Blogs from Rottnest Island, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 2

We caught the 10.00H ferry to Rottnest Island which lies some 12km off the coast and is very much a holiday resort destination for the people of Perth. Perth is visible on the horizon but the island is a world away from the hussel and bussel of Perth. It's a haven of tranquillity and calm. The island has many sandy bays, no major hotels or development and the majority of the accommodation comprises simple apartments/chalets. No motor cars or dogs are allowed and most people travel around the island on bicycle. One of the charms of the island is the lack of fear that the wildlife has of people. Whilst magpies and crows hang about the cafes, the most endearing animals are the quokkas which can be found sleeping in the sun, resting around the cafes ... read more

So...gleich noch ein Blog hinterher. Bevor ich mich auf den Weg nach Adelaide gemacht habe, habe ich mich verpflichtet gefühlt die Insel Rottnest Island zu erkunden. Die kleine Insel vor Perth zählt zu den größten Touristenattraktionen in Perth und ich hatte es bereits 6 Monate lang vor mir hergeschoben einen Trip dorthin zu unternehmen. Somit habe ich den eintägigen Ausflug noch schnell in meinen Zeitplan eingeschoben. So ging es also früh morgens leicht verkatert und bei mäßigem Wetter mit einer Freundin auf die Fähre. Leider bekam mir der Seegang nicht so gut. Ich war froh als wir endlich wieder Festland unter den Füßen hatten. Auf ging es Fahrrad ausleihen und rein in den Sattel... Zu diesem Zeitpunkt sind wir noch von einer gemütlichen Radtour an der Küste ausgegangen. Haha...daraus wurde wohl nichts. Bergauf - bergab - ... read more

With a lack of Wi-Fi at the hostel we decided to enjoy breakfast at the cafe next door to get Internet access to post some blogs!After a quick stop at the supermarket to stock up on a few provisions we headed to the ferry terminal for Rottenest Island. Once aboard the 19km journey only took 30 minutes; which was a relief given all the infomercials they played on the crossing to promote all the islands accommodation and restaurants!Based on the lack of availability of bike/ferry package tickets we caught the Bayseeker Bus around the island for a full lap to get our bearings and an understanding of where we wanted to spend time. Part way round the bus came to an abrupt holt as a snake tried commiting ... read more

Hello again from Western Australia! I apologize for my absence as of late; I've been super busy in the lab working! However, I realized the other day that I never fully explained exactly what it is that I am actually working on here. So allow me to explain, for those of you who are interested... My project here is investigating whether we possess an unconscious attentional bias toward attractive faces. Furthermore, we are attempting to disentangle the nature of this potential bias for attractiveness; that is, is our attentional bias toward attractive faces based on attentional capture/engagement, attentional holding/disengagement, or a combination of the two? Past research has demonstrated that we possess a strong conscious bias towards attractive faces. Eyetracking studies have shown that people look longer at attractive versus typical faces; moreover, when people are ... read more

So it was time to head to Western Australia after our quick week in Wollongong. We got dropped off at a hotel near the airport in Sydney for the night by Brett's dad on another one of his airport runs before he leaves back to Vancouver on Monday. We were sorry to see him go, but think he was happy to get back to Brett's Mom and relax a bit after all these airport shuttle runs for everyone, and we were pretty excited to be heading to Western Australia, even if we had to work. But we weren't complaining at all – especially when we stepped off the plane, into the beautiful weather, picked up our Hyundai Getz (Brett barely fits in and with our bags there is even less room, but seems to be the ... read more