Day Four/Five

Welcome swallows

A sunbird, she built her nest in the basement of the house we were staying, gave me a lot of opportunities to take photos.

Finally the weather is better, we drove to the beach and removed plastic and any other man-related wastes from the beach. We also removed periwinkles which is a horrible weed around here. Oh and our team leader lost the car key. So we could not go swimming, not to mention the fishing trip we were planning to go on. Ah well, shit happens. The next day we packed everything and left. Arrived Townsville late afternoon. This concludes the 5-day long project we did.

Day Three

Mulching in the rain (nobody told us to do it in the rain btw, we just liked doing it in the rain rather than the sun)

Due to a little miscommunication we missed our ranger guide. It rained quite heavily during the night so the ranger wanted to see if there were any animals in the traps. We wouldn't want the animals dying in the traps from the rain now would we? So she couldn't wait for us (all 7 of us to get up and get ready and the miscommunication bit). Fortunately there were no animals in the traps. As the weather was expected to be bad, she disabled all the traps.
We were supposed to go cleanup the beach that day, however, due to the heavy rain, we could not drive all the way there. So ended up planting more trees in the gulf course. Then we went to clean ourselves in the 5-Mile Creek. That place stinks! I don't know if it was because of all the rain. The water was not very clear either. Not to mention the bullrouts! Luckily the water was so deep we couldn't touch the bottom.

Day Two

Murray river waterfall

Stripped possum: cute, but very stinky

Woke up around 5am to check the traps. We got two stripped possums! ^_^ No sign of the gliders though. We brought the possums home with us, we didn't touch it. We couldn't let them go right away as they are nocturnal. Also they would be quite stressed. So we let them relax and sleep during the day and let them go around 7pm. Oh I forgot to mention, they STINK!! As for the reason for trapping them, we had to catch the gliders to put tracking devices on them to monitor them. Instead the possums fell for the traps. Now we know the possums use man-made eating stations and if such a scenario arises where their food is scarce in future, we know we could provide them with an alternative food source.
Then rest of the day we spent planting trees in the gulf course. It was a bit tiring but otherwise quite enjoyable. After planting trees we went to chill out in a local swimming hole. The locals say it is a natural spa (due to the presence of little pond thingie with very strong water flow). It is indeed very relaxing to sit in it.... aaaaaaah! Gotta love 'em swimming holes!!

Day One

Setting up the spy cam

The bait: contains honey, golden syrup and cordial.

Was too excited the night before, couldn't get any sleep... bummer... Anyways, after 2hrs drive listening to old classics including Business Time/Flight of Conchords we reached Cardwell before noon. Unpacked all the stuff and put up some traps and spy cams in the woods to monitor the gliders. After that we went to swim in the Murray river (I think that is what they call that place anyways) as it was really really hot. The water was really cold, the view is great .... aaaaaaah!! The only thing I hated about the place was Marchflies!! I hate those things! >.<
Then we had dinner and slept. I bid you farewell with the lyrics of "business time" :)

Girl
Tonight we're gonna make love
You know how I know?
Because it's Wednesday
And Wednesday night is the night that we usually make love

Monday night is my night to cook
Tuesday night we go and visit your mother
But Wednesday we make sweet weekly love
It's when everything is just right
There's nothing good on TV
You haven't had your after-work social sports team practice,
so you're not too tired
Oh, it's all on

You lean in and whisper something sexy in my ear like
"I might go to bed now I've got work in the morning"
Ooh, I know what you're trying to say, girl
You're trying to say "Aw yeah, it's business time, it's business time"

It's business
It's business time
I know what you're trying to say
You're trying to say it's time for business
It's business time, ooh
It's business
It's business time
Oh, oh, oh yeah

Then we're in the bathroom
Brushing our teeth
That's all part of the foreplay
I love foreplay
A-sshga-sshga, a-sshga-sshga, a-shhga-sshgaow!
Then you sort out the recycling
That isn't part of the foreplay process but it's still very important

Next thing you know we're in the bedroom
You're wearing that baggy, old, ugly t-shirt
you got from your work several years ago
Mm, you know the one, baby
With the curry stain
Aaa-oow-ah

I remove my clothes very, very clumsily
Tripping sensuously over my pants
Now I'm naked, except for my socks
And you know when I'm down to just my socks
What time it is

Oh!
It's business
It's business time
You know when I'm down to my socks it's time for business
that's why they're called business socks, ooh
It's business
It's business time
Ooh, ooh yeah

Making love
Making love for
Making love for two
Making love for two minutes
When it's with me girl you only need two minutes
Because I'm so intense

You whisper something sexy like "Is that it?!"
I know what you're trying to say girl, you're trying to say
"Oh yeah, that's it!"
Then you tell me you want some more, well
I'm not surprised
But I'm quite sleepy

Mm!
It's business
It's business time
Business hours are over, baby
It's business
It's business time
Ooh, ooh yeah

Ooh, ooh yeah

Digging holes and planting 'em trees

Planting trees.... such hard work...

A little girl petting red kangaroo joey (which seems to be enjoying the love)

Little fella proud of himself for handling a croc... while croc obviously doesn't seem to be enjoying it himself

Jogging back from the field into the shade, it was 32 degrees

The final product of 2 days work, little seedlings, watered, protected with tree guards on top while a weed mat helps protect it from weeds.

    Me and couple of other guys lead by a "mature" team leader drove to this place near Ayr and dug more than a thousand holes. The next day, a bunch of locals (mostly little kids) came and planted trees in them. It was really refreshing to see so many juveniles of our species showing such enthusiasm to save the planet! aaah! The future isn't so hopeless after all. Even though they were given incentives (such as free barbeque, hands on wildlife, free caps, books, water bottles and other random stuff), I cannot help but feel happy to see all of them work hard in the summer heat of Queensland.

   This morning I am going to Cardwell to do a bit of monitoring on mahogany gliders and plant some trees.