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. 

Eagle's Nest Wildlife Hospital

Now that I've told you about where I'm living in the Tablelands, here's a bit about what I do while I'm there.


     Eagle's Nest  is a non-profit organization aimed at rehabilitating and releasing ALL native wildlife. In the recent years it's hit some hard times as a result of the economic crisis and Harry Kunts' (the director) ailing hip that desperately requires surgery. My goal is to get things in ship shape order and keep the place running while Harry goes through surgery. This was supposed to happen in February but since the cyclone the surgery has been pushed back with no new date in sight.

 

In the meantime, here are some of the animals that I get the joy of caring for!

                                                       

 

One of the pea-hens sunning herself with a few wallabies running around in the background.

 There are three types of macro-pods here: pretty face wallabies, a eastern grey kangaroo and a Mareeba rock wallaby. All having a typical relaxed day in the gardens.

 This is a little pretty face joey, he's been a bit humanized so now he wants cuddles instead of running away... to be honest, it's hard to resist!

                      This is a little kestrel, she is non releasable due to a wing injury.

 This is a mutant creature I call the "turken", as you can see it appears to be a cross between a chicken and a turkey... weird.

This is Oscar, the razorback hog. He was originally food but then Harry developed a bond with him and claims he's got more personality than any dog. (I'm not so sure)

Another pretty face wallaby grabbing a snack!

                                    Hanging around the back of the property, more wallabies!

 55 roosters were donated as food for the wedge tailed eagles, this one is a silky and he's my favourite; we're saving him...

 The pride of the sanctuary are two albino blue-winged kookaburras. As you can understand, they wouldn't survive in the wild so they are now permanent residents. They arrived here in '05 and are doing great!

This blue-wing kookaburra may be the oldest in captivity at 25 years. He can't be released due to a broken wing. 

 This is a currawong begging for food. One of the challenges in wildlife caring is separating yourself from the animals so they rely on nature for food, not you.

 This brightly coloured bird is a swamp hen. She also can't be released due to a broken wing.

 This was a female pacific koel (pronounced "coil") that flew in from Papua New Guinea. As you can see, she didn't survive the journey so as the cycle of life continues, she became quoll food.

This is a sooty owl, very shy but had to catch a glimpse of me as I renovated her enclosure. 

 This is a barking owl named "Harry Potter" he is also humanized and will sit on your hand without a glove! The barking owl may be behind the Aboriginal mythical creature the Bunyip. It is said to be an evil water spirit that screams like a woman being murdered and will eat you up!

 

The day starts at 7am and finishes just after 4. Harry has all of the diets listed and is sure to emphasize the importance of giving "wader" to all of the animals.

 I'll end this with a little piece of Harry's wisdom. We could all use this as a guide! ;)

Ravenshoe

         Hey there my adoring fans! It's been a long while since I've updated and alot has changed. I have been spending a good amount of time on the Atherton Tablelands and far north Queensland. I am now back in Townsville but about to leave again today to head up to Ravenshoe and continue my work there. Below is a tale of my journey there the first time and what it was like to live in the highest elevation that Queensland has to offer. 

          Recently I came across the opportunity to do something that I have wanted to do my whole life and do it in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I have been told that I will be doing wildlife caring since I started at the RSPCA but I’ve done little of that in comparison to the other duties I seem to be picking up. Then three weeks ago I was finally given an assignment. I was to complete my wildlife training, get my permits and go to the Atherton Tablelands and run a wildlife rehabilitation centre while the owner goes through hip surgery and recovers. Wow what an opportunity! So I’ve gotten the initial training done, applied for permits and set off to interview with Harry the owner of Eagle’s Nest in Ravenshoe.

       


         I knew this would be an adventure but I had no idea how much. Ravenshoe is about four and a half hours from Townsville up the coast and a bit inland. It’s the highest elevation town in all of Queensland. Of course, in perfect fashion I set off at dark. Normally this would be fine but as I learned that evening, it is a really terrible idea to travel great distances across varying terrain with heaps of nocturnal wildlife about. I didn’t realize that kangaroos can’t be seen on the side of the road like deer and that you can’t rely on their eye shine to detect them.  

         I was cruising along just north of Cardwell munching on some sour belts (lollies) and out of no where a roo came bounding across the highway. I nearly peed myself. I did as I was told and hit the brakes (instead of swerving) and luckily it was just at the edge of my headlights and made it across unscathed. There really is no telling when they will appear, you can be fully alert with hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel and still nail one of these guys. It’s scary. After surviving that I gave up doing anything that left only one hand on the wheel. I was fine until some jackhole with unnecessarily bright lights didn’t dim his headlights and forced me to look down to avoid being blinded. When I looked up I saw what could have been a stick but felt like a snake as I ran it over. I was pretty sad but it got worse. As I turned off to head inland I came around some pretty sharp corners and was slowing my speed to read the road signs so I wasn’t even going the speed limit and came around a blind corner and saw what looked like an owl on the street and with no time to react just hit the brakes. Not soon enough however. I nailed it. I stopped and spun around to see if I could somehow save it if it was still alive and discovered it wasn’t an owl I hit but a Tawny Frogmouth. I have held these babies in my hands and hand fed them. It just killed me that I had done this. The frogmouth didn’t suffer, it was an instant kill and I moved it to the side of the road and said a prayer. The image of it in the road will haunt me though. It’s so clear in my memory yet I had so little time to react. The feathers on it’s head, blowing in the wind as it looked around as they do, they look just like muppet babies. I KILLED A MUPPET BABY!!!!  With that I vowed not to travel distances like this in the dark. 

 
          I continued inland on Palmerston highway and over mountains and drove through clouds for what seemed like an eternity. The scrubby bush turned into rainforest then mountains then back down into a valley and back into eucalyptus country again. It’s truly magical. I stayed at Possum Valley just outside of Millaa Millaa. I was getting close to my destination and turned onto a gravel road, this looked like a ranch in the Texas Hill Country to me. Cows, long grass, hills, cattle guards (cattle grids) and then WHAM, rainforest. 

 

        It’s so weird, I was cruising along feeling at home and then I went over a cattle grid and suddenly I had to switch to 4WD and drop it into 1^st gear. A steep drop down with only enough space for my car completely surrounded by thick World Heritage listed rainforest. It was like I was on the magical mystery tour, it went on for ages then a sharp turn left and through a creek and I arrive at my destination. I had a three bedroom cabin on a creek in the middle of nowhere, smack dab in the centre of a rainforest all to myself AND I could have my dog there.

 

 

        This place is magical, with the full moon overhead it subtly illuminates the whole forest and light dances on the water as frogs thump and crickets strum and lovely melody to sleep by. Rosa LOVED the ability to explore such a new environment and learned very quickly to leave ducks alone as they will attack. Every cell in me started to sing there. I felt a humming from deep within that resonated with the environment around me.

         Mornings in Possum Valley are just as lovely as the nights, the vast cacophony of sounds and bird calls. I recorded a bit of it outside my window and as I did so a Lewen's honeyeater landed on the sill right next to my hand. I just stayed still and looked at it, it looked at me and we sat for a bit, then it flew off. Amazing. I never want to leave. It’s so quiet, and by quiet I mean, devoid of noisy humans. Perfect really. 

 

Going gypsy again....

       I decided after I got back from Ravenshoe that I would once again move. This happened as I returned and realized that Rosa needed to live with me and that where I was (although very lovely) wasn't where she needed to be. So with that, I gave my two weeks notice, packed my things into my friend's houses, packed my car full of everything I would need for the next month and have decided to head north to live in a cabin in the Rainforest and run Eagle's Nest for a bit. I'm taking Rosa and my little yellow ringneck "lemoncello" with me.

 

Who wouldn't want to live in a secluded rainforest?!

       When I return I hope to find a place with some acreage out in the country to share with a friend of mine that wants to keep her horses on the property. This is much more suited to my lifestyle... When we move in we will have 3 dogs, 3 cats, 2 turtles, 1 spider, 2 birds, 1 snake, and 2 horses! Welcome to my farm! I'll keep you posted as I look at properties, the latest was one in Alligator Creek that butts up to Bowling Green National Park! I'll be sure to see some stars there!!

      I am scheduled to leave this morning to head up north but the roads are cut due to heavy rain so I will have to wait this one out and be homeless for a bit... it's all part of the adventure baby!

Going away for a bit...

     I'll be going on a northern safari to Ravenshoe. There I will be interviewing for the opportunity to run a wildlife centre called Eagle's Nest. I'm going to make it into a bit of a road trip and maybe hit some cool parks on the way back! Just me, the pooch (Rosa) and the wilderness! Wish me luck and I'll be back next week!

The aftermath of Yasi: Tulley/Mission Beach

     This part is by far the worst of it. It's odd, after seeing so much destruction you become somewhat desensitized. As we made our way past Cardwell to Tulley we saw many destroyed forests and farms, the destruction seemed endless and right as we enter Tulley we see defiance in the face of the storm.

 This house was all boarded up and ready to roll! They seemed to have fared pretty well, I guess they actually were cyclone ready.

 

This one didn't do so well and neither did about 70% of the town for that matter

The SES removing dangerous debris

AJs removing what used to be the rainforest that surrounded Tulley

    It's amazing and sad to see someone's home flattened, leaving only a small skeleton of what once was a family's security

Hey mister, I found your roof!

                      This mill is what most people who live in Tulley work for, it got a pretty good beating too.

                                 Downtown Tulley, bent and tattered but still kicking; even got some sales going on!

           There were several very large and old trees that greeted you upon entering Tulley, this is what is left of them.

                This image sums it up in Tulley for me. Houses ripped apart, lives drowned, rainforest stripped.


      Mission Beach was probably the most depressing for me. I care about human life, don't get me wrong, but it's the destruction of nature and specifically ecosystems like the rainforest that really get to me.

                              A river crossing that used to be surrounded by thick rainforest vegetation.

Critically endangered cassowaries inhabit this stretch of rainforest and will have to survive on feeding stations as their food has been blown away. If this effects them, what other animals are being effected?

 Again, once lush and green, now just bare sticks.

       As we drove down the coastline we encountered some patches where the road was either blown or washed away.

  
The rainforest looks more like a deciduous forest in winter. I can't believe this was ever a thriving ecosystem and wonder if it ever will be again.






The forests are smashed on so many levels, some of just stripped, some of it bent, some snapped and some just completely flattened. I've never seen anything like it in my life. It was like a F5 tornado half the size of Texas just dropped down here.

     The important thing to remember is that for being the largest cyclone to hit Queensland in it's known history, loss of human life was minimal and being that these rainforests are ages old they must have seen a storm or two in the past and come back. Nature finds a way, or at least I pray.

           All bad things come with a silver lining, mine was coconuts. I LOVE coconuts!!! Thanks Yasi and the cool kids at Frosty Mango. They lost all of their ice cream BUT, they have heaps of coconuts! I'm about to enjoy one in my hammock. Australia is still awesome. :)