Monsoon of words.

Rainy weather always makes for good writing. At least for me. I've been absent for a bit, mostly due to needing to leave the country in order start the visa renewal process which resulted in a 10 week hiatus in Mexico and Texas. It was a fabulous journey and I hope to publish it in this blog along with some other global gallivants and tips for traveling. This may seem a bit ambitious with so few updates lately; I've been struggling with the formatting of this blog, mainly the integration of movies and pictures into text. So I'm currently looking for another site to host but I'll keep this current in the meantime. :)

                                                "Savannah" and her joey "Moses"

As mentioned before, it's been raining here. Alot. Constant rain for two weeks solid. We have some sort of tropical low stalled above us and living in a valley in the mountains on the coast you can imagine the rainfall. Today we got over 100mm (4") of rain. I'm not complaining, I really like it. It means working in the rain too, that can suck. It's really hard to rake leaves in the rain and when your black cockatoo/bettong exhibit is under water, it's hard to re-substrate and refresh it. Other than that, it's really nice. A cacophony of croaking... heavy rain on a tin roof...... comfortable weather perfect for leaving the doors open....heaven. I don't mind being wet either, well at work that is; when your hair and makeup are nice (which does happen some times in my case) it is annoying. The greatest thing about the rain though is that oddly, it increases my productivity. I can't get distracted by wandering around outside enjoying the wonderful scenery. There isn't much you can do when it's flooding. Even getting to school is a bit treacherous. Yes, I'm in school, studying Zoology. It is pretty fun, I mean, who wouldn't want to study in the tropics?

Ok, enough of my background babble. Here are some pics of what's been happening since I've been back (February 8th).

Me and my little rare Pellewensis

Houdini, the best koala ever!

Robbie's inland taipan on our bed. Check out the pretty pattern on her!

 During the wet season you don't really get to see the mountains but it sure is pretty watching the mist, fog, and clouds drift through our valley.

As you can see, there are still moments of blue sky to enjoy too!!

Our little Macroglossus minimus visitor.

   

Brand new estuarine crocodiles

Baby crocs externally pipping

 

Babies are always fun and these guys are no different. On the left is "Savannah" again and our youngest koala "Moses" who is only 30 weeks! On the right is a video of a baby croc hatching. Keep in mind video is not always well supported, hence why I'm looking for a new site. I hope it does work though!!!

Date night to the Cowboy's game!

 On the left I have Skwimm, the little Tawny Frogmouth I was raising last November. On the right is Rosalinda and Neuro hanging out on the bed. :)

White's tree frog found at our house!

As you can see, I've settled back into my awesome life in the tropics!!! I'll keep updating weekly and show you all of the wonderful things I get to experience in fabulous north Queensland!

Crocodiles

A little over a month ago I started to get trained on how to work with crocodiles. This is very exciting as I have really wanted to work with them for some time. I mean, how could I not, the estuarine crocodile is the largest reptile in the world! Here are some pics of the crocs at work:

 Robbie guarding the female "Billabong Belle" while Brad jumps "Snappy Tom"!

Robbie giving "Billabong Belle" a high five! (not really, he was hand feeding her)

 



Brad jumping "Riley", our longest croc at 4.3 meters!


















 Wil's last day at Billabong, hand feeding "Nipper" on land.
                          

Recently Vince, our curator left for a job with parks and wildlife but before he left, he had some fun with "Tipper" aka "Margaret Thrasher", hand feeding her on land.

                                   "Tipper" bit a keeper a while back but she let go... what a sweetie!

"Billabong belle" gracefully jumping into the water.



 

Vince and "Weipa". He can do some really loud jaw slams but he looks pretty bleh. Amazing how much power is still there even in an old crocodile. 

 

 Vince hand feeding Riley on land on his last day.

I have so many pictures of these shows and it never gets old. That is the cool thing about animals, especially large and potentially deadly ones, you never know what's going to happen. :)

Koaaaalas!

People come form all over the world just to look at koalas. They are really cute. Pretty stupid, but cute. Kinda like the Paris Hilton of the animal kingdom. Here are some photos of Bindi, a new mom!

Brand new joey girl! About 22 weeks old.

 Bindi with her joey in the pouch

 The koalas get different branches and types of eucalept everyday but we still like to give them their vitamins. What I'm giving to Bindi is divetalac, it's a supplement and the new joey is very interested!

Bindi and her joey seem pretty curious about my camera...

 Can you think of a better way to start the day than cuddling TWO koalas???!

 

The new joey has just started eating leaves, in about 9 more months she will leave her mom to be a little independent koala!

Billabong Sanctuary

        A while ago I left the RSPCA and started looking for other jobs that focused more on wildlife. After about a month of no trabajo Robbie told me about a position at Billabong Sanctuary where he works! I went and interviewed on my birthday and a week later got the job as a Ranger! It's been really fun and even though it's been packed for the busy season, I still enjoy working with these wonderful animals. Here are some pics of some of my favourites:

Doing a mobile exhibit holding a croc with Ash on the perch.

Chilly morning hanging with Jacko the sulfur crested cockatoo.

Tonka the bare nosed wombat cuddling his wombat teddy.

Roos are always bouncing through the park.

Danni, a real gap volly from the UK and Ash, the red-tailed black cockatoo.

Me and Mojo the Galah

The first echidna I've ever seen, so cute!

 Houdini, my favourite koala riding around on my back while I clean his enclosure.

Robbie flying Yasi, the whistling kite.

 

Three week old red-tailed black cockatoo now being hand raised by my boss!

        Some major improvements in my life as you can see! Not that what I was doing before wasn't any fun, just that I am better suited and qualified for this line of work. New things are always happening at Billabong and especially after Yasi many new enclosures and exhibits will be popping up! I have a new animal adventures everyday and will continue to update you as the fun continues!

Time flies when you are in the busy season.

 It's been a bit since I updated; I am sorry for leaving you in the dark for so long but here is a quick catchup to what is going on in the world of a Dixie Gypsy in Oz:

I had been living in a cruddy neighborhood with a friend for a couple months and finally found a place where I can settle in for bit and be away from the city while close to work and with enough land for horses. I found this place in Alligator Creek, that's right folks, ALLIGATOR creek. Weird. It has it all. It has solar heating and raincatching barrels and bore water plus city water. 2 1/2 acres, a pool, three bedrooms, a large open plan kitchen/living/dining area, a back deck, two verandahs a mango orchard containing 13 mature mango trees, a creek "alligator creek" separating the front and back paddock. A really awesome shed where I can have my reptiles, nice gardens and a chook (chicken) coup minus the fencing, a large house yard for the dogs, a peacock, yeah, a nice handsome peacock named Jorge, mountian views with multicoloured sunsets in the background of jorge flanuting himself in the front paddock, wallabies in the morning and evening, warring kookaburrahs, flocks of lories, several other specie of bird, spectacular star shows at night. Needless to say, massive upgrade, here are the pics:

The side yard looking at our shed and my car "Possum"

From the shed looking to the front yard

Yes, cats in a cage. Ming will not live here.

From the shed looking towards the pool

Nice little pool to cool down in the summer :)

Hammocks and a BBQ on the back verandah

The view from the back deck into the front paddock

The back deck off of my bedroom


So pretty sweet digs! It's only a ten minute drive to work too (I will cover where I work in my next update)!

As a bonus of course, it's only a 15 minute drive to Cungulla beach and when the tide is low you can walk forever... I like to go there with the dogs after work. :)

Life is good.

My last birthday party....

Another year of survival and I've managed to turn 29. Ick, that's just one away from....30. So I've decided this will be my last birthday, not like I'm going to off myself but more in the way of I refuse to turn 30. So go ahead, throw me a party next year, it'll just be my 29th, again.


This year did hold some interesting times as my second birthday in Oz rolled around. My dear friend Carmen came to visit from Brisbane for the weekend.

I met Carmen when she surfed my couch in San Antonio, since then we've been great friends!

Carmen got to hang out with our three dogs while in rockin' Townsville. (left to right) Rosalinda, Kye, and Delta.

As per anyone paying me a visit, I must take them to Magnetic Island for a look and what a lovely day to do so!

 

Having Carmen here for my birthday was pretty awesome and it was great to catch up with such an awesome friend but still.... there was more celebration to be had...

 The following weekend A.J. (my flatmate) and I decided to have a Safari themed fancy dress party. This is the house all decorated with faery lights, balloons and streamers.

A.J. made me a chocolate cake topped with berries and dragonfruit, all from scratch!

Wil and Mel came as Shingleback Skinks

Robbie was a Black-Breasted Kite and I was a Green Fluffy-tailed Lizard

                                         A.J. was a butterfly but it got cold so she had to cocoon up! 

 It was a great party, and we had a lovely menagerie of party animals, unfortunately those pictures are on A.J.'s mum's camera.