by Ella Newman
Last semester, I undertook a study abroad at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. This was one of the best decisions I have ever made. In this blog I thought I would share one of my most special experiences, my field trip to Heron Island and the Great Barrier Reef for my ‘Coral Reefs & a Changing Climate’ module.
25/08/2024
We started the trip off by getting up bright and early to hop on a plane from Sydney to Brisbane, from there we then caught another plan to Gladstone. Having one night in the ‘Croc’ county before getting the ferry the next morning to the island. Everyone was staying in the same hostel, so we had a very intense table tennis tournament alongside some burgers & beers.
26/08/2024
Everyone then boarded the ferry the next morning over to Heron Island. A journey made more exciting by the various whales, dolphins, sharks & turtles spotted on the way over.
Heron island is a white-sand paradise, split between a hotel on one side and the research centre on the other. We, of course, were on the research side which consisted of accommodation, testing labs, aquarium tanks and a few teaching classrooms. We swiftly unpacked, picked up our wetsuits, snorkels, fins and headed to the water for our first reef walk since it was low tide. We were greeted by an array of coral, fish, sea cucumbers, starfish and the adorable epaulette shark. Using an aqua-scope to view all the watery wonders.
After lunch we then went for our first snorkel. This was even better than the reef walk, we were surrounded by rays, reef sharks, a multitude of fish and so much more. We also explored a shipwreck just left of the channel, bumping into a number of surprised white tip reef sharks.
27/08/2024
The next day we were assigned groups for a research project, my group was studying ocean current flows around the island with the help of the wonderful Professor Moninya Rohan (who I then went onto work with again for another research project up in Darwin & the Tiwi Islands). We were investigating how the flow changed around the oval shaped island between high and low tide – an important factor to investigate as flow helps to determine the temperature of the islands water with fresh cold water inflowing & shallow waters heating up more easily.
That day I also went on a dive. It was incredible, the coral structures were huge and the fish were incredible. We even had a few white tip shark visitors. That evening we sat on the beach and stargazed, bless by a number of shooting stars.
28/08/2024
We got up bright and early the day after to spend the morning taking measurements, our ‘shift’ started at 6am and ended at 12pm before the second half of the group took over. We took measurements every half an hour, spending the time in between lying on the sand and soaking in the sun. I spent the afternoon snorkelling around the island, we surprisingly saw our first eel that afternoon alongside the usual array of turtles, sharks and fish.
29/08/2024
This day we got up bright and early for a sunrise snorkel before heading off to work on our presentations of our findings from the previous days work.
That evening we snorted around a bay called ‘shark bay’ which was littered with sharks and rays. Every which way you turned you were greeted by something, it was one of the best snorkels I have ever been on and a great way to end the trip.
Later on we presented our groups findings to the rest of the class before heading to the hotel bar for a celebratory sunset drink.
30/08/2024
This was our last day on the island, we started off with a sunrise swim before we took our final ‘exam’ for the course and then packed up to go.
This trip was like no other trip I have been on, I have never experienced such a hands-on way of teaching that never felt like a chore, rather just a group of like minded people all eager to learn and explore. I made some of the best friends through this trip as well, helping cement memories that will last a life time.