Yolanda Arkesteijn
Study: MSc.International Land and Water Management.
Destination: Australia.
Thesis.
Hello Everybody!
My name is Yolanda Arkesteijn. On 15 September I will leave for 3 months to Australia for my thesis research. At this page you can follow my adventures. You can also follow me (@yolanda_down_under) and other WURldexplorers on Instagram: search for #WURldexplorers!
My dream comes true!
Hello Everybody! My name is Yolanda Arkesteijn, I’m a second year master student of International Land and Water Management. On 15 September I will leave for 3 months to Australia. As so many other people I have since I was a child a dream to go to Down Under and now my dream comes finally true.
Arrived Down Under
Finally, after 25 long hours I arrived in Australia. Whoever has watched Border Security Australia, knows how strict the protection is. If you ever travel to Australia I can advise you to bring something that needs to be declared, like cookies, because the waiting time is much shorter and the security is less strict than when you say you have nothing to declare.
Life as a researcher at the USC
This week my life as a researcher at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) started. In the coming three months I have to gather all the data I need for my research about stakeholder participation in the Currimundi catchment. The study area is located approximately 8 km from the University. It is unique because of its naturally opening and closing entrance. The area has a lake which is connected to the ocean on the one side and connected to canals on the other side. Due to weather events, erosion and tides the area is constantly changing. The inlet of the lake is sometimes closed by depletion of sand.
The outdoor life!
The parks in Australia have a lot of facilities, in each park there are showers, toilets, drinking spots for human and dogs, barbeque places and playgrounds which you can use freely. In the weekends almost all Aussies move towards the beach, at 8 o’clock on Saturday morning the beaches are full with people. They are not only surfing, body boarding or peddle boarding but are also backing bacon and eggs for breakfast. Whole families move towards the beach to spend a day on the beach. They bring their own tents, toys, barbeques and furniture to enjoy their outdoor day.
Australian ZOO
Australian ZOO is located relatively close to the university, only 30 minutes by bus. The Zoo is founded by the parents of Steve Irwin in 1970 and is now owned by his wife. The zoo is mainly know through the documentary The Crocodile Hunter, due to this series the zoo became a very popular touristic attraction. The original name of the park was Beerwah Reptile and Fauna park, after some name changes it is now called Australian zoo. The zoo has a very diverse flora and fauna located on an 40 hectares of land. In the zoo there is an Animal Planet Crocoseum stadium in which 5000 people can see live shows with birds, crocodiles and snakes.
Eumundi market
Last weekend I went to the Eumundi market, which is located around 20 km inland of Noosa. The Eumundi market has a long history and is currently still an attractive place to visit for locals and tourists. The markets are organised each Wednesday and Saturday morning. The market is very big: there are over 600 stalls whit all sorts of handmade, special or practical products. The stalls sell handmade products like wooden plates; there are stalls that sell practical products like outdoor furniture or cleaning products. There are many stalls that sell food, they even had the Dutch ‘poffertjes’. I found it quite surprising that many stalls offered massages, hand readings or predictions of you future. Additionally there were also some stalls that made aboriginal music combined with some more modern beats. This Saturday there was also a fundraising event for people with a disability, they were making music and performing judo tricks.
The glass mountains
Last weekend I made a trip towards the Glass House mountains national park, located approximately 45 minutes from the Sunshine coast. The park is a heritage-listed national park within Queensland. The park consists out of a flat plain in which rhyolite and trachytes volcanic plugs are located. Those cores of the extinct volcanoes were formed around 27 million years ago. The parks contains 12 mountains, of which Mount Beerwah is the highest with 556 m, although it is not allowed to climb this mountain.
Whale watching
Today I went on a cruise to watch whales, which are migrating along the coast of the Sunshine Coast. The trip started at 8 o’clock in the morning, after a few safety rules and instructions we started sailing towards the open ocean. The trip was supposed to take place on Sunday, however due to bad weather the trip was rescheduled. However, I can assure you the weather was still not very friendly the day we took the cruise.
The great barrier reef
During my holiday to the Whitsundays, I went on a trip to see the great barrier reef. In this area, different trips and activities are organised to see all the beautiful spots. The boat left at 8 o’clock in the morning, after a stop on an island to pick up some other people we started sailing towards the Great Barrier Reef. The trip took around 3 hours to reach our destination: a platform located at the reef from which you could explore the area. The boat was moored besides the platform and we had four hours to do all the activities.
The Withsundays
During my holiday during Whitsundays I made another trip and visited Whithaven beach and Hamilton Island. The boat left the harbour at 7 in the morning. After a quick stop at other islands we continued our journey to arrive at Whithaven beach around 9 in the morning. The boat was sailing towards the beach and lowered a bridge so we all could walk on the beach.
Monteville and Kondalilla National Park
Last week we went to Monteville, a small village located in the Mountains of the Sunshine coast. This village is very European and has nice shops with really special souvenirs. After having lunch we went to this bakery which had all kinds of chocolates and cookies. Furthermore there were shops selling opals which are mined in Australia. They are quite expensive but have really nice colours. The most special shop was the clock store, in which hundreds of ‘koekoe’ clocks were sold. All the clocks had different forms, paintings and sounds. There was a lot of noise when the time was two o’clock. There was even a water wheel which looked like it was from the Netherlands or Germany.
Currimundi Catchment
The study area of my research is the Currimundi Catchment. It is located approximately 15 km south of the University. The area is concentrated around a lake which has an open entrance to the sea, so you could call it an estuary. This week I went kayaking through this area to make some photo’s for my study area. During this trip we went to canals which are not accessible via the road only via the water.