Turn Around Bright Eyes - Day 6 of Blogtember

Or how I ended up licking rocks, hunting fossils and peeing in a cave.


So, my first word was "water".
My favorite animal as a child was an Orca. And I would inform people quite quickly that "Actually, I think you will find than an Orca is a mammal". Cos I totally rated myself as the ultimate fountain of knowledge on Whales and/or Dolphins.
My birthday and christmas present requests were generally Cetacean related.
I could pronouce "Marine Biologist" before I could count to 50.

I was that kid. Yep. My whole life I wanted to be a Marine Biologist. I mean like, every class in school was based on that and it was just my ultimate dream. So, when the time came, I packed up and moved away to University in order to fulfill this dream.

Nek Minnit (as they say), I took a class on it.

And you know what? I just didn't really like it. Go figure.

At the same time as I was not really loving the class, I turned up to a class that I hadn't really read the description of (yep, nice future planning Sarah).  In the first lecture we were told there would be a week long field trip, mapping the geology in a Valley near Port Waikato. At that point, I nearly left class. Honestly, at that point in my "personality" or life I guess, it just didn't interest me. But I stayed.

And thank goodness for that.

I took the class. Went on the field trip. And absolutely LOVED the geology. It just made sense to me. And, it seemed like a discipline where I could take my passion for all the other sciences, and combine them to enjoy this exciting and interesting field of knowledge. It explained all the processes occurring around me, shaping the earth. I was hooked. On that first mapping trip we found fossils, saw waterfalls, climbed up hills, climbed down hills, rocked around the paddocks, got charged at by bulls, fell in a stream, saw some absolutely stunning parts of New Zealand, laughed our arses off and just really had fun.

That was that. I got my first A+ at University and for the first time, more importantly, I really enjoyed the class and field work. But that field trip was when, in my own mind, I became a geologist - my turning point, well and truly. And, as cheesy as it sounds, I have never looked back. 

Wading through a Lahar on Ruapehu.

Often my role on a field trip was being a lumpy kind of scale.

Fi and I on Ngauruhoe.

At the smallest outcrop in history. I look pretty impressed.

Rob and I taking a break from the mighty climb, Ngauruhoe.

Rob and I at my Masters field site. Safety glasses and beanies. Hot stuff.

This is my post for Day 6 of Blogtember. Today's prompt is to discuss a turning point in your life. To read more about Blogtember you can check out my posts from the first week, or head over to the "Story of My Life blog" here.

Thanks to Fiona for the shot of Rob and I on Ngauruhoe. But other than that....
Please note, since these photos were before the age of the selfie, If I am in the shot, I honestly don't know who took them. They were in my folder of random field photos, so an amazing field buddy must have taken each one. If you see it, and you took it, holla at me. And thanks for the pics! xox