Be Cass-o-wary
Cassowary on site! We
found poop with tons of plum pits in the middle of the access road…gahhh!
That makes me so nervous to walk about, especially at night when
heading back to my cabin. For those of you who don’t know what a
cassowary is, it looks like a giant, prehistoric bird. Its head has
this huge jutting bone and its feet have talons that could rip you
open in a split second. The only thing you can do when you encounter
one is to get some tree or object between you and the creature. It
will attack you if it sees you because of its territorial nature. I
would rather take on a full-grown male bison than a cassowary any
day! Yikes!
Anyways, last weekend
we headed to Mission Beach for an all-day ultimate frizbee
tournament against JCU (James Cook University). Kaitlin, Elyse and I
decided against an exhausting day of running around a swamp field,
and instead we window shopped, swam in the stinger nets (the waves
were huge!) and napped on the white sandy beach, watching the
parachuters land on the beach in front of us. We found out later
that sometimes when the tide gets too high, crocodiles will swim
into the stinger nets to feast on trapped fish. Otherwise, it was a
beautiful, sunny day of lazing around. We headed to the fields in
the late afternoon to
watch the last game between SFS and JCU. They played great, but
everyone was wiped. Thankfully, we regained some strength with a
beach-side BBQ of sausage and hamburger rolls.
We had only one day
back at the Center before we had to repack our backpacks for a 3-day
camping trip to the Daintree. The drive up to the coastal rainforest
was beautiful. We stopped at Mossman Gorge along the way to enjoy a
scenic walk and swim in the fast-moving, frigid water. The only way
to get to the Daintree is by ferry, crossing the croc-infested
Daintree River to a rugged place completely off the grid where the
mossies carry you away and the humidity suppresses you. We finally
arrived at the hostel and settled into our cabins, which were
nestled under the shelter the dense canopy. Our cabin was right
beside a giant fig tree that was at least 15 feet in diameter. It
was amazing. We had field lectures in giant fan-palm forests where
we saw 500 year-old king ferns. We spent hours walking various
beaches from the Daintree up to Cape Tribulation. Obviously we
couldn’t swim because of several 5-meter crocodile sightings earlier
that week. Our last day at the Daintree, we jumped on a croc tour
down a side river that opened out into the ocean. Our guide showed
us female crocodiles basking on the banks, feeding in mangrove
patches and swimming lazily through the water. Our short stay at the
Daintree was great, but we were glad to get back to the cooler
upland rainforest at the center.
This past weekend I
had my final exam in Rainforest Ecology, which went really well.
Before the actual test, a small group of us traveled to Cairns for
NSDA’s Farmgate Market Grand Opening. It was great! Imeea, a
wonderful lady we met as a guest lecturer, was coordinator of this
farmer’s market. We went not only to support her, but to gather
research for our DR projects. The market opening was a huge success
and all I remember is seeing Imeea beam at us with pure happiness
before scurrying off in an attempt to keep everything running
smoothly. There was stand after stand of gourmet cheeses, local
fruits and vegetables, homemade ice cream, flat breads, fruit wines,
and butchered meats. I think I ate my fill for the day just in
samples from vendors yelling over people’s heads and shoving bits of
their product in my direction, sweet-talking me into buying from
them. The market is such a live place.
I spent Saturday night
singing and dancing in the kitchen to oldies music while baking some
delicious oatmeal cookies with my buddies. We relaxed on the couches
and watched movies until we were almost falling asleep. I woke up
Sunday morning for a day with aboriginals making didjeradoos. We
unloaded the vans and gathered around 4 aboriginals who were already
watching all of our personality quirks, trying to discover our inner
being or spiritual animal. We lined up beside a pile of eucalypts,
hollowed-out by hungry termites, and one-by-one we were given a
unique log that the aboriginal, Phil, deemed as “our” didj. Then we
propped our didjs up against a metal post and began chiseling out
and sanding the bottom of our future didj. Next up was to use a
machete to strip off the bark of the eucalypt log to reveal the
white and red core underneath. My didj was beautiful with each curve
and imperfection a unique aspect of the didj I would call my own.
Phil said it was very important for us to remember which didj was
ours because we would never become a good player without our own
didj. As we waited for the aboriginals to sand down and polish the
outside of our didjeradoos, we practiced with some extra didjs the
aboriginals brought out for us and they even showed us some
techniques of playing. It was a great experience! After our didjs
were polished, we applied a polishing paint, which really brought
out the magnificent red, brown and white colors of the eucalypt
wood. Each one of our didjs were completely different – amazing! We
left our didjs with the aboriginals who will spend the next week
painting our spirit animal and adding a wax to the mouth bit of each
of them. Then they will present our didjs to us sometime next week,
sharing the story behind each of our spirit animals. I cannot wait!
Monday we had our last
two final tests, which completed our coursework for 3 of our
classes. Now I will spend the rest of my time here writing up my
final directed research project. 2 more weeks…yikes!
