Fieldwork Reflection: Australia

After a whirlwind adventure of sampling plants across Europe for 4 months, the time came for me to return home to Sydney in September 2019. I was so excited to see my family and friends again, this was the longest time I had ever been away from home. After 6 hours of flight delays, and an eventual cancellation, I arrived back home little later than anticipated, but happy nonetheless. I gave myself a few days to rest and recover from jet lag, and then I was back on track to start sampling my Australian sites.

I began in my hometown of Sydney, then moved on to Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne and Hobart.  The purpose of my fieldwork was to collect data on herbivory, leaf chemistry, invertebrate communities and pollination of species that are native to Europe and introduced to Australia (commonly known as weeds).

I felt more relaxed when sampling around Australia. There were no language barriers, I didn’t have to convert currencies and I was closer to my family and friends (plus I got to sleep in my own bed when I was in Sydney!). By this time, I was a professional speed suitcase packer and had memorised the pre-takeoff safety announcement of Virgin Airlines.

Pictured: (Top) Louis Booth of Monash University helping me sample leaves near a railway line in Melbourne. (Left) Eve Xirocostas observing Verbascum thapsus on a roadside verge in Hobart. (Right) Me saving a shingleback lizard from becoming roadkill in Canberra.

I cannot express enough thanks to my amazing supervisor Prof. Angela Moles for her guidance and encouragement throughout my year of fieldwork and for giving me this incredible opportunity. As cheesy as it may sound, I did a lot of personal growth during my fieldwork travels. I learnt to be adaptable when things don’t go as planned (ie. flight cancellations & lost luggage), be confident in my ability to get everything done, and enjoy each field day because even though it was hard work, I knew I’d miss it once it was over.

A big shout out goes to all my field assistants and collaborators across my Australian sites. They dedicated so much time and effort into my project and weren’t shy of early mornings, pouring rain or freezing weather! A special shout out goes to my sister Eve for visiting me in Tasmania and helping out with some fieldwork (just after she finished her Year 12 exams!).

-Zoe