Ashton Abroad: Day 47

I spent the weekend at Cape Tribulation with my tropical marine ecology class! It was a three-hour bus ride along the coast and through the Daintree rainforest. The Daintree is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which means it is a place of "special cultural or physical significance." We visited the mangroves and the rocky shoreline at Cape Trib, basically taking a close look at the flora and fauna that grow in those places.

After the 3-hour bus ride we visited the Daintree mangroves first. There was mud, some crabs, some mangroves, and the smell of sulfur. Everything was brown (trees, mud and water) or green (leaves). I was personally not a huge fan of the Australian mangroves, but I must admit that I'm a bit spoiled after kayaking through the beautiful mangroves of Bonaire. Unlike the Australian mangroves, the mangroves in Bonaire were full of colour. The birds, tree crabs, upside-down jellyfish, sponges, and algae were all so pretty and brightly coloured. Also, the Bonairean mangroves didn't smell like sulfur, making them the clear winner here.

A pretty St. Andrews Cross spider!

Itty-bitty froggy!

Look at this little guy. He's adorable.

This was one of those experiences that reaffirmed my belief that my blood is toxic. I never wear bug spray, and I never get bit by mozzies (that's Australian for 'mosquito') or any other kind of bug. I can count on one hand the number of bug bites I've gotten in the last few years. Now, that alone wouldn't make me think I have toxic blood, but when I was in the seventh grade one of the class pets bit me and the next day they were both dead. I know that correlation doesn't imply causation, but still, it's a little weird.

This is a degu. Kinda cute-ish, maybe? (Photo credit: Sam Wise)

After the mangroves we went to check out the rocky intertidal area and look at molluscs. My dive booties have zero traction, so climbing along slippery rocks covered in razor-sharp barnacles was a bit stressful. Everyone was a bit cranky from hunger, but the exercise was quick enough. It was cloudy but I got two lovely panoramas there! (Panoramas are quickly becoming my favorite thing to make.)

Click me to make me bigger! This is the 'rocky intertidal area' that we 'surveyed.'

This crab seemed quite regal, sitting there like that.

This is a barnacle. Those two bits in the middle of the hole? That's the barnacle. They come out to feed when underwater.

A tiny eel, stuck in very shallow water at low tide.

Isn't he gorgeous?

Sea urchins! There were tons of them under the rocks.

The view as we left! Pity it wasn't a nicer day, but it was still lovely to see the fog on the mountains.

After the intertidal exercise we checked into our hostel, but since it was only about 2pm, we had a lot of time to kill. Our trip leader/chauffeur, a grad student named Paul (who does awesome work finding new species of gobies [that's a tiny fish] by snorkeling up freshwater streams) suggested we take the bus to a swimming hole. I didn't bring a bathing suit, so I ended up jumping in with my clothes on. The pictures don't do it justice. This place was incredible.

Perfect spot to jump off!

A perfectly lovely swimming hole.

After dark we went on a 'spotlighting' adventure. Spotlighting is exactly what it sounds like: you take a torch (that's Australian for 'flashlight') and you go look for stuff. We made some excellent finds, and let me tell you, this fancy camera of mine was totally worth the money to be able to take cool photos at night.

First, let's look at some Huntsman spiders!

Look how pretty he is! The body is about an inch long, and altogether he was larger than my palm.

Close-up time!

Look at those palps! Palps are not fangs, but rather a sensory organ, kind of like a tongue.
The males also use them to deposit sperm during mating.

Next up: the peppermint stick bug! They got their name from the scent of the fluid they spray to defend themselves. If you rub the back of it, you'll get sprayed with bug juice. The fluid smells exactly like a new pool toy that you've just taken out of the box, mixed with peppermint. Not very good, but not bad either. And definitely pepperminty.