Hi all, I am the third summer intern, Natalie.

First of all I would like to apologise for writing this post so late- I am already more than halfway through my internship... MANY things have happened in the past two months and i won't bore you with too much details. I willl just start by introducing myself and briefly recapping what have happened since I started working with the HKDCS.

I am a BA Geography undergraduate who have just finished second year of study at the University of Sussex in the UK. This summer I have come back to Hong Kong especially for this internship and also to collect data for my final year dissertation.

If you haven't already read the previous posts written by Tiana and Phoebe, with a total of more than 15,000 comment forms collected before midnight last Saturday, the 30 Third Runway Victims campaign came to a perfect end at the book fair. Everyone worked so hard through these 30 days including the staff and all the dolphin guardians (the volunteers). Never had I imagine myself participating in a campaign like this, and there I was, handing out paper fans in the 30 victims t-shirt and talking to random people till my throat was sore. It was truly a big step out of my comfort zone and a discovery of what I am capable of.

That's all for now, i will talk more about the fieldworks in the next post. Sorry i havent been able to write much about my experience- i hope the following photos will make it up to you!

one of our mysterious staff looking for dolphin during a boat survey

rallying for the Chinese white dolphin

View of West Lantau from the Shum Wat theodolite station

the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge construction as seen from the Shum Wat theodolite station

another mysterious staff contemplating the meaning of life under the melting heat during a land-based survey

getting ready for the 7 1 demonstration- look how beautiful our t-shirts are!

leading a school trip to see the dolphins- stopping at Sha Chau

boat survey- the primary observer and the data recorder

Lastly, enjoy a video clip of the Chinese white dolphins I took on my first boat survey!

Surveys Again!

The official "30 Third Runway Victims" campaign was a great success! We received tons and comment and support. Hopefully our efforts have not been in vain. I feel so happy to have contributed to such a great cause and worked with such a wonderful team of people!

Now that the campaign and book fair has ended, we are finally back to a more normal schedule of surveys. Today was my first day at "Sham Wat" for a land based survey. All the interns have been except for me and everyone was telling me how horrible the hike and the place is. Because of all this I really thought it was be awful, but it wasn't as bad as I predicted it to be. I'm not saying that it is an ideal place as it is still pretty exhausting; it was a hot and I did get sun burnt.

The hike wasn't too long and I can proudly say I managed to carry the tripod there and back! We also some cool spiders on the way. In fact, on the way back, Vincent spotted a spider that was shedding?! This was the first time any of us and seen or heard of spiders that need to shed. Vincent was kind enough to let me use his photo. Have a look!

"30 Third Runway Victims" Campaign; “海豚30”

We launched our "30 Third Runway Victims" Campaign on June 20th and everyone is working hard to save the Chinese White Dolphins. We have 2 street stalls at the 1/7 protest yesterday and got so many comment form submissions against the Hong Kong Airport's Third Runway EIA report! It was a long but fruitful day. All the staff, interns and volunteers were standing and shouting for hours on end. Its inspirational seeing all of us putting in so much effort for such a great cause!

Its been a long and busy week with more to come. Though we haven't be able to work on the boat and conduct surveys as much, we aren't complaining because we're still helping the dolphins! If you haven't already please check out our campaign and submit a comment (http://3rwdolphin.weebly.com/).

Monday was also the last day for our lovely staff member, Tiffany. She's such a bright and cheerful girl and will be greatly missed in the office. I'm sure we'll see her around during are weekend street stalls but still good luck with everything nonetheless!