This is already the fourth week of the second semester! And the smell of holiday is finally no longer lurking around... it's time to do some serious reading, and I don't mean fiction. Eversince I picked up Chocolat by Joanne Harris from a Salvation Army thrift store in Sydney a month ago, I had read three other novels- I got kind of hooked somehow! Luckily there are not many good titles in the fiction corner of our library, but I manage to pick a thin one today about a story of the "stolen generation" in Australia. Should be interesting.

I know I have ben lazy in posting entries, I can't probably blame it on the winter cold, can I? Temperature can drop to 1 to 2 degrees in the wee hours, but inside the house it is still manageable without a heater, but I will have to wear socks and bedroom slippers and some nights a beanie and gloves! 

I wish I can simply Bluetooth the words and image in my mind to the internet..... (no, I have not been reading science fictons). Ok, so what interesting stuffs have happened after the last post....

The fauna survey is defintely one. It's the first time I get up close with native wild animals here like the bandicoot. It was AWESOME (must say it like the Aussies) to peek into the pouch of a female bandicoot at the little babies (they call them pinkies). I saw my first monotreme (mammal that lay eggs)- a echidna, which fell into our pit-fall trap! When released, it started to dig beneath itself and sank steadly into the ground! Quite an amusing sight! I guess this is a way to protect itself from predators by pressing it's vulnerable unprotected belly tight against the ground while exposing its long and sharp spikes. 

Now, this photo does look like a decomposing wedge of durian shell right?

 

The trip up north is pretty good too. It's the first time I backpacked alone, taking the Greyhound and sleeping in dorm beds and I am surprised that I actually enjoyed it very much! Of course there were times that I wished my friends were with me, or that I have another like-minded person whom I can share the joy of seeing really beautiful nature masterpieces, but there are also the freedom to do whatever you like and the peaceful moments you can engage in serendipity with nature. You are also more likely to step out of your comfort zone to do something different and also to talk to people you meet along the way.   

I saw the other monotreme in my trip- platypus! Some people I met later told me they are elusive animals, but because I stayed 2 nights at a place near the national park (Eungella National Park), I actually had the opportunity to be at the viewing platform over Broken River on three consecutive evenings, and I saw at least two of them each time. You have to be fairly patient though, my first sighting came about thirty to fourty minutes into the wait. You also have to be observant enough to differentiate the ripples made by them from the many terrapins in the river. The platypus is smaller than what I had imagined, about 30-40 cm in length. They are such a delight to watch. 

 

I can probably easily post more than a dozen of short entries about my trip! But that's it for today ;-) I am getting sleepy now!