Blog

Name: Clare Sanders
School: Davidson College
Major: Biological Sciences
Program: Tropical Rainforest Studies, Australia

Once a month on a Saturday in Yungaburra, the entire town comes out to the Yungaburra markets.  Essentially a farmers market meets craft fair, it is clearly the place to be. This past Saturday, all twenty-three of the SFS students, including myself, got to experience this bit of rural Australian culture. After about an hour of wandering around the market, having our very American accents commented on and lightening our wallets some, we traveled on to the more academic part of our day.

You know that you made the right choice by studying abroad in the rainforest when the more academic portion of your day includes a canopy walk. We drove south for about an hour to get to Mamu, a patch of rainforest that has been protected and made into a tourist location by giving visitors the opportunity to wander through the rainforest canopy along an elevated walkway. While much of this portion of the rainforest was heavily impacted by cyclones Larry and Yasi, it was still an unbelievable experience. The visuals from the walk were amazing and simply reminded all of us how lucky we are to be living and working in that very rainforest.