It seems that every post I write begins with an apology for not writing more. I’ve spent the past few months writing another set of exams (only one more year to go), building and documenting two simple climate models for term projects (much more on that later), and moving to Australia!
This (Northern Hemisphere) summer I have a job at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, which has a close partnership with the UVic Climate Lab (where I worked last summer). I am working with Dr. Katrin Meissner, who primarily studies ocean, carbon cycle, and paleoclimate modelling. We have lots of plans for exciting projects to work on over the next four months.
Australia is an interesting place. Given that it’s nearly 20 hours away by plane, it has a remarkably similar culture to Canada. The weather is much warmer, though (yesterday it dropped down to 15 C and everyone was complaining about the cold) and the food is fantastic. The birds are more colourful (Rainbow Lorikeets are so common that some consider them pests) and the bats are as big as ravens. Best of all, there is an ocean. I think I am going to like it here.
ClimateSight 
Welcome to Australia!
Hi Kate
Long time since I commented on your site, but with you working where I started out as a paleoclimate researcher was too much of a temptation to stay away!
Glad you’re enjoying Sydney and the lorikeets!
I published a paper a bit over a year ago working with some paleoclimate modellers out of U Sydney and Purdue (USA) on Australian Miocene climate. It generated some discussion from the paleo folks at UNSW (Archer’s team).
Herold, N., Huber, M., Greenwood, D.R., Müller, D., and Seton, M. 2011. Early to middle Miocene monsoon climate in Australia. Geology, 39 (1): 3 – 6.
Greenwood, D.R., Herold, N., Huber, M., Müller, R.D. and Seton, M. 2012. Forum Reply. Early to middle Miocene monsoon climate in Australia. Geology, 40 (6): e274, doi:10.1130/G33384Y.1
Keep enjoying the Pacific ocean and that wonderful food!
Cheers
David Greenwood
Brandon U
Welcome to the neighbourhood.
Kate, don’t worry. I’m always glad to see your thoughts. But an undergraduate student has a lot of very serious demands on her times. The blog is a way of sharing those things, when you have a chance. So, great. But twitter counts, too. And, well, doing your homework and taking care of your life is important. When you have a chance to blog, I’m interested. If you’re off learning things, learn them! Later we’ll benefit as you have a chance to write about them.