After the Rains -- Life Begins Again
The weekend was fairly lax since our group’s planned excursion to
hike the intense Lamb’s Head trail was cancelled on account of
suspected thunderstorms. Disappointing though it was, my two
friends, Kaitlin and Elyse, and I decided to kick back and watch
When Harry Met Sally – a true romantic classic. The lax
atmosphere continued through Monday morning since our socio-econ
professor gave us free time to finish our field exercise reports in
time for the noon submission deadline. I had mine done, so Kaitlin,
Elyse and I worked on our Forest Types Presentation for our Natural
Resource Management professor, Tim. After lunch, we headed to the
classroom for our next field exercise report explanation from our
German ecology professor, Siggy. To our dismay, she had decided to
focus our research topic to nocturnal animals, which meant
bushwhacking at
3am.
Fortunately for me, I volunteered to be a coordinator, which meant
that I, along with 2 others, was responsible for picking up the 9 UV
trap specimen vials collected from the previous night’s group and
run them to the lab for identification. Nathan, Callin and I spent
most of the morning picking at moths, beetles and crickets with
tweezers (orders Lepidoptera, Diptera and Orthoptera,
respectively!). We had to look at some of them under the microscope
to get a clear i.d. of each order’s characteristics. Although
tedious at first, it has been a great learning experience and I have
found a new respect for entomology.
I was wompoo on Tuesday, so I was responsible for heading our
announcement circle on the grass. I began with a short reflection,
then asked for any announcements from the group (which there is
always a lot), then I dismissed KP (Kitchen Patrol) to set up
everything for lunch while the remaining students and staff played a
game of wompoo’s choice. I decided to play mine field, which turned
out to be pretty fun. But it’s just a quick game before the bell is
rung and 30 hungry students run wild to the front of the lunch line.
Elyse and I just lay out on the grass that afternoon to take a break
from researching. We stared up into the rainforest canopy, watching
sulfur-crested cockatoos glide over our heads (unfortunately they
sound obnoxiously loud) and Ulysses butterflies flutter among the
purple-flowered trees. The blue sky above shifted between passing
white clouds and the sun shone down gently on our faces. It was a
simply beautiful day, and we were just happy to have stopped to
notice it.
Wednesday afternoon was gorgeous (again – haha – I know all my
friends and family reading this must be jealous after that huge snow
storm) and Elyse, Sam and I decided to bushwhack to Severin Creek
located on the Center for Rainforest Studies reserve to a small
waterfall. It was a pleasant walk, though a little treacherous with
my bright yellow gumboots. There were very few leeches, which was a
plus too.
Last weekend was FANTASTIC. Saturday morning we woke up to a
beautiful clear day and headed up to Mamu Canopy Walk for some
community service work in exchange for free entry. We climbed a
tower that overlooked the Great Dividing Range, where great
mountains covered in thick rainforest vegetation seem to climb over
each other higher into the misty clouds above. Then we jumped into
the vans to drive to Cairns for a footie game. We all settled down
on the grassy “bleachers”, grabbing some burgers and chips and
listening to the funny commentators in anticipation for some great
rugby playing. Suddenly, Aussies in the crowd began pointing up into
the night sky. We kept staring at empty blackness wondering about
the crazy Aussies around us when we noticed a mushroom-shaped blob
coming into clearer focus. As it descended, the mushroom became a
parachute and then to our surprise, we realized there was a person
on that parachute. And this guy glided down right onto the rugby
field! Moments later, he was followed by a dozen more parachuters
who all landed on the field to the applause of the crowd. What an
amazing performance and start to the game! Ray, our Center Director,
stopped by our group to explain some of the rules. By the end, it
was beginning to make some sense. After the game, we made our way
down Cairns Main Street to our dorm-style hostel called Gilligans.
The next morning we hopped into a giant charter bus at 6:30am to
drive to the infamous
Tully
River. It was amazing. The dam was on full release and they’d just
had major rains and flooding so the rapids were wild. Our guide was
fantastic and directed us safely through the Class 4 rapids. We were
able to stop a few times to jump off 10 meter-high boulders, float
downstream, and raft under waterfalls. Once, our guide told us to
get out of the raft – that we would be swimming the next rapid. We
naively followed her directions and watched as our raft and guide
floated safely downstream, leaving us behind on a rock. One by one
we jumped into the rushing current and were swept downstream. At
first I was laughing, thinking how great this was until the first
wave came into view. I took a huge breath as a wave crashed over my
head. I bobbed back up to the surface just in time to make sure my
feet were up and to take a quick breath for the next 2-meter wave to
crash over me. This was repeated at least 7 more times before the
rapid calmed and I had to do some Olympic swimming to get myself out
of the current and to the shore where the rafts were waiting. It was
such an intense experience that I was definitely not expecting. But
it was great!! Anyways, by the time the rafting trip was over, I was
completely exhausted and slept most of the 3 hours back to the
Center for Rainforest Studies.
