Hello! I'm nearly done with the newest Webisode which features more than a few examples of life in and around the Great Barrier Reef. Quite popular and less abundant than other fish is the Clown Fish, made famous by our friend Nemo. I found this awesome photo on Unitedstreaming,com and wanted to share it with everyone. The new Webisode will feature a couple of orange Clown Fish as well as other fish and animal life. What was apparent to me as I was diving around the Great Barrier Reef was the variety of the environment: 400 diffeent species of coral, 1,500 species of fish, etc. One of the videos on unitedstreaming.com is called "The Rain Forest of the Ocean". I was in Costa Rica recently and while I was there I had the opportunity to visit Monteverde Rainforest. I could see the comparison. That might be an interesting idea to cover in class. Take care! Josh

Hello! I've just about settled in Perth, and right away I can say that it's quite a pleasant city. The weather is perfectly set at a warm 70-75 degrees during the day, and cooler, sweatshirt wearing temperatures at night. As I was walking around today I took notice of a McDonald's (I don't usually ever eat at McDonald's, they're just so hard not to notice). The golden arches are just about everywhere in the world and I remembered how the company releases variations of what we have in the U.S. under a different, more culturally sensitive name, or an entirely different meal altogether. For example, because cows are a religous symbol in India, I know the menu has far fewer beef items (if any) than other meats, such as lamb or chicken. Maybe someone can comment on that. I know in Japan they have more rice dishes simply because Japanese people eat rice with many of their meals. The "McOz" seems to be just an ordinary burger, but I should do some further research to see what else is in between those buns. Could that be.....Kangaroo meat???!!!!

Hello! I just landed in Perth, which is in western Australia. I didn't realize how long the flight was going to be and so I'm quite exhausted at the moment! The weather, thankfully, is a lot less humid than it was up in the tropical northeast. I read on weather.com that the humidity was around 96% the other day in Cairns while it was sitting arounf 82% here in Perth. Because it is the rainy season in Cairns, if it's not raining, than it's incredibly humid. Really humid. In fact, the moment you take one step out of your hotel you're pretty much feeling sticky off the bat! In order to break up my last day in Cairns, I decided to rent a car and drive out to the Cairns Tropical Zoo. It was nice to escape the "city" of Cairns and to check out the more spread-out suburbs. I learned a lot at the zoo that day, the first thing being that Koalas aren't bears, but marsupials, just like our Aussie icon the kangaroo! A difference being that their pouch opens from the bottom, not the top. I also held a crocodile and and one of the softest creatures I've ever touched, the flying Squirrel! I'm looking forward to exploring Perth on foot today, so stay tuned! Josh

Say "Didgeridoo" 3 times really fast! The Aboriginal wind instrument you see me with is not easy to play, so I hear! But I'm going today to meet with a shop owner who can play a Didgeridoo really well, and hopefully teach me to play one! The Didgeridoo is an instrument that is used in Aboriginal ceremonies but anybody can pick one up and have a try. They vary in design and price, but you can get a simple, less ornate one for a lot less than the one you see me with. I'll be bringing my videocamera with me, so stay tuned for that experience! What instruments do you play? Do you know any Native American instruments?

Yesterday was monumental! I set out early in the morning to scuba dive a section of The Great Barrier Reef! I've always wanted to scuba and I've wanted to visit the Great Barrier Reef for an even longer time! The idea of being able to breath, and thus stay and explore the ocean's floor longer than one breath blows my mind; Even though I know that it's not a very simple concept, I feel as though I've taken the human capability for granted until yesterday. Humans, after all, were never really designed to breath under water: I don't have webbed feet, no gills to breath through, not a huge appetite for food from the ocean, but now that I think about it, I do love sushi. But what about the other mammals that manage to live in the ocean, such as the Sea Lion, the Whale, the Dolphin? They come up for air, albeit not as often as I would need to, but they still do. In any event, I felt honored to have a peek into their environment, along with the many kinds of fish and reptiles that they live with, and what a better place to be than the Great Barrier Reef! I just wished for a warm welcome. Scuba diving is very much a potentially dangerous activity simply because humans aren't designed to breath without an aid of some sort while under water. Any break in the breathing system, whether it's a broken hose, an air leak, etc., is a nightmare for divers. But that is not the only reason diving could be dangerous. Water pressure from diving so deep can be just as dangerous, if not more so. I learned two rules to follow in order to maintain a proper bodily balance of air pressure as I dove: First, keep breathing! Of course this may seem obvious, but some people occasionally hold their breath once they get used to the breathing apparatus, or if the mouthpiece falls from their mouth. The air in your lungs shrinks in size from the pressure put on by the water around and on top of them. Because of this, divers must always keep a balance of pressure between their lungs and the air being breathed in. It might help to look into Boyle's Law. It will certainly explain this in more scientific detail than I can! And the second rule is to always equalize pressure in your ears by squeezing your nose and "popping" your ears out, just as you would in an airplane. I had some difficulty with this last rule at first and so I had some mild pain in my ears, but I adjusted and was fine after a little bit. Warnings aside, the diving was amazing! Swimming with so many different, colorful fish, coral, and single sea turtle was like being in a whole different world, literally. The visibility was quite good even though there was some warning that Cyclone Larry might have stirred up the sea bed a bit. The small boat took us to a small island full of seagulls, dropped us off on the whitest sand I've ever seen with our gear and instructors, and within 5 minutes I was breathing under water for the first time in my life. The first breath under water was the most awkward but every one thereafter was easy. Besides the myriad of under water life, it was a lot of fun just tumbling around in somersaults 40 feet under the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Reef Facts: The "Great Barrier Reef" actually contains over 2.900 small reefs and islands and is roughly 1,200 miles long. As a comparison, California is just 770 miles long! The Great Barrier Reef contains: 1,500 species of fish, 215 species of birds, 400 species of corals, 16 species of sea snake, and 6 species of sea turtles!