So this is what work is all about?
OK, so we did have a couple of really early starts (like aiming to leave Wits at 6am on a Sunday morning!) but awesome field trip. We had the luxury vehicle - "MacDonalds" on wheels - you name the food, we probably had it! A couple of rainy days in beginning did nothing to dampen the students enthusiam but some strong winds on the beach did. Terri and myself ran a marine project with the Supa doopa data point collector people Team. Despite taking them out to see the rock pools at 11pm on a cold night they were still smiling the next day. Then we got Team Molasses - maybe coz we had them on day 3, they were pretty good, and were almost more keen to just explore, finding "dead" nudibranchs. Day 4 and I went out early with "the critters project" . Two awesome "yellow" awards (say yellow out loud and really slowly - it sounds like gullible.... those of you that tested that, you can now hit yoursleves on the head and give yourself a yellow award!) were decided that day - Sam thought hair dye was blood and that we'd hurt the "poor ickle mouse" aka Aethomys chrysophillus/red veld rat and Chris and Mark pulled "it's a pregnant duiker because of the angle of the hindlimb spoor" on Rob. Day 4 also brought us brought us Team Cheese and Wine - they were interested in food and let us know when they thought it may be food time. The last few samples were done in record time as they were hugely concerned that they may be late for lunch - kinda understandable when you consider it was Wendy's cooking they could be missing out on. That afternoon, Jo, Terri and I had an excuse to be kids again as Terri bought Amy a spade and we just had to go to the beach to build a sandcastle - giving Amy the "most awesome-ist sandcastle builder in the world" award. After a couple of Mohita's and a G 'n T or three (what field trip would be a field trip without the faithful G 'n T?), it seemed a good idea to go and watch the olympics and drink some wine. Chris makes a brilliant commentator - maybe not awesomely knowledgable but awesomely amusing! On Friday morning (it felt lots earlier that the day before!) I went out with the critters project again - we caught the Aethomys again, but also some Mus minutoides (pygmy mice - they are 8g at maturity!) including a sick looking 4g baby - which recovered sufficiently to try to bite Mark the next day! This was also the last day on the beach and probably the strongest winds and we got Nicoteam - they managed to smoke while sampling (???) in the wind with lots of sea spray! You gotta ask yourself... Saturday came and went (far too quickly for the students as they prepared for their presentations - we responded to a few stressed "PLEASE HELP" messages) with a few minor incidents - Nick "yahtzee'd" Chris and organised a pseudo-arrest. We had a relatively relaxed day (apart from the "PLEASE HELP!" cries) - helped with picking up critter project equipment, watched the rugby....
It was a great week, with awesome rock pools! We pretty much got to say - that's your rock pool - sample it while we explored other pools with the amazing diversity and colours! And tanned!
Thanks all!
OK, so we did have a couple of really early starts (like aiming to leave Wits at 6am on a Sunday morning!) but awesome field trip. We had the luxury vehicle - "MacDonalds" on wheels - you name the food, we probably had it! A couple of rainy days in beginning did nothing to dampen the students enthusiam but some strong winds on the beach did. Terri and myself ran a marine project with the Supa doopa data point collector people Team. Despite taking them out to see the rock pools at 11pm on a cold night they were still smiling the next day. Then we got Team Molasses - maybe coz we had them on day 3, they were pretty good, and were almost more keen to just explore, finding "dead" nudibranchs. Day 4 and I went out early with "the critters project" . Two awesome "yellow" awards (say yellow out loud and really slowly - it sounds like gullible.... those of you that tested that, you can now hit yoursleves on the head and give yourself a yellow award!) were decided that day - Sam thought hair dye was blood and that we'd hurt the "poor ickle mouse" aka Aethomys chrysophillus/red veld rat and Chris and Mark pulled "it's a pregnant duiker because of the angle of the hindlimb spoor" on Rob. Day 4 also brought us brought us Team Cheese and Wine - they were interested in food and let us know when they thought it may be food time. The last few samples were done in record time as they were hugely concerned that they may be late for lunch - kinda understandable when you consider it was Wendy's cooking they could be missing out on. That afternoon, Jo, Terri and I had an excuse to be kids again as Terri bought Amy a spade and we just had to go to the beach to build a sandcastle - giving Amy the "most awesome-ist sandcastle builder in the world" award. After a couple of Mohita's and a G 'n T or three (what field trip would be a field trip without the faithful G 'n T?), it seemed a good idea to go and watch the olympics and drink some wine. Chris makes a brilliant commentator - maybe not awesomely knowledgable but awesomely amusing! On Friday morning (it felt lots earlier that the day before!) I went out with the critters project again - we caught the Aethomys again, but also some Mus minutoides (pygmy mice - they are 8g at maturity!) including a sick looking 4g baby - which recovered sufficiently to try to bite Mark the next day! This was also the last day on the beach and probably the strongest winds and we got Nicoteam - they managed to smoke while sampling (???) in the wind with lots of sea spray! You gotta ask yourself... Saturday came and went (far too quickly for the students as they prepared for their presentations - we responded to a few stressed "PLEASE HELP" messages) with a few minor incidents - Nick "yahtzee'd" Chris and organised a pseudo-arrest. We had a relatively relaxed day (apart from the "PLEASE HELP!" cries) - helped with picking up critter project equipment, watched the rugby....
It was a great week, with awesome rock pools! We pretty much got to say - that's your rock pool - sample it while we explored other pools with the amazing diversity and colours! And tanned!
Thanks all!
P.S. click on the link below for pics!
