Goodbye for now!

Bye my faithful companions!

Well here I am at the end of my amazing trip and am glad to say that I am exhausted - which means I got the best out of it. I had a really good time and I found out sooooo many things about my global environment locations.

This has been a trip of a lifetime and I hope you enjoyed travelling it with me as I globetrotted across the world. Please reply if you have any questions!!

Goodbye for the moment!
Alice

Boiling Bondi

Hiya,

Well here I am at the last location of my journey. Bondi Beach. Picture hot weather, thrillingly cool waves and brilliantly blue Aussie sky. This is paradise. It took me 0.2% of a second to change into my bikinis and dive into the waves. In front, beside and behind are more tourists like me who have traveled from just about everywhere, intent enjoying the sea.

I also tried my hand, or should I say 'balance', at surfing. Let's just say that I think I have salt permanently embedded into the inside of my nose!!! Even though the waves weren't rough, I was still dumped off more times than I could count. There's my attempt of surfing on the left. As you can see, with a mix of dying my hair and the sun bleaching my hair, not to mention growing a bit, I am now a surfing blond and seemed to fit right in!

Alice

Breathtaking Barrier Reef

HI!!!!

Well here I am back in Australia after a tiring trip globetrotting all around the world. I decided to be one of the 2,000,000 tourists to take a relaxing trip to the Great Barrier Reef followed by a beach bash in Bondi. The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia's most famous aspects on account of its being the largest reef in Australia. This beautiful phenomenon is made up of 2,900km of individual reefs. It is so large that you can see it from outer space!!!

Unfortunately, with the world's current environmental predicaments, the reef is slowly being being bleached of its beautiful colours. Apart from the life of the coral, the other types of marine life include, 30 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises and 6 species of sea turtles. There are also 125 types of sharks and stingrays. The reef supports 2195 types of plants.

Today I went snorkeling and it was sooooo coooool! Under the waves with all the bright colours of fish and coral. It is completely magical! I even got my guide to take a picture of me there!

Loving Queensland

Alice

Glorified Ganges River

Hello again bloggers!

Well, as I have written in my previous entry, my trip, because I had some extra time I decided to go to India to see the Ganges River. The real Hindu name for the sacred river Ganges is Ganga. The Ganga is quite long, passing through China, India, Nepal and Bangladesh to complete its 2510 km length. The Ganga winds through 1,000,000 km2 with 28 cities with a population over 100,000, 23 cities with a population over 50,000-100,000 and 48 towns.

On the banks of the Ganga are lots of buildings including many holy buildings. One of these is the Varanasi which is one of the most important holy places for Hindus and Buddhists for pilgramiges. The Varanasi is considered by the Hindus and Buddhists as the centre of the of the religon and education. The other one is Haridor, which is, according to Hindu beliefs considered to be the 7th holiest place.

The whole atmosphere is quite memorable as the locals bathe in the 'holy' water.

Please comment soon

Alice

CHANGE OF PLAN!

HI!!!
Great news!!! After my last adventure-the Patanal wetlands, I found that I had completed my trip's agenda with a couple of weeks to spare! Because of this change of events, I decided to travel to some more places to take up the time, the places are as follows: the Ganges river in India and then back to Australia for the beautiful coral reef. Finally, to finish off my amazing trip, I'm going to beautiful Bondi beach to relax and unwind after all my past adventures.

Off I go again!
Alice

Precious Pantanal Wetlands

Hi everyone!

Today I'm in Brazil on the outskirts of the largest wetland in the world - the Pantanal wetlands. This wetland covers 140, 000 km2 which stretches over parts of Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. It floods regularly from around March to May which was called the cheia, opposed to the dry season which goes from September to November which is known as seca. There is also the enchente which is when the water rises from December to February and the vazante from June to August when it recesses.

The Pantanal has amazing biodiversity and is host to over 700 different species of birds, which one of the main aspects that the Pantanal is known for. Some of the main types are herons, egrets, storks, spoonbills, ibises, ducks, jabirus and kingfishers. There are also 26 species of parrots. The Pantanal is also home to a variety of endangered home jaguars, ocelots, maned wolves, giant anteaters, giant armadillos, marsh deer and Brazilian tapirs. Being a wetland, there are also many types of fish, numbering over 260 species that have been established.

It is so cool being here because there is a lot of the wetland that has still not been thoroughly checked and many species remain completely untouched by humans. Unfortunately, the precious wetlands are being slowly destroyed by careless people by illegal poaching, deforestation, over fishing, not to mention too many tourists which can cause pollution and can frighten the animals. Some people are making efforts to preserve this amazing wetlands with it's intricate biodiversity.

Hope your having just as fantastic a time!!!

Alice

Sweltering Sahara

HELLO fellow bloggers!

I am zigzagging across the globe as I return again to Africa. This time, I'm in the Sahara desert. I've never been in more contrary weather!! In the day, it gets really hot and it's freexing in the nights. You've probably heard that the Sahara is the world's hottest desert. Well it is that, but it is not the largest. Antarctica is actually the largest desert although it is not hot. It stretches across almost the entire of North Africa and is over 9 000 000 km. I've seen many animals during my trek across the dusty desert. These mainly include dromedary camels and goats, monitor lizards and ostriches. We have had the misfortune though to see some deadly predators like the Leiurus quinquestriatus, or the deathstalker scorpion. It can grow to 10cm long and contains venom in its tail, fortunately it is extremely rare for it to kill a grown adult. The other creature that we encountered was the Sand Vipers that are usually around 50cm long. They are really unattractive with horns above each eye. The bites are not fatal but can cause some pain.

The Sahara's climate is so harsh that it is incredibly hard to sustain any life. To this end, you usually meet travellers and not inhabitants, though there are many nomad tribes that roam the desert. It is exremely annoying as the days are sweltering hot - but the nights are bitterly freezing cold!

Hope to hear from you soon!

Alice

Amazing Alaska

Phew, I'm here at last! Hey guy it's Alice!!!

Well after leaving the humid climate of Costa Rica, I have traveled all the way to snowy Alaska! Gosh it's cold. It's colder than I expected so I've had to purchase a extra jacket!

I've only been here a day but I've already been profusely recommended many times to see the Aurora Borealis or Northern lights. So I did. There are absolutely NO words to describe it. It was absolutely beautiful - but that's definitely an understatement.

I have already seen a polar bear, from a great distance mind you, on the strenuous journey from the airport to the place where I am staying. We had to go extremely slowly because of the snow. Well on the way the driver spotted a polar bear, I even got a photo!

These beautiful bears are hunted for their fur, fat and tendons, though the meat is inedible. They are mostly hunted by the inuits. Polar bears are found in Alaska, where I am now, and in the Arctic, but not in Antarctica.

The main source of food here is fish. The most common type being salmon. Kodiak Island, which is here in Alaska, is, in fact, the centre of the world's salmon-packing industry. I came in the middle of winter here so practically all of the rivers and lakes are completely frosted over. It makes a very pretty sight, but I can only imagine how it would be even more beautiful when they are completely defrosted and running freely.

Alaska also has a timber industry. The main forest's that the timber comes from, include Tongass and Chugach.

Well that's it for another couple of days, hope to hear back from you soon!

Alice

Clammy Costa Rica

Hello!

Guess where I am now? In the heart of the humid Costa Rican rain forest! It is a tropical rain forest and so of course very hot and muggy. There is many different types of wildlife thriving here in the dense rain forest. Costa Rica contains 5% of the world's biodiversity! There are over 9000 different types of plants, over 850 types of birds, over 200 species of mammals, over 35,000 types of insects and over 200 types of amphibians, Because of the situation of Costa Rica, the climate does not vary much during the year, it usually ranges at about 25°C.

One of the most special features of Costa Rica, though, is the amazing environmental protection. There have enough trees planted to make it counter the effects of greenhouse emissions in that particular area.

The first inhabitants of Costa Rica were the nomads. They lived in tribes or family groups. After awhile, they began to erect social standards and had a chief. Now days there are still some of the Costa Rican Indians living on their land.

In my pictures, you can me on the bridge with my guide.

Alice

Sunny Savannah

Hiya!!!

Right at this moment I'm Southern Africa in the grassy Savannah. This is NOT I repeat NOT the American city in Georgia. As you would expect, it is very hot and dry - an extreme difference to my previous travels to Japan and Canada. The African climate biome takes up 46% of Southern Africa! The landscape is mainly made up of small trees and shrubs. The trees usually are between 3-7m tall. Although the surface is dominated by many types of grasses, when destroyed by fire, most of them can regrow. Looking out across the plains, the word I think best describes in this case is flat.

Across Africa, nomad tribes travel across the vastness. They know the land and how to survive in the difficult environments. The tribes meet another approximately every three years but apart form that, they live completely cut off from the outside world. As well as the nomads, there are permanent tribes that live in villages dotted around Africa. There are at least 140 tribes. This and other tidbits of information I've found out along this fantastic safari that started from the crack of dawn until now - 4:00 in the afternoon. Although I'm rather sore from bumping around, I've seen many different African animals. That's all for now!

Alice