my frtiends Lorelai and Rory Gilmore at the Log Cabbin thing that we were staying at. it was good catching up with them. I didn't think i would see anyone!
Once we had all arrived, we went and had a coffee and told each other about our trips and where we had been. We all went to a little boat thing and saw cute little penguins :) we also learnt about Antartica and its history. When we got back i left Rory and Lorelai and i went and had dinner at a little cafe near the cabbin i was staying at. I was exhausted. i could have past out while eating, i ate quickly and went back to the cabbin and i was straight asleeep. The next day i went on a little tour type thing around and saw some penguins, my leader was telling us about all the different types of penguins.
Here is what i learnt about the penguins and about Antartica while i was on the boat:
Antarctica facts:
- Antarctica is the best place in the world to find meteorites. Dark meteorites show up against the white expanse of ice and snow and don't get covered by vegetation. In some places, the way the ice flows concentrates meteorites there. The ice makes them gather in one place.
- A domestic deep freeze runs at about -20°C. The mean summer temperature on the great East Antarctica icecap is -30°C and mean winter temperature around -60°C. That's a lot colder than your freezer!
- The Antarctic ice cap has 29 million cubic kilometres of ice. This is 90% of all the ice on the planet and between 60 and 70 % of all of the world's fresh water.
Penguin facts:
- The name is derived from Welsh terms ‘pen’, meaning head and ‘gwyn’, meaning white.
- Penguins hunt for fish, squid or shrimp like krill in the oceans to fill their stomach.
- Most penguins can swim about 15 miles per hour.
- Penguins can be endangered by oil spills, water pollution, and the over harvesting
I learnt many other things that i may share with you all ater on :)
i'm like freezing my little toes off. i flew over and as i got out of the plane i could feel the coldest. and it was like having shivers up my spine continuesly. When i arrived, i saw of my frtiends Lorelai and Rory Gilmore at the Log Cabbin thing that we were staying at. it was good catching up with them. I didn't think i would see anyone!
Once we had all arrived, we went and had a coffee and told each other about our trips and where we had been. We all went to a little boat thing and saw cute little penguins :) we also learnt about Antartica and its history. When we got back i left Rory and Lorelai and i went and had dinner at a little cafe near the cabbin i was staying at. I was exhausted. i could have past out while eating, i ate quickly and went back to the cabbin and i was straight asleeep. The next day i went on a little tour type thing around and saw some penguins, my leader was telling us about all the different types of penguins.
Here is what i learnt about the penguins and about Antartica while i was on the boat:
Antarctica facts:
- Antarctica is the best place in the world to find meteorites. Dark meteorites show up against the white expanse of ice and snow and don't get covered by vegetation. In some places, the way the ice flows concentrates meteorites there. The ice makes them gather in one place.
- A domestic deep freeze runs at about -20°C. The mean summer temperature on the great East Antarctica icecap is -30°C and mean winter temperature around -60°C. That's a lot colder than your freezer!
- The Antarctic ice cap has 29 million cubic kilometres of ice. This is 90% of all the ice on the planet and between 60 and 70 % of all of the world's fresh water.
Penguin facts:
- The name is derived from Welsh terms ‘pen’, meaning head and ‘gwyn’, meaning white.
- Penguins hunt for fish, squid or shrimp like krill in the oceans to fill their stomach.
- Most penguins can swim about 15 miles per hour.
- Penguins can be endangered by oil spills, water pollution, and the over harvesting
I learnt many other things that i may share with you all ater on :)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
TUSSOCK GRASSLANDS (grassland environment)
Heyy everyone!
When i arrived at the Tussock Grasslands, i met some people from around the area and they showed me around! It was great fun! At first when i got to know everyone, the group and myself went for a little picnic, we had some sandwhiches and biscuits, except these sandwhiches weren't full of insects like the ones at the Hunter Wetland Centre :) After lunch, we went for a little walk around the grassland with our instructor, as we walked around our leader, Philip was sharing some information about the Tussock Grasslands.
Here is some of what i found out:
- The Grassland is usually dominated by particular genera such as; Astrebla, Austrodanthonia, Austrostipa, Dicanthium, Eragrostis, Poa, Themeda, Sorghum, Heteropogon, Ophiuros, Oryza, Eragrostis and Spinifex
- The Tussock Grasslands support a large range of species, partly as a result of the geographical range and partly as a result of the variation in soils and site conditions.
- The seasonal variations and distinct relationships with the underlying landform and soils have fasicinated the ecologists working in this particular grassland area.
When i arrived at the Tussock Grasslands, i met some people from around the area and they showed me around! It was great fun! At first when i got to know everyone, the group and myself went for a little picnic, we had some sandwhiches and biscuits, except these sandwhiches weren't full of insects like the ones at the Hunter Wetland Centre :) After lunch, we went for a little walk around the grassland with our instructor, as we walked around our leader, Philip was sharing some information about the Tussock Grasslands.
Here is some of what i found out:
- The Grassland is usually dominated by particular genera such as; Astrebla, Austrodanthonia, Austrostipa, Dicanthium, Eragrostis, Poa, Themeda, Sorghum, Heteropogon, Ophiuros, Oryza, Eragrostis and Spinifex
- The Tussock Grasslands support a large range of species, partly as a result of the geographical range and partly as a result of the variation in soils and site conditions.
- The seasonal variations and distinct relationships with the underlying landform and soils have fasicinated the ecologists working in this particular grassland area.
HUNTER WETLANDS (wetland environment)
Gee wizz, talk about insects. As soon as i arrived at the wetlands, it was early in the morning around 8, it was insects galore. Everywhere i looked there were little insects buzzing around me. It was disguisting, i'm like totally against animal cruelty but i like killed 1000 insects :) haha
Anywho, when i first arrived, besides getting attacked by insects i went fishing :)
gee that was fun, i think i caught a cold along with a couple of little fish that i threw back immediatly. I felt guilty the whole time, knowing i had put a little living fish through pain having a hook through its mouth, i gave up, i couldn't do it although i had to as it was part of the program i signed up for.
gee that was fun, i think i caught a cold along with a couple of little fish that i threw back immediatly. I felt guilty the whole time, knowing i had put a little living fish through pain having a hook through its mouth, i gave up, i couldn't do it although i had to as it was part of the program i signed up for.
Anyway, after my fantastic fishing experience, i went and had lunch. I got a little sandwhich which probably had a couple of insects squished into it. YUMM?
My sandwhich was quite tttt...tasty? YUCK!
Anyway, i learnt a fair few things about Wetlands and here they are:
- There is an estimate of 213 different species of birds around the wetland.
- There are more then 150 native and exotic floral species recorded within Hunter Wetlands.
-There are four main types of wetlands Floodplain Wetlands, Dunal Wetlands, Upland Wetlands and Estuarine Wetlands
Foodplain Wetlands;
These are wetlands that occur on the flat floodplain of a river or stream. Although their origin and form are determined by the flooding of the river, regular water maintenance is usually from local catchment runoff.
Dunal Wetlands;
These are wetlands that occur on coastal dunes where the main water influence is groundwater.
Upland Wetlands;
Although Australia has few true mountainous regions, there are a number of distinct wetland types that are restricted to upland environments. The main water influence is local catchment runoff.
Estuarine Wetlands;
These occur in the intertidal zone of embayments whch are sufficiently protected from oceanic waves to allow the accumulation of stream-borne sediments.
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