Every year, ‘Fuller Lab’ spends quality time on a beach or a national park to develop a friendly relationship between lab members including the Professor himself! Although after starting the commencement at the UQ my conception on world-class researchers has changed markedly, as being grown up in a professor-student unhealthy environment, I was a bit worried about the upcoming incidences!
Prior to finalizing the date, Richard created a pool seeking the convenient schedules between two timeframes, and anticipating priorities, the first three nights of August won the race. At about one week before the retreat, we received an email from Jasmine including the entire tour description! It was amazing seeing her effort to prepare that document, hats off to her.
Finally, the day came with a clear sky and full of sunshine. Following the pre-planned way, we reached the destination in different cars and it took nearly an hour and a half. We walked at the Mooloolaba beach for an hour to have a glimpse of the wildlife, we spotted a turtle, a few lycaenid butterflies, and some birds. Observing the turtle activity seemed like, it was playing hide and seek with the water. Following this, we went to the beach and spotted some sea anemones and algae, a few couldn’t resist themselves but to jump into the water.
After coming to our reserved motel, we discovered a room containing disparate playing instruments including Air Hockey, Table Tennis, PS 4, Pool, Basketball and many more. Taking a few snacks, we readily went to spend some time in that room to refresh us. It seemed more alluring to me as I was new to most of those games. As being a country boy, in my childhood, I used to play Cricket and Football in the open field.
During the dinner we saw that Richard is somewhat depressed, we then came to know that someone has spotted a rare endangered bird (Regent Honeyeater) at the Enoggera Reservoir which he did not spot in 2018, and as we were in the lab retreat, he was puzzled about whether he should visit the reservoir the next morning! Eventually, I, with Richard and other five lab members hurriedly take our breakfast and started our journey towards Enoggera at 0500. Reaching the destination, we split into different groups to find that endangered beautiful bird. Although after about three hours of searching we could not find that bird, it was exciting to spot colourful fungi, birds, and insects. I became delighted to see the early sunshine dreaming to spot some butterflies but it was unfortunate that there was no sign of butterflies. Days passed and I am becoming more terrified thinking of the Australian biodiversity. At around 1100, keeping Richard, Micha, and Brad behind, we left the place. They spent a few more hours there and spotted another new bird for them, the Brolga.
I was quite hungry and on the way to the motel, I bought some foods from the McDonalds and after coming to the motel, went to the beach to hang out with each other. We played Frisbee for about an hour. We then participated in the sand castle competition; two groups built Octopus, others turtle, and jellyfish. Richard, Micha, and Brad came lately and they built their new spotted bird, Brolga. It was fun watching the creativity of each group.
In the evening we spent a few hours in the games room. At night, Jasmine and Micha presented their field trip experiences. Jasmine showed how she involved with the Antarctica work and how difficult it is to work in the largest desert in the world. On the other hand, Micha presented some photos from the Mexico tour during her brother’s wedding. Both of them shared some great photos and the background stories were very intriguing.
The following day was quite formal, some went to birding in the morning while others were busy in chit-chatting. Richard and Jasmine arranged a 5 minutes presentation for each lab member where everyone will say something aside from their research work. Topics included: Flying fishing, wildlife arts, underwater rugby, narrating a story and many more. I was a little bit lazy to prepare any topic so I showed some butterfly photographs to the bird people; however, since December 2013, this is my one and only hobby.
The most crucial session was waiting to occur. Rochelle Steven, a postdoc of the Fuller Lab, shared her experiences on the importance of keeping an up-to-date website in the academic life. She strategically explained how someone judges academic/research profile and also provided key instructions on building a new website. Additionally, Zoey showed some incredible photos and amazing experiences from her New Zealand tour. She spotted numerous colourful flowers, seals, penguins and most importantly the scenic landscape. After finishing the 5-minute presentations, Richard elaborated the future prospect of our lab, what should a professor and student expect from each other, how to maintain a healthy environment between lab members and the way to become a good researcher. He also explained how the best scientific works are performed nowadays.
Before going there, I expected to take some good photos of the stars, hereby brought my tripod and wide lens; however, the weather was quite windy at night and could not go out. We passed the entire evening playing air hockey and pool. We were about to return to Brisbane on the next day in different cars and considering the priorities, all left in different time. Before starting our return journey, some of us went to the beach for the final time and spent some enjoyable moments there.
Now, I can anticipate, lab retreat is a significant way to build-up the communication skill, developing key strategies and most importantly maintaining a friendly relationship with lab members.
N.B: All those photos were captured by Jasmine, Rachel, Richard and Shawan.
