And so it came time for our first "excursion"... our four day trip to Chillagoe. We were told that the Center for Rainforest Studies was to wet as Chillagoe was to dry. We were told that Chillagoe, though it was the wet season, would be as dry as the day is long. These were filthy lies. After four days of beautiful weather with clear skies, we made our way to Chillagoe, and upon our arrival, it proceeded to rain vigorously for the next three days. This means rain while sleeping in tents. This means a soaking wet DOWN sleeping bag. This means smelly, unhappy people. This means the cancellation of many of the things we were supposed to do because of the rain. For example, we were supposed to explore some bajillion year old lava tubes... they were completely flooded. For the first time since 1991. In fact, Chillagoe hasn't had this much rain in a very long time... they've already had their yearly average of rainfall in the first couple of months of the rainy season. Go figure.

Despite the unpleasantness, I was able to photograph a couple of interesting things. To your left, you can see a giant termite mound. This was a baby compared to some of the ones we saw driving in... they're literally as big as very large cows. They also are grazers. Each colony consumes about as much grass as an average sized cow.


Here's a pretty nice photo of a couple of rainbow lorekeets (sp?). These guys are quick, but I still got them. They're pretty, and they look rare, but they're actually pretty abundant in some urban areas of Australia, causing much anguish to the locals with their very annoying calls. They are nectar drinkers, and they commonly drink so much nectar that they become drunk and hang upside-down from trees, sometimes even falling to the ground! I do have a photo of one hanging upside down, but it's too blurry to bother with here.

We also went to see Trezkinn Cave... this is one of the many interesting rock formations I saw there. It was a really neat place... damp and dark, but still more pleasant than it was outside (rainy and hot). There are bats living in this cave, and we saw a number flying about and causing craziness.



Here's a green tree frog I saw at the Eco Lodge we stayed at (in tents). For those of you who don't know, an eco lodge is like a regular tourist lodge, except the owners are basically never around, everything is run on the honor system, and they never put new rolls of toilet paper in the bathrooms. Lovely!
A wonderfully plump leech. These things give me the creeps.
At our second campground, someone with sharp eyes found this giant centipede. We took pictures, but were careful not to get too close... the giant centipede has a venemous bite that can make you rather sick. Note the camera in the picture for scale. This is a rather large insect.
Yet another rather large insect... a giant cockroach. This guy was just sitting in the grass. It was delightfully smooth to the touch, and about as big as most trilobites were back in the day.
Here's a picture of me after my field work pulling Lantana, an invasive weed, at 40 Mile Scrub. Note my dirtiness and my snazzy new hat. We worked for three hours, clearing .6 hectares and killing 20,000 plants. Only 100 hectares of infested rainforest remaining (ugh)!

Here is a picture of our final campsite. Note the beautiful red soil.. that's a volcanic soil called basalt.

Well, this entry hasn't been nearly as narrative as I had intended it to be, but I suppose I'm just not such a good story teller. Oh well, a picture says a thousand words, eh?

More to come. Sit tight.