Travel Tips

1. Pack light! Especially if your back packing. Back packs are better because you don't have to worry about stairs or rough roads. But remember you have to carry it everywhere. To help you keep the load light, buy a smaller sized back pack to begin with.
2. Check out the weather where your going. Don't just assume it will be nice weather, and always have a warm jacket just in case.
3. When booking accommodation, remember that location is important. You can save yourselves a lot of money on taxis and also hassle by ensuring you are close to attractions.
4. When booking accommodation, always check the reviews. I don't know how many times I have almost booked a place only to see the reviews saying "Bed bugs! Dodgy area!"
5. To help prevent bed bugs, never leave your luggage on the bed. Once they get in there your gona take them everywhere with you!
6. Its always great to be different and try different foods, but I like to think that the locals know best. If your at a market where one stall is particularly busy, it could be because its got really good local food! When in Rome.
7. Don't be a tourist, be a traveler. When you go to an attraction, like the Eiffel tower for example, take the time to soak it in. Have a picnic or enjoy a drink while taking in the scenery of the amazing sights you visit.
8. Cold climate equals dry skin. Take some moisturizer!
9. Avoid Bali belly! Ways to be careful not to get traveler's diarrhea include only eating freshly cooked food that is still hot. Avoid salads or anything that may have been washed in water. Don't have ice in your drinks. Don't eat from street stalls where the food has been sitting for a long time.
10. Eurail passes: The first time you use your eurail pass, you MUST get it authorized. All this means is that you go to the desk and get them to stamp that you have began using it. We saw two girls get caught and they both copped a 500 Euro fine!
11. Know the currency your dealing with and convert it before buying things. Its so easy to be care free leading to a waste of money and getting ripped off.
12. Send postcards! You can't always take gifts home for everyone you love, but its easy to send home a bunch of postcards. People love receiving them as they are personal and more meaningful then a quick face book message. Buy a heap, sit down at a cafe and write them out, and then send them on their way!
13. take a blow up pillow, ear plugs and sleeping mask, its worth it.
14. Sleep when you can!
15. Get up early and go explore. You'll beat the crowds. 
16. 
    

Koo Koo Ka Choo! Making their way back to the big ol' blue!

Sea Turtle Hatchlings!

Today while doing the nest survey we found this nest starting to hatch! About 8 had already made it to the ocean, and there was another one struggling down. We watched him head towards the ocean for about 1 hour but he was not getting very far.  We noticed that the nest had a trail of ants leading to it. This was worrying. Dori called Fisheries and Wild Life they told her to try to disturb the ants trail and if the turtles begin to emerge to let them.

 That's when we found that the whole nest was infested with ants and we found some dead ones near the surface. So as we pulled away the sand and ants we found the clutch where the live turtles were. We started to pull them out as they were covered in ants.  We counted 54 live turtles (Also about 48 dead ones  . But at least we saved what we could. 

it was so funny watching all the little hatchlings scatter to the ocean, they were everywhere! 

 They were about the size of a chook egg and you had to be careful where you stood as they camouflaged in the sand. We stayed for a few hours making sure they got to the ocean safely. When they reached the water they would be washed back and forth a few times until they caught the current and swim off. And lots of people were there to help keep the birds and crabs away and cheer them on!

As tempting as it was, we did not carry them to the ocean. The crawl to the ocean is very important for them, its kind of like physical therapy. They have been curled up in a shell for so long and need to stretch out and get those flippers moving before they hit the ocean.

Now that they are out there they have a 5 mile swim out to the sea beds where they will hang out for a few years while they grow.

Only about 1 in 1000 makes it to adult hood and the odds are stacked against them. With threats like natural predators, pollution and plastic in the ocean, injury from boats and fishing nets, loss of habitat and competition for food, and development of sea shores it is amazing that any can survive. That is why each and every one of them is so precious to give this species every chance it has at remaining on this earth.

Oyster Reef Restoration

I spent a day volunteering with the Brevard Zoo and University of Central Florida on their Oyster Reef Restoration Project. We met at Mosquito Lagoon which is at the north end of Cape Canaveral National Park. We went by boat out into the lagoon where we waded onto the reef.

The reef was originally a natural oyster bed. It has been damaged largelet by the wakes from boats which use the area for recreation. The wakes knock the oysters off the reef and gradually break it down.

Baby oysters prefer to attach to other oyster shells. This is why when you look at an oyster shell there is often other oysters attached to it. The idea of the artificial reef is to lay down mats of oyster shells to encourage new oysters to attach on them and grow a new reef.

During the year there are volunteer days where people make the mats. I went to one of these sessions. You take a plastic grid and use zip ties to tie the oysters all over the mat. At the lagoon we raked the lagoon bed to make it flat. We then laid out the mats into a grid. We used concrete donut shaped weights to connect them all at the corners. 

It is important to restore the oyster reefs for the following reasons:

1.  They are a key stone species. That means if they became extinct the rest of that ecosystem would also cease to exist. 
2.  Each oyster filters about 2 gallons of water per hour
3.  Reefs are home to about 150 species of marine life
4.  They are a source of food for other animals
5. They help prevent corrosion of the shores.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica

G Adventure Tour

Alicia Cranwell, Alesha McCagh and I went to Costa Rica for a G adventure tour. Starting in San Jose, which was a ugly boring city, we met up with our tour group on the first night. First thing was introduction and meeting people. Then we went off to the supermarket so we could all have some local yogurt to help keep our tummy's happy. Our first Costa Rican food experience was a good one with some traditional food at a local Soda. A soda is the word for a cheap, traditional restaurant. I had a Casada, which is a mixture of things on your plate, like a piece of meat, some rice and beans, cabbage salad, plantains and salsa. 

The next day we left early and headed into the mountains. This is a picture of me and Jason (Our guide) in a traditional ox cart. Back in the day these carts were their cars, used for everything from transporting produce, people, even as an ambulance. 

 Poas Volcano National Park

Our first stop was at Poas Volcano. It had a huge crater and had sulfate gas flowing from it. It was the first volcano I had ever seen. Apparently the gas can make people sick and there was an ambulance waiting at the bottom of the hill just in case. Lucky for us the wind was blowing it away from us. A few days after we left it actually got a lot more active and was spewing out much more gas. This kind of happens a lot so the only reason its really a problem for people is that it can cause acid rain. 

This was a crater lake from an old volcano. 

 

This was a park that had shapes made out of hedges. There was a dinosaur, elephant, even a helicopter. The church at the end of it was really beautiful too. The only creepy thing was that there was a viewing coffin in the back of it. 

A Costa Rican family put on a traditional lunch for us. The lady of the house was a close family friend of Jason's. As the people there are so poor he came up with the idea of bringing his tours to their house for a free lunch. Of course we all gave a donation of about $10, which would help the family a lot. While we were there we were allowed to look around their house as we please, looking in their cupboards, bedrooms and fridge. We had a Casada and then made traditional coffee and made tortillas. 

La Fortuna

Monteverde

Quepos/ Antonio Manuel National Park

West Coast Adventure- Topdeck

I went on a seven day Top Deck tour called California calling. We started the tour in San Francisco and ended in Los Angeles. It was a tour for 18-35 year olds and we had a group of 14 people. On my trip we had people from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Scotland. Our guide was an American guy who drove us around on our private bus.

San Francisco

The trip started in San Francisco. I arrived two days early so I would have a chance to see more of this city. 

Hotel: I stayed at Hotel North Beach in China Town. It was just a hostel with about 100 rooms in an old apartment building. My room was tiny with just a single bed, cupboard and fridge and there was a shared toilet and shower in the hall way. The receptionist was friendly and helpful. While very basic it was adequate for the cheap price I paid. 

Tip! Always check the reviews of your hotels before booking. The tour recommended a different hotel called Hotel Metropolis. The reviews of this place were that it was a nice hotel but terrible location. It is right in the middle of the city where there are a lot of homeless people. There is a street around the corner from it which the locals call "Zombie land", because there really are thousands of homeless people down there. Not a safe option for a solo traveler.

Homelessness is a huge problem here. Some causes may be due to the emergence of new drugs and the hippy vibe in the 80's. There is a huge gay and lesbian culture here and also a large number of Vietnam vets have settled here and have not been cared for. There is approximate 100,000 homeless people in San Francisco. 

I did a tour to Alcatraz and Angel Island. The tours to just Alcatraz book out early, so to get there I had to do a full day tour and go to Angel Island as well. It was a cold rainy day and I didn't bring warm enough clothes. I guess I thought being close to summer and going to sunny California that it would be warm. But I forgot how far north San Fran is and didn't know about its cranky weather. I bought myself a poncho and boarded my ferry.

Whilst waiting in line to board the ferry i got talking to a couple and their son from San Diego. After having a laugh because they thought I was a lesbian since I said I was visiting my "partner" we all ended up hanging out for the day.

The trip over to Angel Island took about 30 mins. Once there we boarded a tram and did a tour of the island, learning about its history. It used to be used as a military base. We then had time for a beer and some potato soup to warm ourselves up. Then got back onto the boat to go to Alcatraz.

Alcatraz was not spooky like I thought it would be. With thousands of people making their way through the biulding it was hard to picture the conditions that the prisoners faced. When you get there you begin by collecting your audio head set which guides you through the cells. You learn about some of the escape attempts and how the prisoners took the guards hostage. They say that no man ever escaped Alcatraz alive.

Tip! Book early. Take warm clothes!

After the tour I said good bye to my friends and headed down to the Fisherman's wharf. I stopped by the aquarium for a bit. They had a really good shark tunnel and some cute furry animals called a chinchilla. But there wasn't really anything stand out about it.

Once I got right into the fisherman's wharf I looked around and did some shopping. There were all kinds of souvenir shops, pearl and jewelry, shells, wine and food stores. I stopped at the Crab House at peir 39 for half of a garlic crab. I then treated myself by continuing on to another sea food restaurant for some natural oysters. Satisfied, I left the shopping district and continued up the street. There were street entertainers, steel drummers, buskers and artists.

I decided to get a cable car home, as this is something you must do while in San Fran! I bought my ticket and lined up. I was on the outside of the cart, holding on for dear life! We went up a giant hill, making a few stops along the way. I hopped off in China town and walked back down to my hotel. I just got a cup of tea and chilled for the rest of the night.

The following day I met up with my tour group. After meeting everyone and getting papers and stuff in order we headed off to our first attraction; the Golden Gate Bridge. It really was quite beautiful. We walked across it, talking about an hour. It is interesting that this is the first major construction in histroy where Occupational Health and Safety was enforced and successful. A safety net was used to catch biulders if they fell, and hard hats had to be worn. Only 11 men died building this bridge where it is normal for one man to die for every one million dollars spent. There are help telephones along the bridge as it is one of the most popular suicide sites in the world. The red paint was originally just the base coat, but people thought it looked so good that they decided to keep it red.

Yosemite National Park

Death Valley

Las Vegas

Route 66

Grand Canyon

Lake Havasu

Los Angeles