Hello children! Today a small group of us went out to the reef again to snorkel. We liked it so much last time that we needed to go again. Dru and Mike already told you that we say a bunch of jellyfish. Most of them were Moon jellyfish can be found in very large numbers in one place. I saw four at a time surrounding me! I was scared at first to get stung! Then we talked to the lifeguard and he picked it up! He told us that the sting is so mild that most people can’t feel it at all. Many people can handle this jellyfish without feeling a sting. So we all touched it! Guess what it felt like?? Jelly! We will actually be posting a video of us holding it! Exciting! Talk to you soon!! Lacy

This is a few of us before we entered the Rainorest. George our tour guide who is an Aboriginie person explained to us how he had to clap his hands while walking through the forest to let his ancestors know that he was coming and as a sign of respect and to let them know he was one of them.

Here is Mike, Brenda, Phyllisa, Jordyn, and Drew at the front of the Ocean Spirit. Checking out the endless view of the ocean, everytime you see it it takes your breath away.

Cheers Bri, Jordyn, and Phyllisa

We were thinking about you while playing in the sand. Hope all is well back at home!

Here is a video of the crocodile that we saw. Our tour guide told us that it is a female because more females are born because of the temperature of the environment. Look at it move! guess how fast they can react? twice as fast as a rattle snake! cheers Lacy

This was the racing the river that we had to use the bridge to cross. When people are not being safe and fall into the river the divers check one of the larger rocks that has a cave underneath it.

Jordyn and Phyllisa

Green Island

Today a few of the group members went out on to boat called the Ocean Spirt. We got to go snorkling on the Great Barrier Reef one more time before we left Carins. We got to walk on a beach on Green island the funny thing was that the beach we were walking on had no sand, it was actually broken up pieces of the reef that were washed up together to form an island. The pieces were flat and stuck to your skin unlike sand. It was really interesting to find this out after we were on our way back from the island.

Cheers Bri Phyllisa and Jordyn

This is a beautiful beach picture from our ravel to the reef today! There were so many jellyfish in the water today and we were actually able to hold some of them without being stung! We have a bunch of really neat videos that we are waiting to add because we need an adaptor to add them. But as soon as we are able to get one we will add them as soon as possible!

Cheers

Jordyn and Phyllisa

Australia Weather

Dear Cassie,

To let you know about the weather here it has been great the past three days. It's been sunny and the temperature has been in the 90's every day! Prior to that it was cloudy and there was a lot of rain, but anything is better than snow. It's hard to find time to pick up a book because we are always out and about whether it involves learning about Australian culture or hanging out with friends and doing independent studies. Hope this letter warms you up!

Cheers!

Mike and Drew

Hey kids!

These bumps in the road are speed bumps in the Rainforest! They were so much fun to ride over! They were different frm speed bumps back home as they shook the entire bus as we road over them!

Jordyn Phyllisa and Bri

Second day on the Great Barrier Reef!!!

Today we went out again on the Great Barrier Reef! Now that the rain stopped, we thought it would be a great opportunity to see the coral and sea life in the bright sun. How wrong we were. The weather might have been beautiful, but the water was the complete opposite. We had a hard time seeing a lot of the wildlife due to a lot of rain the last couple of days. The rainfall caused a large amount of sediment runoff into the ocean causing the clear water to become murky. We didn't let this stop us from having a great time though! We were able to see tons of different types of jellyfish! We also got to spend some time on Green Island which had an amazing beach and also lots of lizards and birds as well! Despite the murky water, we still had a blast!

A Final Look at Cairns

Hello 5th Graders!

Wow, we can't believe that this is our last day in Cairns, Australia! Tomorrow morning we will be leaving at 3 AM to catch our flight to Sydney; hopefully the 2 and a 1/2 hour flight (1,504 miles) will go fast! Considering that this is our last day here, we thought that it would be appropriate to teach you guys about the actual city of Cairns. Cairns is a city located in Far North Queensland (a state in Australia) and is on the Cape York Peninsula. As of 2006, the population of the city was just over 122,731 and has developed into quite the tourist-like city. This tourism factor is a major revenue maker for Cairns! (Many of us see the city as the "Wisconsin Dells" of Australia!). It is known to have a tropical climate and have a monsoon season--it actually started when we were here! If only you guys could have seen it pour those first few days we were here! It was like as if we weren't going to get any sunshine! Luckily that changed a few days ago.

Anyway, the pictures that were taken were today, January 15th. There are a number of photos depicting the beauty that we were able to bask in the past week! The one picture of all of the computers is of an Internet cafe! The class has been utilizing these cafes in order to post information on the blog! We hope that you enjoy it!

Val, Melissa, Ashley, Brittney & Derek

Well, we'll talk to you soon!

Snow is getting deep here! - from Cassie

This is me in my classroom by the window where the snow is growing taller than the window! Yikes!

I cant believe that the trip was 2 hours long. The most I have been on a trip was about 2-3 hours because I moved from Janesville to Whitelaw. I took a long time. We had no games to play unless we took a book or something before we left. I wish I was there so I could see how beautiful it is. It is really cold here right now it is -20 degrees. Tomorrow it is -40 degrees! We might not have school even though I want school.

January 14, 2009 12:53 PM

Cassie!

Yes we love traveling! The trip here was quit long-2 full days. The weather here is beautiful and warm, however; the first few days there was quit some rain. There have been areas where flooding has occured and shops and restaurants have been closed because of it. There are certain areas where we are not allowed to swim because there are jelly fish and crocs in the water. It is jelly fish season right now so we have to be extra careful. Lucky for us right next to the ocean there is a large pool! We did get to swim in the ocean off the Great Barrier Reef and layed on the beach which was a bird sanctuary and BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!

Jordyn and Phyllisa

Brandon J.

Yes we saw many snakes while on our crocs adventure! Jordyn spotted a brown python in the trees hanging out by the water and the tour guide pointed out two smaller snakes on the branches extremely close to our boat! We will most likely see more snakes when we arrive to Sydeny in a zoo, but the snakes try to stay away from humans. If you are walking and they feel your vibration they normally scurry away! We have seen many large spiders though...some larger than your hand strectched out in the rainforest... creepy!


Phyllisa and Jordyn

Dear Samantha,

This trip has been amazing so far! We have done so many incredible things including seeing the Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef along with experiencing the Australian culture. There are so many different foods here from all over the world which we all have been trying to experience and try as well. The animals are different here, as we are sitting here typing to you there are lizzards running all over the windows in the internet cafe. We have also seen wild crocs and pythons which were incredible to see first hand and outside of a zoo in their natural habitat. We leave for Sydney Friday morning at 3 am and look forward to the excursions awaiting us including walking the largest bridge in the world!

Cheers!
Jordyn and Phyllisa

Great Barrier Reef

Hey 5th Graders!!

We sure hope you are all having fun back in Wisconsin! Our trip to the Great Barrier Reef was amazing. Here are a few of the great pictures we took while on our cruise! Check out how cool we all look suited up in our wetsuits! We also had a great time hanging out with the Ocean Spirit crew! If you look close in the underwater reef pictures you can see a lot of zebra fish swimming around! We hope you enjoy them! Ask ?'s if you have any!

Ashley, Val, Melissa, & Brittany

Great Barrier Reef Video

G'day! On Sunday January 11th, we ventured out to the Great Barrier Reef and got to snorkel, scuba dive, and learn a lot about the biggest living organism in the world. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the 7 wonders of the world and we got to experience it up close and personal!! This video was taken on an underwater glass boat and if you look closely you can see a lot of fish swimming around! We also saw a sea turtle while we were down there, unfortunately he was too quick for me to catch on the video camera! Hopefully this will at least give you a little bit of insight as to the amazing experience that we had on our trip out to the reef, and maybe one day it will be around for you to explore yourselves!!

Ashley, Mel, Brittany, & Val

Cape Tribulation Excursion

Hey Kids! Here are some pretty sweet pictures from our excursion into the rainforest! The first one is with our awesome tour guide George! He told us some great stories about creation and Dreamtime! These pictures are all very beautiful and hopefully you can see the beauty that we got to experience first hand!!

Ashley, Brittany, Val, and Mel

Croc Snap Video Link!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWY2Nu5NehQ

Hey Kids!! If you click on this link it will take you to a cool video of a crocodile snapping at the camera while we were visiting the Daintree Wildlife Sanctuary on our Cape Tribulation Excursion into the rainforest on Saturday January 10th!! Hope you enjoy it!

From your Aussie Friends!

Kangaroo Feeding Video!

G'day Mates! Hope you all enjoy this video of Melissa and I petting and feeding kangaroos at the Australia Zoo! We came 3 weeks earlier than the rest of the group and this is just one of the fun activities that we got to enjoy that we think you'd really like to see! The kangaroos were very friendly, as long as you didn't try to take their food away!! We actually saw a younger girl get punched in the face by one of the roos!! Hope you enjoy this video as much as we enjoyed playing with the kangaroos!!

Ash & Mel

Here is another picture taken while in the submarine underwater at the Great Barrier Reef. This is the coral that is dying mostly because of global warming and human interference.

Here is a picture of Jelly fish. I took this picture while underwater in a submarine at the Great Barrier Reef. You can see three big jellyfish and all the little bubble-looking things around them are also jellyfish, just small ones.

Here is a Golden Bushtail Possum. Such a cute little furry creature, don't you think? They are nocturnal animals which is the reason they're sleeping in this picture. We went to the zoo during the day when they where sleeping, therefore being nocturnal means they are awake at night.

Here is a picture of me posing next to a Wallaby at the zoo. As I kneeled down to take the picture it kept looking at me like it wanted to eat me so I kept my distance. Just joking! It looks like a Kangaroo because it is related but they are not the same. Like Kangaroos, Wallabies are marsipials which means the embryos develop outside the body inside their pouch.

Crocodile

At the zoo we also saw little crocodiles. Here the zoo keeper was throwing out food and the little crocs were fighting eachother for it. There was alot of food to go around but that didn't stop them from fighting!

Crocodile

This is a picture of one of the crocodiles we saw at the Zoo. The zoo keeper was waving a towel and hitting a bucket against the fence to get the croc to come out of the water. Once out of the water, the towel was still being waved around so the croc kept its mouth open thinking it was food. Extremely amazing to watch the croc's jaws especially to see them shut with such force.

This is me actaully in the Royal Flying Doctor airplane. According to the tour guide, it took several years after designing the first plane to be able to build a plane big enough to fit a gurnie into it.

Brittany, Andi, and Victoria

This is our group posing in front of one of the planes that has been flown in contribution to the Royal Flying Doctors.
Brittany, Andi, and Victoria

Courtney playing the Didgeridoo

This is our faculty leader Courtney playing the didgeridoo froma local tourist shop in Cairns. According to the shop keeper he did not do too bad.

Brittany, Andi, and Victoria