Eight lucky year 10 and 11 students from the Methodist Ladies College in Melbourne, spent a day and a night discovering the hidden wonders of Croajingolong National Parks’ World Heritage.

Thanks to the Methodist Ladies College, Bush Blitz has been able to locate base camp for the far east part of the Croajingolong Bush Blitz at the Marshmead field station. This little piece of paradise is a hidden gem on the very edge of the most wild and untouched section of the park.

Over 24 hours the girls had the chance to see what life in the field is like for a Bush Blitz scientist.

In the morning the girls teamed up with the botanist and entomological teams and explored the rainforest patch of the Marshmead campus. They sampled the nearby stream for aquatic invertebrates with Dr Richard Marchant and chased other insects with Dr Peter Lilywhite, Dr Simon Hinkley of the Museum Victoria and Marina Cheng, a Phd student from the University of NSW. Dr Neville Walsh and Dr Andre Messina of the Melbourne Herbarium took the students along the rainforest walk, showing them key species that make up a rainforest.

After lunch, the girls learnt about taking photographs of animals in a studio and also in the field with David Paul and Rod Start, official photographers for the Museum Victoria. The girls saw David photograph a range of animals including a very large and active water spider which decided to escape, causing much squealing and screaming.

After the sun set, the vertebrate team from the Museum Victoria took the students down to the nearby creek and Mallacoota lake to see what was active. The girls were lucky to see a diversity of animals including: octopus at the jetty, frogs, fish and water dragons sleeping under the water and insects.

After a long and tiring jam-packed day full of adventure with the scientists the girls went to bed with a new perspective of Marshmead.

Thank you to the Methodist Ladies College, Outdoor Education Coordinator Dan Short and all the staff at Marshmead for making this Bush Blitz such a wonderful (and comfortable) experience.