After three years of COVID-19 and La Niña, we went back to a weekend fieldtrip! Aside from being super hard, those years provided valuable lessons about what we were missing without weekend fieldtrips. We missed the learning but also the very valuable social component, getting to know our students and, most importantly, our students meeting each other and creating friendships that might outlast their degrees.

Last weekend 31 students from GEOS3x09, MARS3888, and MARS5001 traveled to Hawks Nest in Worimi Country (Port Stephens) and we learnt about coastal processes in three contrasting environments: Jimmys beach (estuarine beach), Bennetts beach (open coast beach), and the transgressive dunes at Dark Point.

For the first time we had a module, developed by Mitch Gibbs (who couldn’t attend the trip but was there in spirit :)), about what we can learn from the Worimi People who have been living, teaching, learning and caring for the land and the sea for many tens of thousands of years. Hopefully, we can continue developing Aboriginal content within our teaching.

The USYD team comprising Md. Yousuf Gazi, Lachie Perris, Tommy Fellowes, Ana Paula da Silva, Tristan Salles, and Ana Vila-Concejo, had a great yet exhausting time, working with a fantastic cohort of students!