Let me preface the next series of blog entries by stating that it will be extremely difficult and nearly impossible to explain how amazing this place is.
On Thursday morning, we got up early for a 9 o’clock flight from Cairns to Lizard Island. We were taking a small plane that perfectly fit the 17 of us (14 students plus Tony, Meryl, and Darren, our marine trip leader.) There were two pilots for the plane, and some students immediately asked how long they had been flying because they were so nervous about taking such a small plane. We all boarded and got settled and were putting our nerves behind us…
Well, then the left engine wouldn’t start.
We had to get off the plane, so we all convened in the small waiting room (this wasn’t part of the Cairns airport) where we waited… for several hours. Finally, around noon, it was decided that instead of taking one small plane, we would be taking three much smaller planes. By small, I mean that students had to sit in the cock pits because there wasn’t enough seating. My kind pilot was Andy, and Lauren was the lucky one who got to sit up front. Genevieve, Darren, Sam, Melissa, and I were in the five seats behind the cock pit. I was squished in the middle seat. The flight was about an hour long, and Andy (who got his pilot’s license in 1995) did a few tricks. One of them was letting Lauren drive the plane. She wasn’t actually driving it, but as she had her hands on the steering wheel (although it’s not actually a wheel, so I don’t know what you would call it), Andy made the flight a bit rocky. He also flew up in elevation and then swooped down, so the things in my lap literally flew into the air. The coolest part was when we flew over some cool portions of the Great Barrier Reef, he flew down pretty low over it so that we could see. Needless to say, we had a safe landing at Lizard Island.
Lizard Island is named for the goannas that inhabit the island, but I’ve only seen one small one so far. There are plenty of geckos, however, as there are everywhere in Australia. The only things on Lizard Island are the marine research station and facilities, where we are staying, and a resort that costs about $1,500 a night to stay. Only about 10 student groups get to use the research station each year. How lucky am I??
My drive from the air-strip landing to the research station was standing up on the back of a tractor, but only four of us were lucky enough to do that (the rest were in a van). The living conditions here are nice—much nicer than during the rainforest trip! There are two houses that have bedrooms with screen doors and a long veranda. The house I’m staying in also has a kitchen and our dining room, which is a huge table on the porch. We have about a 30 second walk to the beach.
I can’t explain how beautiful it is. Just picture the perfect tropical island in paradise. Imagine the bluest greenest water you could ever want to swim in, then make it five times brighter. Picture another island in the near distance covered in cliffs and rainforest.
Imagine the Great Barrier Reef! The reef was incredibly amazing the first time we saw it during orientation, but the reefs here are so much more amazing. The colors are phenomenal, the fish are everywhere. Purples, blues, yellows, pinks, oranges…the corals are almost neon sometimes. We snorkel twice a day, every day. The first day we simply swam out to the reef. Today we took boats out to different reefs.
Two amazing moments: On the reef this morning, Megan (my snorkel buddy) pointed out a Green Sea Turtle. When I swam up to it, the moment beat even the amazing waterfall we swam under during the rainforest trip. We followed it for a while, swimming over it. At one point, it stopped, turned, and looked at us. I am just amazed by the grace and majesty of sea turtles, and I am even more amazed at the fact that I got to swim with one.
On the reef this afternoon, I was calmly emptying my snorkel of the salt water that snuck in to try to choke me to death. When I put the snorkel back on and looked down, there was a shark about five feet across from me. It looked directly at me. It was as scared of me as I was of it! We both swam in the opposite direction as quickly as possible, but the opposite direction for the shark was DIRECTLY under Megan! Scared by both of us, it swam away very quickly.
Megan and I also had fun picking up creatures (like sea cucumbers, fungi corals, and bright blue starfish) and touching the corals. There is so much to see. I thought I understood the concept of biodiversity before I came here, but there was no way I could have known.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
rainforest trip
Despite the threat of a category 5 cyclone, on Saturday (3/7), we headed into the rainforest—I mean, the leech forest—for ten days. First, let me tell you about these leeches. They resemble little brown inch worms, but gushier. They have 32 suctions on their heads and butts, and to walk, they latch on with their butt, then flip around and latch on with their head. They leech to you with the suctions on their butt and then they suck your blood until they get really fat and full, then they drop off. They are sterile, so there’s really no harm in getting bitten by a leech, besides the fact that they are disgusting. By some miracle, (as well as constant flicking), I managed to not get bitten by a leech, but I probably removed at least 30 from crawling up my limbs. Jack taught us a method of removing crawling leeches. You just pluck it off, then you treat it like a booger: roll it up and throw it away. However, I usually used the pencil method, in which I got it to crawl on my pencil, then wiped it off onto a branch, usually smushing the leech in the process because sometimes they just wouldn’t come off. I didn’t really want to touch them. At least half of the group had leech bites. Steve even got one in his belly button!!! That was the worst. By the end of the week we were all wearing leech gear (pants tucked into our socks, hats and long sleeves in hot and humid weather, and even goggles, if your name is Chelsea McGorry.)
Despite the leeches, the rainforest trip was great. On our first day, we saw a cassowary!! These prehistoric birds, a bit smaller than ostriches, are very endangered and extremely rare to see in the wild. We were driving in some forest down near Mission Beach, and saw one ahead of us on an old dirt road. It was the first time I was really glad I had been lugging my heavy binoculars around for so long. The second time I was really glad I had been lugging my heavy binoculars around for so long was when we saw a Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo, about 20 meters up in a tree, staring down at us with his cute black face.
For the first two nights of the trip, we stayed in a hostel called the Tree House. There was a snake by the pool, a huntsman spider in the bathroom, and we woke up the first morning to a Hercules moth right outside of our door. It was well-named: about the size of my two hands. There was also a pet cat which I was pretty happy about. We had lunch and dinner cooking and clean-up crews for the whole trip, so we all took turns preparing our meals. After staying at the Tree House, we went back up to the Atherton Tablelands (where we were for orientation) and stayed at “The Lodge.” The Lodge was on some rainforest property: there was a fairly nice house (where Tony, Jack, and Meryl stayed); the annex, where 7 students stayed in cots on the floor; and the dairy, where 7 of us slept in beds. The shower and kitchen were at the dairy, and we all got together in the living room every night to do homework or play games. Living conditions were probably on the level of disgustingness as Scribner Village, but maybe a little bit worse, since we found a dead skink rotting under Julia’s bed. Oh, and a python lived in the ceiling. And the septic flooded, so everything smelled like shit and dead skink. But other than that, it was great.
We spent our days going to National Parks and States Forests. One of our assignments for the whole trip was “Car Window Ecology” in which we had to look out the window on our many bus trips and write down how the landforms and vegetation were changing. We examined topographic maps, aerial photos, and soil samples at the sites we stopped at, and took notes about the canopy cover, vegetation characteristics, cyclone damage, and forest type. Each night, we had to write an entry about an “Organism of the Day” in our Natural History Field Notebooks, but we couldn’t write about any of the organisms that students presented on. (Prior to the rainforest trip, we were each assigned a flora and fauna to research. When we came across our flora or fauna in the rainforest, we were to present what we had researched without notes. I was responsible for Ground Ferns and Honeyeaters.)
On the third day of the trip, we went to Henrietta Creek to walk the Nandroya Falls track. It was the first good hike we’d had in a while, but it ended in the most amazing place ever. There was a huge and beautiful waterfall, probably about 80 meters high, tumbling from straight-up cliff face into a pool of water. But it gets better: we went swimming beneath the fall. You look straight up, and you can barely see the sky, the cliffs were so tall! It was one of the happiest and most exhilarating moments of my life.
The next day, we did another hike (this one in the rain—we had good weather, except for a handful of rainy days) at Mount Hypipamee National Park. The walk ended at a huge crater caused by a volcano. It went so far down, we couldn’t even measure its depth. It was partly filled with water, and apparently people have scuba dived there to find out how deep it is, but no one ever reached the bottom.
On day five, we went tree planting! We worked with a local group, TREAT, as well as the School for Field Studies students (a similar abroad program) to plant native tree species along a wildlife corridor. The soils on the Tablelands are basaltic, so we were thickly covered with red dirt. It was so much fun to be down in the dirt though, and to feel like we were giving back to the community. The people running the planting were amazed at how quickly we planted the corridor: they even ran out of seedlings! They’d never had so many people help with a planting before. After the planting, the owner of the property took us around to show us previous plantings and talk about revegetation projects. We then went to Lake Eacham to go for a swim. We had gone to Lake Eacham during orientation as well, and after the waterfall, it’s the best place we’ve swam. The water is extremely clean and the perfect temperature. We got to go into Atherton for the afternoon to use the internet and be in civilization for a few hours before we headed back to the Lodge.
On two nights at the Lodge, we went spotlighting. After dark, we would walk in a single file line. Jack had a spot light, and some students had head lamps or flashlight. You hold the light at eye level and search in the trees for the red eye shine of possums. We saw four Herbert River Ringtail Possums and one Striped Possum, which looks sort of like a skunk, but is very rare.
One morning, we went mistnetting at Jack’s house. Jack lives in a cabin that he built for himself in the rainforest. I guess you could say it resembles a large treehouse. Next to his house, however, is the “house” he lived in for five years before he built the big one. It is the size of a shed. It’s permanent camping. You do what you want to do. Jack had set up five mist nets around his house, which we checked every 45 minutes or so throughout the morning. It was a rainy morning, so we didn’t catch any birds, until we went to collect the mist nets to put them away and found a Spectacled Monarch. It was really tangled in the net, and Tony couldn’t get it out, but Jack came running, and untangled the bird with the most nimble fingers I’ve ever seen. It was amazing to watch. He brought the bird back to his house to band it. Jack is one of about two people in Queensland who bands birds, so ornithologists here don’t know very much about bird migrations in Australia at this point.
On Friday and Saturday, we got into groups to do our rainforest projects. We had to do eight hours of data collection and analysis, and then present our projects on Monday morning. This was the first actual science project I’ve really done so far. I worked with Geneveve and Steve, and we sampled wait-a-whiles, or climbing palms, in the rainforest behind the lodge. The rainforest grows along a ridge that separates a metamorphic soil base from a basaltic soil base, so we sampled the plants on both sides of the ridge, as well as in areas of closed canopy and open canopy, and made comparisons. The data collection for this project is when most of the leech bites occurred. I definitely relied on my group members for the real science-y parts of the project, but all of the small projects we’re doing have really helped us prepare for ISP.
On Sunday, our original plan was to hike Mount Bartle Frer, which is the leechiest rainforest around. We ended up not going, because of the rain, so instead we drove west to hike Mount Baldy. It was a very steep but short hike. I was disappointed with the short amount of time we spent at the summit, but when we climbed down, we drove to Granite Gorge, where we played with wild rock wallabies. A mother with a baby in her pouch literally jumped over my legs while I was sitting down and let me pet her. We also went swimming at the gorge, which was a little bit muddy, but still refreshing. I would take rock wallabies over leeches pretty much any day.
We got back to Cairns yesterday afternoon. I really can’t believe how fast the rainforest trip flew by. We are only here for two days, and then we are heading to Lizard Island to study the Great Barrier Reef for ten days. Then we’re only back in Cairns for a week before ISP starts! I am hoping to study sea turtles, but have yet to finalize anything.
Despite the leeches, the rainforest trip was great. On our first day, we saw a cassowary!! These prehistoric birds, a bit smaller than ostriches, are very endangered and extremely rare to see in the wild. We were driving in some forest down near Mission Beach, and saw one ahead of us on an old dirt road. It was the first time I was really glad I had been lugging my heavy binoculars around for so long. The second time I was really glad I had been lugging my heavy binoculars around for so long was when we saw a Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo, about 20 meters up in a tree, staring down at us with his cute black face.
For the first two nights of the trip, we stayed in a hostel called the Tree House. There was a snake by the pool, a huntsman spider in the bathroom, and we woke up the first morning to a Hercules moth right outside of our door. It was well-named: about the size of my two hands. There was also a pet cat which I was pretty happy about. We had lunch and dinner cooking and clean-up crews for the whole trip, so we all took turns preparing our meals. After staying at the Tree House, we went back up to the Atherton Tablelands (where we were for orientation) and stayed at “The Lodge.” The Lodge was on some rainforest property: there was a fairly nice house (where Tony, Jack, and Meryl stayed); the annex, where 7 students stayed in cots on the floor; and the dairy, where 7 of us slept in beds. The shower and kitchen were at the dairy, and we all got together in the living room every night to do homework or play games. Living conditions were probably on the level of disgustingness as Scribner Village, but maybe a little bit worse, since we found a dead skink rotting under Julia’s bed. Oh, and a python lived in the ceiling. And the septic flooded, so everything smelled like shit and dead skink. But other than that, it was great.
We spent our days going to National Parks and States Forests. One of our assignments for the whole trip was “Car Window Ecology” in which we had to look out the window on our many bus trips and write down how the landforms and vegetation were changing. We examined topographic maps, aerial photos, and soil samples at the sites we stopped at, and took notes about the canopy cover, vegetation characteristics, cyclone damage, and forest type. Each night, we had to write an entry about an “Organism of the Day” in our Natural History Field Notebooks, but we couldn’t write about any of the organisms that students presented on. (Prior to the rainforest trip, we were each assigned a flora and fauna to research. When we came across our flora or fauna in the rainforest, we were to present what we had researched without notes. I was responsible for Ground Ferns and Honeyeaters.)
On the third day of the trip, we went to Henrietta Creek to walk the Nandroya Falls track. It was the first good hike we’d had in a while, but it ended in the most amazing place ever. There was a huge and beautiful waterfall, probably about 80 meters high, tumbling from straight-up cliff face into a pool of water. But it gets better: we went swimming beneath the fall. You look straight up, and you can barely see the sky, the cliffs were so tall! It was one of the happiest and most exhilarating moments of my life.
The next day, we did another hike (this one in the rain—we had good weather, except for a handful of rainy days) at Mount Hypipamee National Park. The walk ended at a huge crater caused by a volcano. It went so far down, we couldn’t even measure its depth. It was partly filled with water, and apparently people have scuba dived there to find out how deep it is, but no one ever reached the bottom.
On day five, we went tree planting! We worked with a local group, TREAT, as well as the School for Field Studies students (a similar abroad program) to plant native tree species along a wildlife corridor. The soils on the Tablelands are basaltic, so we were thickly covered with red dirt. It was so much fun to be down in the dirt though, and to feel like we were giving back to the community. The people running the planting were amazed at how quickly we planted the corridor: they even ran out of seedlings! They’d never had so many people help with a planting before. After the planting, the owner of the property took us around to show us previous plantings and talk about revegetation projects. We then went to Lake Eacham to go for a swim. We had gone to Lake Eacham during orientation as well, and after the waterfall, it’s the best place we’ve swam. The water is extremely clean and the perfect temperature. We got to go into Atherton for the afternoon to use the internet and be in civilization for a few hours before we headed back to the Lodge.
On two nights at the Lodge, we went spotlighting. After dark, we would walk in a single file line. Jack had a spot light, and some students had head lamps or flashlight. You hold the light at eye level and search in the trees for the red eye shine of possums. We saw four Herbert River Ringtail Possums and one Striped Possum, which looks sort of like a skunk, but is very rare.
One morning, we went mistnetting at Jack’s house. Jack lives in a cabin that he built for himself in the rainforest. I guess you could say it resembles a large treehouse. Next to his house, however, is the “house” he lived in for five years before he built the big one. It is the size of a shed. It’s permanent camping. You do what you want to do. Jack had set up five mist nets around his house, which we checked every 45 minutes or so throughout the morning. It was a rainy morning, so we didn’t catch any birds, until we went to collect the mist nets to put them away and found a Spectacled Monarch. It was really tangled in the net, and Tony couldn’t get it out, but Jack came running, and untangled the bird with the most nimble fingers I’ve ever seen. It was amazing to watch. He brought the bird back to his house to band it. Jack is one of about two people in Queensland who bands birds, so ornithologists here don’t know very much about bird migrations in Australia at this point.
On Friday and Saturday, we got into groups to do our rainforest projects. We had to do eight hours of data collection and analysis, and then present our projects on Monday morning. This was the first actual science project I’ve really done so far. I worked with Geneveve and Steve, and we sampled wait-a-whiles, or climbing palms, in the rainforest behind the lodge. The rainforest grows along a ridge that separates a metamorphic soil base from a basaltic soil base, so we sampled the plants on both sides of the ridge, as well as in areas of closed canopy and open canopy, and made comparisons. The data collection for this project is when most of the leech bites occurred. I definitely relied on my group members for the real science-y parts of the project, but all of the small projects we’re doing have really helped us prepare for ISP.
On Sunday, our original plan was to hike Mount Bartle Frer, which is the leechiest rainforest around. We ended up not going, because of the rain, so instead we drove west to hike Mount Baldy. It was a very steep but short hike. I was disappointed with the short amount of time we spent at the summit, but when we climbed down, we drove to Granite Gorge, where we played with wild rock wallabies. A mother with a baby in her pouch literally jumped over my legs while I was sitting down and let me pet her. We also went swimming at the gorge, which was a little bit muddy, but still refreshing. I would take rock wallabies over leeches pretty much any day.
We got back to Cairns yesterday afternoon. I really can’t believe how fast the rainforest trip flew by. We are only here for two days, and then we are heading to Lizard Island to study the Great Barrier Reef for ten days. Then we’re only back in Cairns for a week before ISP starts! I am hoping to study sea turtles, but have yet to finalize anything.
Monday, March 2, 2009
camping trip
On Sunday morning, (February 22nd), our homestay families dropped us off in Cairns after our two-week stays. We were asked by our advisor to be ready at 9:30 AM, even though we would be spending our camping trip on “Murri time.” Well, our advisor showed up at about 11 o’clock. No worries.
We headed out into the “bush” in three 4WD vehicles. Tony drove one of them with Meryl, the lovely woman who provides us with food on all of our excursions. Russell Butler and Ian Owens, the two Aboriginal men we camped with, drove the other two. Russell drove the vehicle I was in. He is a jolly, laughing man with a big belly and curly white hair. Think of an Aboriginal Santa Claus or a beautiful black Buddha wearing shorts and a T-shirt, flip-flops, and a cowboy hat. We sang one of Russell’s favorite songs on the drive: “G’day g’day! And how ya goin? What do you know, strike a light. G’day G’day! And how ya going? Ya say g’day g’day g’day and you’ll be right!” Ian’s grandson, Graham, also came with us on the trip. He is 18 and “half-caste” with an Aboriginal mother and a white father.
The “bush” ended up being the Lion’s Den Hotel. Well, the campsite behind the hotel. So we did have a bathroom for the first three days of the trip. When we got there, we set up camp: one giant tarp became a tent where we gathered during the day to do homework and have meals. We set up the kitchen there, too (two tables, a grill, and a 3-burner stove with tubs for washing, tea kettles, pots, pans, platters, and three Eskes). We set up our sleeping tents around this community center, two people to a tent. My roomie for the week was Julia.
We spent most of our time at the campsite. Everyone always took part in cooking our meals. I especially had to watch out that the veggies were cooked on the grill before any meat was! I’ve never been in the situation where food had to be cooked for so many people, and it was a bit challenging as a vegetarian. But it was fun preparing meals with everyone, then washing mess kits and pots with river water.
We got together each night at Russell’s feet. Sometimes he played the guitar (my personal favorite was “Me and Bobby McGee”). He told us Dreamtime stories and talked about current Aboriginal issues. He was infinitely happy to share his culture with us, and we listened to his words in the dark, cool breeze flapping the tent and “cuppas” in our hands.
On the first night, I received my Aboriginal name. I was one of the first to receive one, so I guess Russell had me pinned. I am Guyibara, or the curlew. The curlew is a skinny-legged bird with large eyes. Russell named me Guyibara because I am wide-eyed and observant. I’m a loner, watchful, and walk at an unhurried pace. The curlew makes a sound at night that sounds like someone crying. Russell asked me if I cry a lot. Well, I didn’t answer that question. (Laugh if you know what I’m talking about.)
Russell told us the story of why the curlew cries. There was a family of curlews: a mother, father, and two babies. The mother and father went to the stream one day to gather some water. The owl, watching from above, saw that they had left, and told his pet dingo that he could go eat the baby curlews because he was hungry. The dingo did as the owl suggested, and when the curlew parents came back to find their babies gone, they cried and cried all night. The next day, the father curlew took revenge and killed the dingo. He went up to the owl’s cave, but the owl was too afraid to leave his cave without his pet dingo. The father curlew threatened him, and said that if he ever came out in the light of day, he would kill him. To this day, the owl doesn’t come out during the day. If you see an owl in daylight, it signifies a death in your family.
We spent our second day camping lying in the sun on the rocks by the creek. I also led half our group in a yoga session in the morning! We were on Murri time, so the time was ours. The creek was croc free, but we did see a goanna climbing a tree at our campsite. We also made string out of the bark from a fig tree, and made bracelets and necklaces with beads that Russell brought. We threw spears (aiming for a cereal box) and used the leaves from the soap tree on our bug bites.
On the third day, it was a bit rainy, so instead of hanging around camp under the tent all day, we went to Cooktown. Captain James Cook landed there on June 17, 1770, and spent six weeks there repairing his ship, which had crashed into the Great Barrier Reef. We just spent a few hours there, walking around, then drove up to the look-out peak, which had a beautiful view of the forest-covered mountains and the blue blue ocean.
When we got back to the campsite, Russell took us on a short rainforest walk to show us some plants and their uses. It was Megan’s birthday, so after dinner we headed to the Lion’s Den Pub for some drinks and some delicious banana-chocolate birthday cake. We played darts and pool with Russ and Ian. When else do you drink with your professors? Not bad.
After three nights at the first campsite, we went to Dinden National Park. This campsite was a bit more rugged – no bathrooms this time (although there was an outhouse.) Not washing my face for the next four days did some damage to my skin, but no worries. This campsite was on another beautiful creek, with cold water, but the most comfortable rocks you could ever lay on in your life. We spent a lot of time in the sun at this campsite – I had no idea how tan I was getting until I saw a mirror when we got back to Cairns!
At the Dinden campsite, we painted boomerangs! I painted one of mine with curlew footprints and traditional Aboriginal dot art. They should provide some nice wall decorations for my room next year. =) We were painting the boomerangs on some large boulders on the edge of our campsite, and about five feet from where we were sitting, Graham spotted a death adder (very poisonous snake)! We stood around watching it for a while (they will only bite if they feel threatened, so basically only if you step on it), then Tony and Russell moved it away with a stick.
One of the mornings at Dinden, Megan, Angie, Geneveve and I took a walk. We walked about a half an hour down the road until we reached a circuit trail that wound around the creek and led to the biggest waterfall I think I’ve seen. We were SO high above everything, the sky was brilliant blue, the gum trees were bright green, the granite rocks were immense, and the water of the waterfall was the clearest water in the world. It was beautiful, and it felt so good to see the waterfall after we had earned it by hiking there. (We actually drove to it the second day, which wasn’t as awesome, although still beautiful.) Also, on our walk, we passed a chain of 76 furry white caterpillars! They were just marching along, nose to butt, follow the leader. It was pretty cool.
Overall, the camping trip was like a vacation. We didn’t have a schedule, so there wasn’t pressure to do much academic work. It was great to talk to Russ and Ian and learn about their culture. They were some of the friendliest people I know. We’re back in Cairns now, and the next 5 days are packed with lectures and assignment and ISP preparation before we depart for our rainforest trip. We’ve been here a month already! It’s hard to believe.
We headed out into the “bush” in three 4WD vehicles. Tony drove one of them with Meryl, the lovely woman who provides us with food on all of our excursions. Russell Butler and Ian Owens, the two Aboriginal men we camped with, drove the other two. Russell drove the vehicle I was in. He is a jolly, laughing man with a big belly and curly white hair. Think of an Aboriginal Santa Claus or a beautiful black Buddha wearing shorts and a T-shirt, flip-flops, and a cowboy hat. We sang one of Russell’s favorite songs on the drive: “G’day g’day! And how ya goin? What do you know, strike a light. G’day G’day! And how ya going? Ya say g’day g’day g’day and you’ll be right!” Ian’s grandson, Graham, also came with us on the trip. He is 18 and “half-caste” with an Aboriginal mother and a white father.
The “bush” ended up being the Lion’s Den Hotel. Well, the campsite behind the hotel. So we did have a bathroom for the first three days of the trip. When we got there, we set up camp: one giant tarp became a tent where we gathered during the day to do homework and have meals. We set up the kitchen there, too (two tables, a grill, and a 3-burner stove with tubs for washing, tea kettles, pots, pans, platters, and three Eskes). We set up our sleeping tents around this community center, two people to a tent. My roomie for the week was Julia.
We spent most of our time at the campsite. Everyone always took part in cooking our meals. I especially had to watch out that the veggies were cooked on the grill before any meat was! I’ve never been in the situation where food had to be cooked for so many people, and it was a bit challenging as a vegetarian. But it was fun preparing meals with everyone, then washing mess kits and pots with river water.
We got together each night at Russell’s feet. Sometimes he played the guitar (my personal favorite was “Me and Bobby McGee”). He told us Dreamtime stories and talked about current Aboriginal issues. He was infinitely happy to share his culture with us, and we listened to his words in the dark, cool breeze flapping the tent and “cuppas” in our hands.
On the first night, I received my Aboriginal name. I was one of the first to receive one, so I guess Russell had me pinned. I am Guyibara, or the curlew. The curlew is a skinny-legged bird with large eyes. Russell named me Guyibara because I am wide-eyed and observant. I’m a loner, watchful, and walk at an unhurried pace. The curlew makes a sound at night that sounds like someone crying. Russell asked me if I cry a lot. Well, I didn’t answer that question. (Laugh if you know what I’m talking about.)
Russell told us the story of why the curlew cries. There was a family of curlews: a mother, father, and two babies. The mother and father went to the stream one day to gather some water. The owl, watching from above, saw that they had left, and told his pet dingo that he could go eat the baby curlews because he was hungry. The dingo did as the owl suggested, and when the curlew parents came back to find their babies gone, they cried and cried all night. The next day, the father curlew took revenge and killed the dingo. He went up to the owl’s cave, but the owl was too afraid to leave his cave without his pet dingo. The father curlew threatened him, and said that if he ever came out in the light of day, he would kill him. To this day, the owl doesn’t come out during the day. If you see an owl in daylight, it signifies a death in your family.
We spent our second day camping lying in the sun on the rocks by the creek. I also led half our group in a yoga session in the morning! We were on Murri time, so the time was ours. The creek was croc free, but we did see a goanna climbing a tree at our campsite. We also made string out of the bark from a fig tree, and made bracelets and necklaces with beads that Russell brought. We threw spears (aiming for a cereal box) and used the leaves from the soap tree on our bug bites.
On the third day, it was a bit rainy, so instead of hanging around camp under the tent all day, we went to Cooktown. Captain James Cook landed there on June 17, 1770, and spent six weeks there repairing his ship, which had crashed into the Great Barrier Reef. We just spent a few hours there, walking around, then drove up to the look-out peak, which had a beautiful view of the forest-covered mountains and the blue blue ocean.
When we got back to the campsite, Russell took us on a short rainforest walk to show us some plants and their uses. It was Megan’s birthday, so after dinner we headed to the Lion’s Den Pub for some drinks and some delicious banana-chocolate birthday cake. We played darts and pool with Russ and Ian. When else do you drink with your professors? Not bad.
After three nights at the first campsite, we went to Dinden National Park. This campsite was a bit more rugged – no bathrooms this time (although there was an outhouse.) Not washing my face for the next four days did some damage to my skin, but no worries. This campsite was on another beautiful creek, with cold water, but the most comfortable rocks you could ever lay on in your life. We spent a lot of time in the sun at this campsite – I had no idea how tan I was getting until I saw a mirror when we got back to Cairns!
At the Dinden campsite, we painted boomerangs! I painted one of mine with curlew footprints and traditional Aboriginal dot art. They should provide some nice wall decorations for my room next year. =) We were painting the boomerangs on some large boulders on the edge of our campsite, and about five feet from where we were sitting, Graham spotted a death adder (very poisonous snake)! We stood around watching it for a while (they will only bite if they feel threatened, so basically only if you step on it), then Tony and Russell moved it away with a stick.
One of the mornings at Dinden, Megan, Angie, Geneveve and I took a walk. We walked about a half an hour down the road until we reached a circuit trail that wound around the creek and led to the biggest waterfall I think I’ve seen. We were SO high above everything, the sky was brilliant blue, the gum trees were bright green, the granite rocks were immense, and the water of the waterfall was the clearest water in the world. It was beautiful, and it felt so good to see the waterfall after we had earned it by hiking there. (We actually drove to it the second day, which wasn’t as awesome, although still beautiful.) Also, on our walk, we passed a chain of 76 furry white caterpillars! They were just marching along, nose to butt, follow the leader. It was pretty cool.
Overall, the camping trip was like a vacation. We didn’t have a schedule, so there wasn’t pressure to do much academic work. It was great to talk to Russ and Ian and learn about their culture. They were some of the friendliest people I know. We’re back in Cairns now, and the next 5 days are packed with lectures and assignment and ISP preparation before we depart for our rainforest trip. We’ve been here a month already! It’s hard to believe.
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