A couple notes: Alright, so it’s getting more and more difficult to consistently find free internet, so I’m going to be writing posts in a word document and posting them when I can. Also, my camera kept dying, so unfortunately not everything is in picture form on my facebook yet, but I have a new battery now and I’m working on stealing my friend’s pictures though to put up and fill in the gaps.
Last week was our orientation excursion to the tablelands which was pretty incredible. It actually feels like I’ve been here for a really long time already because I’ve done so much these past two weeks, which I guess is a lot better than feeling like it’s going by too quickly. Last Monday we drove to Port Douglass, which is a really nice little town with a long gorgeous beach with incredibly warm water considering it is “winter” here (like 75 degrees F), and great waves for body surfing. Just a warning, if you are ever in Port Douglass, don’t turn the wrong way and go to the other beach. You may end up tanning next to a croc instead of the old fat guy in a spedo (we saw our first croc along there while on the bus, we all cheered).
Tuesday was a walk through the Daintree National Park forest lead by a Kuku-Yulanji (an Aboriginal tribe which live(d) in that particular area) man. It was pretty awesome just walking through a fairly mature rainforest, but it was even better seeing it through an Aborigini’s eyes. By the river at Mossman Gorge our guide showed us how to make and apply paint the same way Aboriginal hunters do to identify themselves as Kuku-Yulanji. After he showed us how, someone asked if we could paint our arms too, and our guide said it would be fine. Although I really enjoyed learning about the Aboriginal culture, I wonder if these tours, and us tourists with traditional symbols on our arms, might be offending some Aboriginals who were not paid rainforest guides. That afternoon we got to go croc hunting (I felt slightly like Steve Erwin, except in much less danger) from a boat taken out by a guide who talked most of the time about the Mangroves. There’s nothing wrong with Mangroves, but I was much more interested by the 15ft croc swimming on the other side of the river. We also saw baby crocodiles along this really narrow part of the river, and stayed there until mommy crocy showed up, when our guide/driver decided it was time for a quick getaway.
Wednesday was my birthday, which was absolutely awesome because it was the day we got to do all fun stuff. In the morning we went to a wildlife sanctuary near Port Douglass, which was kind of like a zoo except with all the local animals us tourists want to see. We got to feed and pet kangas and wallabies, and my favorite was this little wallaby who ate very slowly while holding onto your hand. We also got to see a bunch of different birds, including the very dangerous cassowary (colorful relative of the Emu, and the bird Kevin from “Up” is modeled after). Lastly we got to hold Cody, the Koala Bear, who must have known it was my birthday, because he decided to leave me a present. Next we went to Yungaburra to a great hostel called On The Wallaby, with a super nice owner who told us to call her mum, and the softest comforter I’ve ever had. Before dinner we went down to the river and got to see a ton of platypuses swimming around and hanging out. At dinner we had one of the two cakes our leader Tony got for me (so delicious), and then it was time for night canoeing. If you have never been night canoeing, go ASAP, it’s like day canoeing but ten times more exciting. If you have never been day canoeing either, go spend an hour outside…then go night canoeing. We couldn’t see anything but the stars, which were completely gorgeous, and whatever our torches (aussie speak for flashlights) were pointed at, which is what made it so exciting. You never knew what or when you would find something in the trees. We saw several tree kangaroos and brush tail possums, and towards the end, we found an echidna, a pretty rare find on this type of trip even though they’re not an endangered species. Our guide, a crazy young aussie who wasn’t even wearing shoes, let us all pull up on the bank and get out to look at the echidna, which he pulled out of the ground with its bare hands (those spines looked sharp), and held it for a good ten minutes while trying unsuccessfully to get it to uncurl so we could see its cute little face. Unfortunately, echidnas are not stupid, and know, even when you turn off your torch and stand there silently, that you’re still standing there. It probably didn’t help that, while waiting, we all pet it’s paws and took pictures (well, not me because my camera battery was once again dead). All in all though I think I left my teen years in a pretty unique and amazing way: I got to see both monotremes in the wild, feed a bunch of adorable marsupials, and hold a koala bear. I can only hope that future birthdays come anywhere close.
Thursday was…I want to say interesting but it wasn’t, really. We did this exercise called the drop off, where everyone in the group was dropped off in a separate location in small towns throughout the tablelands. We were told we should try and get to know the town and talk to as many locals as possible, and that we would be picked up 4 ½ hrs after our arrival. After an unexpected 3 ½ hr bus ride, I was dropped off in the last town, called Malanda, with three other students (although we were told not to hang out together as this would defeat the point of the exercise). Malanda is a tiny town, like really, really tiny. There are a few shops, a large old bar, a “waterfall” (which is manmade and proportional to the size of its town), and a dairy farm which gives tours at 9am. So I walked around and around and looked at all the shops, found the information center outside the dairy farm, looked at the town map for ideas on what to do, ate lunch, and realized I still had almost four hours to kill. As instructed, I went in search of friendly locals. In a small clothing shop, I started talking to the woman working there. After trying to explain why I was in Malanda (she was a bit confused, I don’t think it’s a huge tourist hit), I asked what there was to do. The response: “ummm, let me think…NOTHING”. She wasn’t wrong…
Friday was bird watching and a trip to Lake Eacham, where we saw a wild python. Then Saturday was our first day snorkeling on the Reef! It is pretty awesome…I’m not quite sure what else to say about it though. It pretty much looks just as beautiful as it does on the NatGeo channel, except that seeing it through my own eyes was, of course, way cooler. We got to see giant clams, a shark, lots of sea anemone with clownfish, some sea cucumbers (whenever you’re depressed or having a bad day, just google the sea cucumber), huge starfish, huge fish, colorful fish, Christmas tree worms (which inspired the idea for a plant on the planet Pandora in Avatar), of course tons of corals, and probably about a billion other things. I was really surprised that the fish let us get pretty close to them without swimming away. I guess I expected to be treated by them like other wild animals generally act, with fear and caution. The fish mostly ignored us though, so instead of being a dangerous invader I was just another thing in the ocean with fins.
I have been staying with a host family for over a week now, which has been pretty good for the most part. My host parents are really nice, and have this crazy dog who will chase his tail all day unless you stop him. Both my host parents are foodies and excellent cooks (my host dad is actually a chef) who love healthy, delicious tasting food, and have been making me the most amazingly yummy vege meals. They are also extremely into sustainable living which is really cool. These two weeks during our homestay we mostly just go to lectures and work on our suburban bird project, which has involved a lot of early morning bird watching sessions. Fortunately, my host dad often makes us cappuccinos in the morning, and breakfast is either cereal with fresh mango (from the tree in the front yard) and banana, or something delicious my host dad cooks us. Unfortunately, we have to bird watch in people’s front yards as part of our project, which gets really awkward and frustrating when all the guard dogs realize you’re there, start barking, and the neighbors come out and start questioning you on why you’re walking around the street with binoculars and a notebook. I actually think it’s kind of amazing no one on this program has ever had the cops called on them while doing their bird watching (at least they haven’t as far as I know). I have seen some really pretty birds though…
