Too cool for school

By Ethan Kelso, Yr 11, St Augustine’s College

St Augustine’s College Year 11 students recently swapped the confines of the classroom for the pristine rainforest and stunning beaches of Orpheus Island as the biology scholars undertook their annual field trip. A 300mm dumping of rain didn’t deter the budding biologists from conducting research into issues such as coral bleaching and symbiosis.

ON October 18 the Year 11 biology class went to Orpheus Island, off the coast south of Lucinda, for the annual biology field trip.

The journey took a couple of hours by bus to Lucinda and then a choppy 45-minute boat trip out to the island.

The purpose of the excursion was to conduct research on specific topics including coral bleaching, symbiosis, zonation and other biological and ecological issues common to the habitat and present at the research station.

The camp was located in a beautiful environment with pristine rainforests and stunning beaches.

We had plenty of time to do lots of reef-based activities such as snorkelling and, although we had more than 300mm of rain over the two days, we didn’t let the weather affect our activities or stop us from achieving our goals.

We had lots of different encounters with the habitat and wildlife, including getting stuck in the mangroves at high tide in stingray breeding season and pythons in the forest.

Thankfully, the only injuries sustained were coral cuts to the feet.

We enjoyed the opportunity to explore the environment and put our classroom learning into field practice.

“It was a true learning experience which enriched our classroom learning and gave a lot more clarity to the science”, said student Cameron Agius.

“We also enjoyed the accommodation, the food, the card games, the movies and the opportunities to spend time with our mates.”

Our thanks go to the teachers who organised the trip for us, Max Churchward and Cassie Jashar.