illuminating science

Well, today I’m setting out for the Torres Strait Islands. Jenny Riesz and I are going on part II of our World Year of Physics trip to regional Queensland (Australia), and visiting this group of islands at the north of Australia. Most of the people there are indigenous to the islands, originating from Papau New Guinea, and are distinct from Australian Aboriginies. The islands are all quite small, with just one school each for most, so it’s going to quite an experience for us!

We’re going to be travelling around (by 4 seater planes!) between the various islands and doing physics shows and workshops at the schools. In most places, we’ll do a show for the whole school, then some hands-on workshops for the older grades. It’s quite similar to what we did in Mt Isa a few months back, but we’ve had to refine our show a little to be more compact - these planes don’t hold very much! I think, though, that our show is better for it, so that’s good. Best of all, we got to buy $1000+ worth of equipment from the states, so our house has been chaotic last week with carpet skates and water vortices and all sorts of cool equipment floating around. Great fun - definitely one of the perks about doing this stuff!

Again, though, it means my posting will possibly be a little infrequent for the next week. I’ve written a few things which I’ll post throughout the week, but I’m not sure if I’ll be keeping up with the latest news! So have a good weekend, and talk to you all later! (PS - The TSI have a reputation for fantastic seafood - my grandfather was stationed there during the war, and says he ate more crab than he can remember. Dugong and turtle too, which I won’t eat, but I’m definitely looking forward to the food! Yum!)