I originally planned to come to Australia Feb. 14 to study marine science. It’s all I’ve wanted to do since I was 6 years old. Just having a dream can get you anywhere you want in the world. Never underestimate the power of knowing what you want.

On Jan. 1, I got an e-mail saying that if I could be in Australia in three days, I could be part of a dolphin research team. So I switched my plane ticket, packed up my life and was out of Utah in fewer than 72 hours.

Australia is beautiful. It’s full of birds, bats and bugs (really big ones). There’s a kookaburra living outside my window and a pile of dead cockroaches in every room. I love it here.

The research I am doing is with the DEAP program, which is the Dolphin Ecology and Acoustics Program. There are three different parts of this research: land-based observations, sea-kayak observations and research-vessel observations. We are monitoring the dolphins’ use of Byron Bay. If I’m up in the lighthouse, it’s a waiting game with a pair of binoculars.

Once we spot a pod, using a program called Cyclops, we use a camera to focus and plot GPS points of where dolphins, surfers, boats, kayaks and the such are. The lighthouse spots the dolphins, then radios the kayak and boat their location. In the kayak, we take pictures of dorsal fins, to ID the dolphins.

In the boat, we do sound follows, which is recording an hour of dolphin noises. Yes, it mostly sounds like squeaky dog toys, but once you break it down, you see how many different sounds they can make and it’s fascinating.

On research days, I have to catch the 4 a.m. bus, in order to get to Byron on time. I get to watch the sunrise over the ocean and enjoy all the morning fog rolling around the mountains. All the old, hard-core surfers are out, getting in their old-style rides before all the young, hot shots get there to hog their waves.

The lighthouse in Byron is the highest point in the area, so it’s a bit of a hike. The trail winds around this mountainside through a littoral rain forest, so some parts of the trail are completely surrounded by trees, most and birds, just like walking through some mystical jungle tunnel.

Other parts are right on the cliff side, overlooking all of Byron Bay. It is the best way to start a morning. Observations at the lighthouse start at 7, and we don’t finish until 1, so it’s six hours on your feet yelling out:

“I got a pod. Looks like six adults, two calves ... wait make that 14 adults, three calves. They are milling. Oh, I got a tail slap. Oh my gosh, did you guys see that leap? Full out of water porpoising. Calf is belly up. Hey we got one more calf over here.”

Every day of research is different. Some days are stellar, and others nothing shows up. Last Thursday was stellar. We saw a pod of 44 adults and four calves. Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime sight. I could see pairs of synchronized dolphins, some were mothers and calves, others were just good friends. Dolphins that are tightly bonded synchronize their movements. It’s beautiful.

Looking down from the lighthouse, you could almost count each one with the naked eye. One calf was probably only a few weeks old. He was the smallest dolphin I have ever seen, less than half the size of an adult. It was play time for him, because he was leaping, breaching, slapping and swimming belly up. It was almost like he knew we were there, and he wanted to put on a show. When they got around the point into the bay, it was dolphin central. Three more pods of 13, four and six dolphins showed up. They then decided to play some tricks on us, mixing up, spreading around and clumping back up. Let’s just say deciphering pods was impossible. They certainly had fun messing up our data.

When there aren’t dolphins around, I’m still looking for sea life. The bay is packed with turtles, schools of fish and all kinds of rays. As I was following this ray just cruising around the bay, out of nowhere, this ray just launched itself 6 feet out of the water. It was like he wanted to fly. Today, I felt so blessed to be in the right place at the right time.

So far being in the kayak hasn’t yielded too much dolphin-related excitement. Saturday, I headed out and just waited for a call from the lighthouse. And waited ... and waited. No dolphins.

However, the way the current was flowing was causing a huge amount of blue bottle jellyfish to head into the bay. They have clear bulbous tops that float on top of the water, then a few short tentacles right off the bulb. They also have one long tentacle that reaches out, sometimes a few feet. The biggest one I saw was about half the size of a dollar bill with about a 4-foot tentacle. Their tentacles are all this electric dark blue, like that blue you see on peacocks’ necks, but even brighter. I was paddling through hundreds of them. One blue bottle even had a neon blue lizard fish, about 2 inches long, wrapped up in its tentacle. Lunch.

That day I also found a floating shoe and grabbed it to throw it away. As it was sitting in the boat, slowly all these creatures started crawling out. When I looked closer, I saw a bunch of little blue and white worms, sand flees and a creature that looked like a mixture between a crab, spider and clam. It was bizarre. It’s incredible how versatile and flexible sea creatures are. They can make a home out of anything. However, that does not mean it is OK to have trash in the ocean. No excuses, world.

Australia is a wonderful country. It is definitely the place for adventure and to see nature. It’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. Never forget where you want to go in life.

Check out my blog if you want to know more about studying or living in Australia: www.hannahmarie-musicandwater.blogpost.com.

Hannah Moore is a USU Study Abroad student. Look for more USU Study Abroad experiences every Monday in The Utah Statesman.