Sunday, we did the last 2 of our 4 dives to complete for certification. This time I got to see an octopus. Our Instructor could see the legs/arms (?), stuck his fingers down by it and a leg wrapped around him. Josh, the instructor tried pulling him out but he only came out a little until quickly going back in! I got to see a good part of him though! It was awesome! We dove about 18 meters, which Jake found out was about 45 feet! We completed our skills, taking our mask off underwater and putting it back on, practicing an emergency recovery, and other little things. SunDive brought us back to Lennox because the buses had stopped running by the time we were done. When we returned we ate dinner and went to bed! Today was also our professor/director's birthday.
Monday we had our lecture portion of the Australian life & culture course, focusing on the Aborigines in Australia. We learned how when the Europeans arrived in Australia they took over and pushed away the Aborignies. Build and cleared over sacred places and began slaughtering and killing Aborigines, sometimes for no reason at all. After lecture & lunch we took off on our 2nd field trip. We first went to a site right in Lennox that was a sacred place for aboriginal ceremonies. It is no longer used, but in respect is prefered that no on walks on it. Because this site was behind a neighborhood, I noticed a mailman. He was riding a little motorized scooter through yards dropping off mail. We must get a LOT more mail then Australians because he somehow had it all in his jacket or scooter.
After the site we went to the Naval and Maritime Museum. It had part of ships, and aboriginal boat, along with records of each war- documenting how many Australians were in listed , injured and killed. It was really neat to see everything in there. Then we went to a Tea Tree Oil Plantation called the Thursday Plantation. It was business that started in a trailer making tea tree oil and has grown into a big business making a variety of products and shipping to over 32 countries. This is really cool because we have a tea tree lake where we stay that feels amazing and makes our skin feel super soft. So these products were all really good!
After the plantation we went to the Byron Bay Lighthouse. It was really pretty since it so high up on the rocks! Looking down we could see sting rays and sharks swimming around, some even saw sea turtles and dolphins. We took some amazing pictures that I will post!
After the lighthouse we went back to Lennox and we have a group that makes dinner for everyone. So we made breaky- french toast, canadian bacon, apple sauce, and muffins (thanks to Mrs Avila). I made the french toast on the flat top grill outside & didn't even burn them!!
Tuesday, wasn't a very busy day. I had marketing class from 9-12 then worked a little around the cabin, went to the beach, then had a group meeting reviewing the up and coming weekend trips then out to dinner with Jake for a late Valentine's day dinner. We had dinner at Quattro, again the food was amazing! Then got ice cream & did a little grocery shopping before heading back to camp!
Today/Wednesday, is a catch up day. Most everyone but a few of us are in Marine Biology. They have lecture & fiels trips, so I get a few hours to catch up on things here and have some time to myself!
