Tonight I'm updating my resume and applying to that job I mentioned in the Yukon next spring. Well, actually it's more like next winter because the earliest position starts in January. I'm going to apply for one of five that start at the end of February or later in the season. I really need to spend some time at home and write the article from my Masters before I head out again. It justs seems so strange that they work in the Yukon during January. I thought everyone up there just hibernated.
Since I'll be on the computer for awhile, I thought I'd set it to upload some of my favourite pictures from the last month (I haven't added any since I went to the Daintree on October 3.
Assisting Helena at PK's pool tables. Her injured finger makes this sort of thing very difficult. Trust me, our game wasn't even affected, we're always horrible.
Myself, Courtney, and Laure putting up the wall of the new building. Helena couldn't help so she took pictures.
Lizard eggs are everywhere. So are lizards.
Feeding a little blossom bat some reward honey after we captured him and ID'd his species.
Our beloved swimming hole at Myall Creek.
Cape Trib in the far distance.
Native hibiscus.
A swamp wallaby joey.
Helena in the canopy crane!
The inside of a mangosteen, the queen of the fruit, and one of the most delicious things in the world.
Laure with her magic floating baby coconut. We were just being very silly one night at the station.
My little cabin in the rainforest.
A picture of a picture, these little bats were orphaned and handfed by volunteers at the Bat House. They need to be wrapped in little blankets because they can't thermoregulate until they are about 6 months old. That's why little bats sleep in their mother's wings.
The bowl of fruit we tried at fruit tasting. The yellow lumpy one is the rollina, and the round purple ones are the mangosteens. The giant green prickly one is the jakfruit.
A member of the persimmon family, the name means child fruit, but I can't remember how to spell it. Tastes just like caramel. I loved this one. It's the little brown one tucked in between the rollinia and the green persimmon.
Black persimmon, or chocolate pudding fruit. It looks just like pudding, but doesn't taste so chocolately. It's sweet and nice and I really liked the texture. They do mix it with vanilla and cocoa to make a really tasty frozen pudding that's all natural. I had some after the fruit testing.
The inside of rollinia! Yum! Just like lemon meringue pie.
The little red one is miracle fruit, the green one is tahitian lime. You chew on the miracle fruit for a minute, it's really all pit, just a bit of fruit with very little flavour. Then you eat the lime. The miracle fruit shuts off your sour tastebuds and the lime is so delicious. We even had little shots of vinegar after eating the miracle fruit and it tastes sweet. You have to plug your nose so you can't smell it, but it's so weird. The effect lasts for about an hour.
Jakfruit growing on the tree in the orchard next to the research station. It's the largest tree fruit in the world and can grow up to about a metre long. It's got these dark yellow pieces inside that are so delicious.
Courtney and I running the show at the Bat House. A nice German tourist took this picture for us.
Pushkin the sleeping bat hanging out at the Bat House.
Sand crab homes. They take bits of sand into their mouths, roll them around and eat the organic matter, then spit out the perfect little ball of leaftover sand. These completely cover the beach at lowtide.
Laure, Courtney, Helena on Myall Beach drying off from an afternoon of snorkling.
Courtney at the top of the peak where we stopped for lunch.
Courtney walking along the ridge leaving the final lookout. There is a huge drop on either side of the narrow path and we're about 700 m straight above sealevel. This picture doesn't really capture the ridge very well.
View from the top of Mt. Sorrow. Out over the cycads, down to the town clearings and out over the ocean.
Under the umbrella trees at the bottom of Mt. Sorrow. We really needed to stop for a break and this was one of the most scenic spots for it.
Me on Cape Trib beach. I had to leave that shirt behind. It was just so worn out. I really liked it though.
Courtney and I on the Rum Runner, the diving boat we took to the reef. I wore the wetsuit all day and it's a good thing because even though it was overcast the back of my calves were burnt.
Helena has an underwater camera. She took these the day she was at the reef. I borrowed them from her so that I could have some underwater pictures and show them to you. This was the same reef I was at, and I probably swam past a lot of these things, so you'd never tell the difference. These pictures are pretty good, but the colours are actually much more vibrant when you're there.
This is one of the only areas in the Great Barrier Reef where the blue sea star grows so abundantly.
Helena swimming over the reef. This is at hightide. When the tide is out, you can't swim over some areas.
A giant clam! All of the blue things around the opening are small plants that grow in the cells of the clam's shell. This sort of thing, mutualism, happens frequently on the reef in all different manners.
On the way back in we could see that it had rained in Cape Trib for most of the afternoon. We didn't get any rain out at the reef (about 20 km from shore). And the rain that did fall was gentle and wasn't enough to help with the drought the rainforest has been experiencing for the past three months. People are starting to get very worried that the upcoming wet season won't bring enough rain at all.
Mangrove roots along the boardwalk to the beach. This is where the crocodiles like to live. They aren't around right now because the water is so low.
Rattlecat, the one year old kitty who lived with us at Cape Trib. I wasn't allergic to her because there weren't any walls on our house, so her dander didn't stay around.
Beautiful waterfalls at Kuranda. This picture was taken out the window of the train.
Historical Kuranda Railway. The trip back to Cairns took about 1.75 hours. The train has to pass through 15 tunnels along the side of the mountain. The view was incredible.
Holloway Beach, the place I stayed during my second trip to Cairns.
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