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.

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.

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.

MOUNT KOSCIUSKO (mountain environment)

Mt. Kosciusko was awesome, best experience ever.

When i arrived at Mt Kosciusko National Park, i was blown away at how beautiful the view was.
I dropped my bags into my little villa and off i went!
I met my skiing instructor and he taught me lots of things about skiing. It was loads fun!
By the time i was an alright skiier i thought it was time to relax, i went back to my room and had a little nap :) When i woke up, i was STARVING so i prepared some dinner for me, i quickly threw together some spag bowl and ate it very quick :)
I was still extremly exhausted so i went back to sleeep, i woke up the next morning at 8.00.

That day it was time to start my trek to try and reach the summit of Mt Kosciusko, i got about half way and wanted to turn back although my group and my leader were encouraging me to keep going. so what did i do, i kept going. what a stupid choice! all i wanted to do was die, my whole body was killing me but i kept thinking of the positive side of things and kept going. after a long time i eventually reached the summit of the mountain, WHAT A BEAUITUFL SIGHT, i was amazed :)

We all our cameras out and took as many photos as possible until it was time to leave :)
It was easy on our way down as most of it was down hill so i wasn't complaining as much :P Time went by but we finally reached the bottom of the mountain and i was so proud of my group and i that we made it. It was the best experience ever. I was exhausted though.
The whole way up and down the mountain our instructor, Nathen was telling us useful information about Mount Kosciusko =]

The useful information i learnt:
- Mount Kosciusko is the biggest mountain in Australia
- Mount Kosciusko is 2,228 metres or 7,310 feet high.
- A Polish man called Tadeusz Andrdzej discovered Mount Kosciuko.
- Located in southern New South Wales, close to the Victorian border in the Australian Alps.
- Mount Kosciusko was formed by two plates which were pushed together in the ground
- It may not be one of the highest mountains in the world but its one of the oldest.



Catchyas later :)

BONDI BEACH (coastal environment)

Hey guys,

You have probably all read about my first and second stop on my world trip visiting different environments. Well this post is about my third stop, Bondi Beach!

I arived at the airport from QLD bright and early, as soon as i went through customs and got my luggage, i was off. I caught a taxi straight to my hotel that i'm staying at. Once i had unpacked i got my thing ready and i was off to Bondi Beach.

As soon as i got to the beach, i was shocked! IT WAS PACKED!!!

Sarcasticly, i thought that there would be no room for me :)

There were many tourists and as for the lifeguards, i was speechless :)

I had recently heard of the show Bondi Rescue and heard about all the great things there were there, but i had also heard about the not so great things :S
BLUE BOTTLES!

There were kids running up to the lifequards holding their body, they were crying. It was terrible.
So many tourists had been stung but they had NO idea of what the blue things were rapped around their body.

It was horrible, so many tears, so much pain!

Some people got stung on their belly, legs and arms whilst others got stung in not so combfurtable places :)

Useful Information:

- 1km long, this south facing beach can attract more than 40,000 visitors on a typical summer weekend.

- The surf can range from very large surfable waves to calm quiet one day to the next

- There are rockpools located at either end of the beach.

- You can find some some great restaurants located across from the beach.

- There is a great coastal walk (6km) starting at the south end of the beach that takes in spectacular ocean views.

GREAT SANDY DESERT! (desert environment)

The Great Sandy Desert was the second stop on my trip.
I had a fabulous time although the temperature was nothing like home.
The heat was unbareable. I was very dehydrated as i walked extremely
far with only little water. I met some amazing people that made
my trip to the desert outstanding.
As we wandered over the sand dunes, we learnt many different things from
the head of our group, who happened to work local to the Great Sandy Desert so
she knew heaps about it :)

Here is some facts that i learnt:
- The second largest Australian desert, after the Great Victoria Desert is the Great Sandy Desert.
- The Great Sandy Desert is located in the north of Western Australia, below the Kimberley Desert on the northern coast
- The famous Kata Tjuta Uluru National Park (Ayers Rock) is actually located in the far south east corner of the Great Sandy Desert.
- The desert the Great Sandy Desert receives a surprising amount of rain, the average yearly rainfall is about 250 mm for most areas

I learnt much more but i'm on a tight schedule so i kinda gotta go
talk soon =]

GREAT BARRIER REEF! (coral reef environment)

I LOVE THIS PLACE!
I arrived at the boating dock to get on my cruise, it was packed.

Once i finally found a seat i just sat back and relaxed and looked at the

spectacular views of the Great Barrier Reef!

The cruise boat stopped and informed all passengers that we were at the
stop where you went snorkalling, this was my stop. I was very excited as i
got of the boat. As i walked over to the instructor, he spoke to us a bit,

telling us about everything that we might find and he also gave us a bit
of a lesson about the Great Barrier Reef.

When i got my snorkalling gear on i was set, i dived into the water and i

was amazed about everything i saw- turtles, fish, coral and much more.

After snorkalling, i got back on my cruise boat and as we were going around
the beautiful coral reef, there was a man on board telling us information about

everything we went past.

Here is so useful information about the reef that i learnt whilst on my Cruise Boat!

- The Great Barrier Reef was established in 1975.

- Largest protected marine area in the world!

- It is approximately 348,700 square kilometres in area and approximately 2,300 kilometres long.

- Washed by the warm waters of the South-West Pacific Ocean

- The waters of the Great Barrier Reef provide the world's busiest and most varied marine habitats.

- The reef contains over 2,900 reefs which includes 760 fringing reefs, and 300 coral cays.

- Home to approximately;

- 1,500 species of fish
- 400 species of corals
- 4,000 species of molluscs
- 500 species of seaweed
- 215 species of birds
- 16 species of sea snake
- 6 species of sea turtle

I learnt much more about The Great Barrier Reef which i will add on to this post later :)

Talk soon, xx

THE AIRPORT

Well, I'm glad that is over !

The airport was hectic; people running all of the place, kids screaming and to make matters worse; I GOT LOST!

When i arrived at the airport, i had no idea where to go, i was asking people for help but they didn't speak our language. I was getting very fustrated and a little worried that i was gunna miss my flight :S
I was walking around in circles and then finally i found where i was spose to be!

Once i put my luggage through to get checked i went to have breakfast .
I met some really nice people that were also going to the Great Barrier Reef while ill be there so atleast now i have someone to sit with during the flight.
Once i arrived at the airport in QLD, i went through all the customs and stuff then got my bag and i was off. I caught a taxi to my hotel that i was staying at then left to arrive at the dock for my cruise boat.
I was running late so ill shortly post some information about my trip to the Great Barrier Reef.

Talk soon =]

I'M LEAVING TOMORROW =]

Tomorrow is the big day, getting up at 3.00am to drive down to Sydney Airport to fly to The Great Barrier Reef.

My flight is at 8.00am but as i am leaving at 3.00am by the time i get there (which takes a couple of hours) it will be around 5.00am and i am suppose to be at the airport 2 hours before the plane departs.
I'm SOOOO excited as it is my first time going to the Great Barrier Reef but on the other hand I'm not so excited as I have a huge fear of aeroplanes :(

But all will be good, I hope :)
Catchyas later .

CAN'T WAIT!

Heyy! Most of you have probably read my about me!
But if you haven't, My name is Georgia and I'm a geographer.
I'm lucky enough to get the experience to travel around the world to learn about different environments.

I have decided to keep this blog to share my trip and my thoughts about different environments with you all. I will be visiting many different environments; coastal regions, coral reefs, deserts, grasslands, mountains, wetlands and many more!

I will first visit one of the most well known coral reefs;
The Great Barrier Reef. I'm so excited, I can't wait. =]