Blue Lake and Wildlife

Blue Lake, which was formed from a collapsed volcano

Yesterday, we rented an RV which we will be living in for the next three weeks as we drive up the east coast of Australia.  We bought groceries for the caravan and then began our drive.  We drove for six hours while I did some schoolwork and eventually ended up in a town called Blue Lake.  Blue Lake is named after a lake that formed in the crater of an extinct volcano.  (Tens of millions of years ago, the whole area was covered by a shallow sea filled with plant and animal life.  Over time those organic materials built up and, with large amounts of heat and pressure became limestone, a white or grey sedimentary rock.  That is the white layer at the lowest part of the coast.  Above that is a black ring formed from lava seeping out of the volcano and covering the surrounding ground.  The black rock is basalt, the most common extrusive igneous rock.  It has little to no crystals because it cools quickly outside Earth.  The top layer is compressed ash from an eruption of the volcano.)

Emus eat by turning their heads sideways to the ground.

When we found the local caravan park, we pulled in, plugged in our battery to recharge, and went to bed.  When we got up in the morning, we refilled the water tank, emptied the dirty water, and started to drive again.  We were hoping to get to around Melbourne by the end of the day, but because we stopped at a wildlife reserve, we made it only to a town a couple hours west of Melbourne.  We found a caravan park, pulled in, and did all our maintenance. At the wildlife reserve, we saw two Australian animals: Emus and Kangaroos.  Emus are large, brownish, flightless birds similar to an ostrich.  Kangaroos, as you probably know, look like wallabies (see earlier posts) but larger, and can be more aggressive.  The emu and kangaroo are the two animals on the Australian seal.

Kangaroos counter-balance with their powerful tails