Saturday, 1 December 2012

Scott and Karen trip to Rottnest Island, Dec 1

Rottnest Island lies 19 km offshore from Fremantle. It got its name from the Dutch for "rat's nest", so named because early Europeans thought it was infested with rats. The rats were in fact a local marsupial called the quokka which can be found all over the island.  We boarded a ferry in downtown Perth, cruised down the Swan River and out to the island
Bell Tower in downtown Perth
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Downtown Perth seen from the back of ferry



  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We took a tour on a bus while on the island. The bus did not have an emergency exit per se, but rather a little hammer with which to break a window, perhaps allowing one to crawl over shards of broken glass?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 There is some incredible scenery on the island. All kinds of little bays and coves abound




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Wadjemup Lighthouse lies very near the centre of the island. It gets its name from the Aboriginal name for Rottnest Island, Wadjemup, which means "place of the ancestors".
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 There are several small salt lakes on the island. This is one of many. Wadjemup lighthouse is visible in the background.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
There are also numerous shipwrecks surrounding the island. Over the centuries of European colonization of Australia, many ships were wrecked on the reefs of the island.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Quokka. From which the island gets its name. Sort of. Early settlers though this marsupial, belonging to the Family Macropodidae (which also includes kangaroos and wallabies), was a rat.  Quokka is the Aboriginal word for this animal. They are for the most part, nocturnal, but many can still be found up and about during daylight hours.  Since they have no natural enemies, and also since they see people all the time, they don't run away when you get close and try to take photos.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
There is also an incredible variety of birds on the island.  The bus tour guide operator said that over 180 species of bird call the island home, with numerous other transients and migratory birds making appearances.  
Osprey on nest

Osprey in flight

Rainbow bee-eater

Australian crow

Black-winged stilt

Red-necked avocet
 

Rebecca's Saturday, Dec. 1

I had never witnessed a kayak regatta and had the opportunity to, not only go to one, but experience it from the tower! 

Background - When my son was involved in go-kart racing I had worked in the tower for the national go-kart races held in Calgary and was interested to see the organization of the kayak racing. I also do recreational canoeing and kayaking so of course, I was not going to pass this up even if it meant missing going to Rottnest Island.

 The start tower at Champion Lakes and the behind scenes running of a regatta.

The end of a race. They have backups of determining the finishing order; people who watched and spotted, a timer beeper system and a video camera.
 A group of racers receiving their
pre-race instructions.
A view from the tower.
 
 
 
The races run were 200m, 500m and 1000m.  I walked around the complete 2000m course and viewed it from the end. A fantastic facility.  At the far end was a start tower and staging area, but as on this day they were not having that distance it wasn't used.










Anyway, I learnt and saw many more details of the regatta, but I am running out of "umph" and you are maybe are not as interested in such things.

The afternoon was spent doing a road trip loop south and east and back, learning about all sorts of trees and flowers.  The colors of "green" are incredible and there are so countless different types of eucalyptus or "gum" trees.  It seems that even when you crush the leaves from trees that you think are the same, you get a different smell.



Do you know what this is?
It is rather interesting, don't you think!










Perth RTG Conference Day 3

Teresa Slaven-Blair - Evolution and Types of Black Holes

What is a black hole?  How would we make a black hole? There are three types of black holes; two have been found and one is still hypothetical - X-binary, AGN and Kugelblitz
Demonstration of energy transfer
 
Scott helped illustrate the energy transfer involved in Supernova formation.

Tips and Tricks

At least 20 tips and tricks were shared and there were many "ah, good idea" moments followed by hurried scribbling of them down so as to be able to share them back home.

Biological Laboratory Techniques - Joy Unno, Glenda Brown

The session started with a information on resources, safety and biohazards, micro-organisms, keeping animals and plants, preservation of biological materials, dissections, microscopes and enzymes.

It was interesting to learn that there is a separate human biology course in addition to a biology one.  Most dissections are done on fresh tissue rather than preserved and so no formalin solution or formalin treated tissue to dispose of.  There is no human blowing up of pluck, rather basketball pumps are used.  If animals are to be kept, a license is required and must be displayed in a public place and by cages. Permits are required for translocation of fish and for collecting of wild plants.  Only commercially obtained tissue (ie. inspected) may be used for dissection.

We had 6 demos and were able to try our hand at 7 activities.


Field studies equipment
Making a square meter outline


Making nutrient agar
Use oven bags for sterilizing petri dish cultures for disposal
Pressure cooked culture plates
Photosynthesis experiment



Observing yeast budding
End of conference dinner with RTG technicians, conference organizers and attendees