Adrienne Wilson, 2011 South Queensland student blogger, writes:

May 25

We left for Binna Burra today! The drive lasted around two hours. We had our first lecture, an introduction to the rainforest, in which we got to see some animal skeletons and learned to identify several plant species. We were also familiarized with the stinging tree – and were warned to stay away from it. Dinner was provided – pasta with meat sauce and salad, and Finn found a leech on his foot after dinner. Later we had a choice of watching the rugby game, or learning some bush dancing! At left, we’re trying to learn some of the dances.

May 26

It was really chilly this morning! We got poached eggs breakfast, though. Today was a long day – I hiked 10 kilometers! And it was pretty awesome. Except for the part where I hit my head on a branch. But I stuck my head in a waterfall afterwards and it felt better. Here’s our group on the hike and a few pictures from the hike.

After the hike, we went night spotting for animals and huddled around the campfire and laughed while Scott read to us from Cosmo.

May 27

This morning we had an early bird walk at 6:30 a.m. where we also checked for animals caught in some traps that people placed yesterday. Unfortunately, out of the three traps, only one caught anything, and the critter got away.

Today’s main assignment was surveying different forest plots and identifying forest types. The class got split into different groups and were cycled through several roped off areas.

Later, we looked for platypus at the Coomera River, then went on a trip to do a flying fox count where we were split into groups of two and lined up against a path to count how many bats flew past. My partner and I averaged 235, but some people got up to 1,700 flying foxes!

After dinner we had some free time, which I spent watching a movie about the rainforest with some of the other guests at Binna Burra. Some people decided to camp out next to the campfire for the night.

May 28

We left Binna Burra today (after a quiz)… and arrived at Gold Coast! 

I ate lunch at a street café called Mouthfuls with a few of the students and one of the professors. It was pretty chill. I ate a toasted sandwich with chicken, salmon, and avocado (which tasted awesome).

Afterward, we headed towards the beach – the water is really nice, but there are strong currents so you’re only allowed to swim between two designated flags. We just spent some time there and played around for a bit.

Later I took a walk around Gold Coast and just explored the area. I found a really awesome Japanese/Chinese restaurant place that had great mango pudding, went into a tourist/dollar store, saw an Asian grocery market, and even passed by a place offering pole dancing classes. Then I took a bus to get back in time to celebrate one of my classmates Caroline’s birthday at a Thai restaurant.