End of semester-fun

Finally the semester is over! Even though I find it amazing how quick the time rolled by, a whole semester gone, wow. Glad and sad.

It was a good semester, but amazingly hard work, a lot more work than a semester back at Helsinki Uni, even though I was doing mostly undergrad units. Well, I learned a lot, quess that's the point of studying..besides having the time of your life, right? The thing that surprised me the most was the fact that I actually learned to use stats (every biologists nightmare) and ended up tutoring other students using SPSS (the System Perfectly Suitable for Suicide). The courses also included A LOT of writing and I ended up writing about twenty papers all in all, so improved heaps in my scientific writing skills. These two things i didn't expect to be learning, but hey, not complaining.

So yesterday was the first day of the summer holiday that we spent in a traditional Aussie way..on the beach! Went to Manly to do some snorkeling at Shelly Beach and then Surfing at Manly Beach, my god that was fun. My first surfing ever, as you might quess from the evidence below :)

Surfing Unni-style


The surf-guru Vessa(as they call Vesa here)was so proud of his new student..
WOOOHOOOO



Well, next week I'm working at the library earning some dollars for the holidays. Then we'll be heading to Growdy Head beaches via Hunter Valley vineyards for a long weekend. Then it's three weeks in New Zealand, can't wait!

Warm summer breezy hugs to one and all!

p.s. for those that I haven't told yet..I have changed the date of my return flight, now arriving in Finland 2.3.2012. Mark this to your calenders, as we are going to have one big hugging party!

Work hard, enjoy harder

Time goes so fast..

The last couple of weeks have been so busy I can't remember if I remembered to eat or sleep, spent an average of 10 hours at the library/day. I've been studying pretty hard, handing out multiple papers every week and also working at the library labeling/shelving/soting out books. It's very hard to believe it's mid October already.

But it has not all been just hard work and no play..

Went to Port Stephens for a weekend to chill

The sand dunes in port stephens were quite something else, did we come to Kalahari? There were even some camels strolling on the beach..



I spent one of the best weeks ever at Jervis Bay helping out MMR (Marine Mammal Researc)studying Humpback whales..how maginificient creatures they are! I consider myself extremely lucky being able to take part in this sort of research and call it work.. How many times do you break up into a frenzy of clapping or hoist your hands up in the air screaming of joy during an average day in the office? :D I had a blast! Most probably going back for a long weekend in November hoping to get out in the water to join the whales with Kayaks since we didn't have time this trip. Might also be going back in January to do some work with dolphins.

Going to field in the morning
A whale at 11 o'clock! :)

We were photographing fluking Humpbacks for identification: the fluke of a Humpback is like a fingerprint, no two are the same
Identification was also done by comparing individual markings on the back and the shape of the dorsal fin; here a baby spy-hopping next to mommy


There is hardly anything cuter than a breaching baby Humpback!
Baby humpbacks "little" rostrum popping out from the water just a meter from our boat

Saw lots of common dolphins and Bottlenose dolphins daily as well.

Some pods had up to 400 dolphins on them, quite a site Bow riding in front of our boat

Fur seal colony

Hilarious fighting roos on the front garden of our cottage

Photos: Kimmo Savolainen

Field work and household work

EVOULTIONARY GENETICS AND ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR FIELD TRIP TO THE PEARL BEACH

The Field Station




The satisfaction of hearing the little tapping sound a bee makes when it suddenly gets sucked into the tube and drops in to the pooter!
Catch of the day
Poor little bees just met their destiny: the liquid nitrogen..and a hungry scientist
Hives of some domesticated honey bees
Relaxing (and confusing) the little beasts with smoke so that we could sneak up and steal some of their precious honey
Result!!
Nothing beats a pancake with ice cream and freshly harvested honey..
Little drone

ON A MARINE BIOLOGY DAYTRIP TO THE SIMS(Sydney Institute of Marine Science)IN MOSMAN

Some secchi measurements
That's an order

THE DOMESTICATED LIFE AT LANE COVE
Boys baking chocolate brownies..
Making some traditional carelian pies

City 2 Surf

Today I run a 1/3 marathon (14km) with 85 000 others. Well done me! :)Run started from the city and finished at Bondi beach. Although I wasn't in as good as a shape that I was with Helsinki 1/2 marathon in may, I did well and bloody well enjoyed it! :) Here is another list (yes, again) of the stuff that I will most probably remember from this day..

1. I had to stop twice during the run, but hey, these were awesome reasons to stop:

Stop 1. I decided (didn't have time to decline the invitation) to participate on a mass fall on a slippery hill..some ass was rushing past me and some others and knocked us over, so there we were, a good 6 of us on the ground! This resulted in bloody knees and palms etc. but didn't stop any of us continuing, thank god! After coming home I had to clen up my wounds, but the only anticeptic we found was this alcohol-gel that you use to desinfect your hands (käsidesi), which hurt like gazillion stinging bees so ended up having a glass of scotch to calm me down (it was past noon already, no worries!)

Stop 2. There was lots of entertainment on the side of the road all through the race. Occacionally they made me smile, like these 3 really gorgeous transvestites who had their little stage and were singing Tina Turner like no tomorrow, and some of the musiciens were amazing, like some big bands jamming it out, but this one scene made me actually stop..there were these loudspeakers playing dubstep and 20 dudes (partisipating on the run) dressed up as Star Wars Warriors (the white robot type thingies) had gathered around and were jumping to the beat; it was so awesome I had to join them for a minute or two! :) I actually laughed out loud and it was soooo much fun I think I started running twice as fast after that little session. Didn't have my camera with me, but found a picture of them from the event's page today..

2. Running gives me such a huge boost, who would have thought. Me loves to run.

3. Running up the hardest part of the race, a steep rice (cleverly named Heartbreak hill) with Prodigy's "Breath with me" on my headphones worked like magic..I felt like I was flying up that hill

4. If you have a nasty cut on your right palm, on the back of your left hand and on your knee, taking a shower without getting water to these sore wounds, but actually getting showered properly is a bloody challenge.