Americans are puzzling

I am currently taking a river basin processes class that has a three day field trip to the upper hunter valley. I just got back from that field trip a few hours ago and would like to tell you about my experiences the past few days. If you have been reading my blog you would know that this is the second multi-day field trip I’ve been on since I’ve been to Australia, so I had somewhat of an idea what to expect. 

Day 1

The bus was leaving from Uni at 8:00 am, and I decided to leave the house at 7:13. I get to the train station, and like usual, I missed the train by 15 seconds. Luckily, there is another train coming at 7:34 and I hop on that one and barely make it to the bus station on time, sweaty and the last one to board the bus. One kid actually did get left, so drove himself 3 hours to find us. It was a quick 3 hour bus drive, as I pretty much slept the entire way. Our first stop is a privately owned plot of 700 hectares, which is used primarily for soil and ground water studies. The country looked a lot like the hills of California and was characterized by dry, sparsely vegetated land. When they were explaining what we were going to be doing that day, a herd of kangaroos hopped by just down the valley. It was exciting. 

 Our first assignment was, in groups, to determine soil moisture in various places in an area of about 5 acres. Our group consisted of Anne, Dan, Cam, Nat, and myself. We had to use a soil moisture probe and a GPS to plot on a map the location of moisture content of the soil. Our second assignment was a little more exciting. We were to determine soil color, consistency, and content at 4 different locations on a hill slope. Large, deep holes had been dug before we got there, about 5 feet deep so we could sample different parts of the soil layers. It was actually very interesting, and I found myself very much enjoying the field work. We wrapped it up around 4, and headed for the busses to make the drive back to our accommodation, the Murrurundi House. 

After arriving at the house, we were assigned rooms. Unlike everyone else on the trip, I did not bring a sleeping bag as had been instructed, so I was a bit nervous about how that was going to work out. I ended up grabbing a spot in a room with 3 other girls, and the owners of the place were very accommodating and gave me sheets and a comforter to use during my stay. Later in the evening, Anne had found a 2 person room upstairs that was unoccupied. So she kidnapped me while everyone was gone and we moved all of my stuff to the upstairs room. 

After getting situated, we realized there was not very much to do around the area, and I was getting a little bored sitting around while waiting for dinner to be made. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a puzzle. Yes, a 500 piece puzzle of the Rhine River in Germany. Coming from a family of intense puzzlers, I got right to work, and convinced the one other American, Dan, to start it with me. At first people were giving us weird looks, but I knew the underground puzzlers were secretly wishing they could be working in the puzzle with us. Little by little, they gave in. Soon enough we had about 6 people working diligently on the puzzle. While puzzle observers (people that like the watch people do puzzles) lingered in the area, fascinated by how fast it was coming together. If you are a puzzler, you would know that nothing else in the world matters unless the puzzle is finished. That's why we stayed up until past midnight, until we could puzzle no longer. It was finished the following morning before breakfast. 

Day 2

After waking up bright and early to finish the puzzle, we loaded the bus for our next day's activities. We were split into two groups - the river group, and the cave group. We decided to be in the river group first so we could save the best for last. Upon arrival at the river, we realized it was dry which was very sad. Even though it was dry, we still had to do our measurements pretending that water was flowing. This was very easy for me as I had a job doing very similar tasks last summer. 

(If you are interested in reading about my trip, here is the link to the blog I was writing while I was there http://summerofecolove.blogspot.com) 

So for this assignment, we were given levels to use to determine a cross section of the stream bed. We each took turns being the recorder, stick holder, and level reader. We then had to write a one page report on determining flow characteristics which we started while we were there. Leveling is a very important part of surveying, so I am glad we got to practice using it because I know I will most likely being using one in the future. 

After lunch our group of about 20 got on the bus and headed over to the caves. The first cave we went  to was a 2 minute walk up the side of a hill/mountain.  The entrance was a low dark hole in the side of the cliff, and I had no idea what to expect upon entering the cave. 

For some reason, I did not expect the cave to be as dark as it was. My flashlight (which I borrowed from the owner of the Murrurundi house) was dull, but got the job done. One kid was using his mp3 player as a flashlight so I was grateful to have mine. Our teacher (Russell) guided us around the cave, showing us various formations in the limestone. There were lots of speleothems (cave formations after they are drained of water) including stalactites, stalagmites, and lots of other things I can't remember the names of. 

The last thing we did before leaving cave #1, was the "squeeze". I did not realized how much I would actually have to squeeze to get through this tiny hole in the cave wall. To get to the "squeeze" we had to crawl for about 20 feet through a wide but vertically challenged area. When I first saw the squeeze I thought "they must be kidding" as it was about is a big as my arms can make a circle. I was one of the first through. I had to put my right hand forward and my left hand back as I slid on my belly through a nerve-rackingly small hole. Upon emerging on the other side I was blown away by the huge formations; there were gigantic columns of rock that reached from floor to ceiling and everything was very slippery and wet. By the time we had finished exploring the cave on the other side of the "squeeze", I was covered in mud and happiness.






The second cave was quite different. This cave was located on the top of the mountain, which took a good 20 minute hike to the top.

After taking a short break to catch my breath, I peered over the ledge to take a gander at the entrance of cave #2. A bit more intimidating than cave # 1 I must say, but I plunged down the hole with excitement.

This cave was like one big chamber, instead of separate rooms like cave #1. The first thing I notice was bats, everywhere. Flying between people, past my face, and screeching as they did so.

Our assignment in this cave was to do a drawing and interpretation of a cave formation which turned out to be a cave that formed inside of an old cave. It was really cool!

The coolest thing I  saw when we were in there was this giant speleothem that looked like the rock was dripping down the cave wall.

After we had finished up in the caves, we headed back to the dry riverbed to pick up the other group and head back to our accommodations. By the time we got back, most of the teachers had headed to the bar, or were enjoying themselves out back with the many bottles of wine they brought. We, on the other hand, had a lot of homework ahead of us, so we stopped by the bottle-o first to get our supplies before beginning. By the time we had finished it was around midnight, so we decided to celebrate by taking a little walk in the graveyard next to our house. This photo was actually taken in complete darkness, but by using a 30-second shutter speed, I was able to capture way more light. We ended up staying up till 3 am doing I don't know what, but I knew I had a long bus ride tomorrow to catch up on my sleep.

Day 3


I don't have many pictures from day three because it pretty much rained the entire time. I actually dont have any pictures but you can imagine. It was a pretty dull day and we ended up just writing reports under a bridge like the whole time. We arrived back in Newcastle, and thankfully Cam gave me a ride home because I was sore from the hike the day before and I was carrying all my stuff.

All in all, it was my favorite field trip so far. Arrived at my house around 6:30, and was asleep by 8:00. We still have one more field trip (its only a day trip) for my River basins class, which I am also looking forward to.

Next weekend = Sydney

Cheers!

Dead thing we found in the cave. 

Any guesses to what it might have been?