The Royal Treatment

Six flights in the last two weeks. It's been a whirlwind week of chatting about my Fulbright project with other bat researchers, meeting fellow Fulbright Scholars and people like the Australian Prime Minister and the US Ambassador in Australia, and filing ethics permits and risk assessments for my project. Last week I was in Canberra for several days for the Fulbright Enrichment Seminar. I started off "well" by being late to the first session due to a slightly late plane and falling out of the taxi van when I got to the hotel. Despite these slight mishaps at the beginning, I had an amazing time meeting other US Fulbright Scholars studying in Australia. The variety of projects was absolutely amazing, ranging from cancer research to pig castration to Shakespeare. I'm really excited to have a network of people in cities throughout Australia who are in the same boat as me. I was also amazed at the feeling of support I got from the Fulbright Commission and others involved with the scholarship. As Fulbright Scholars we definitely have many resources made available to us, and I know if I ever need help all I have to do is ask. Sometimes I feel as if we are being treated like royalty!

After the Enrichment Seminar I headed to Mt. Gambier (population ~20,000), where I'm staying until tomorrow. I arrived at the TINY Mt. Gambier airport and was excited to be out of the city and into a place much more similar to the area where I'll be living. When I arrived in town I met Cath Dickson of the South Australian Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). I'll be working in conjunction with the DENR during my project, and because of this I got "inducted" to the department, which included learning all about government protocols and paperwork. I jumped right in on Day 1 by beginning to write an ethics permit and risk assessment for my bat project. I always knew government work included a lot of paperwork, but I never realized just how much until I had to think through all the possible hazards of my project (tripping on uneven ground, dehydration, driving, etc.) and explain ways to avoid them. What a long list! Cath and I worked through more details of my project and had a good discussion of our aims for the year. I'm really excited as I will be spearheading the work on the Southern Bent-wing Bats at Naracoorte Caves. The two main goals of my project are to test a new laser beam counting system to take censuses of the bats in Bat Cave and to improve the public interpretation program at the cave while minimizing the impact on the bats. There are a lot of other offshoots that we are planning to incorporate into the project, including censusing over-wintering roosting sites and compiling a reference call library for the bats in the area. I can't believe I'm in the position to be able to spearhead a project of such magnitude. I feel very honored to have the opportunity and also a tad nervous. It will definitely be a year full of learning and information exchange with people who share my passion for bats.

Tomorrow I will head to Naracoorte (about an hour away) to move in. I will definitely miss the friends I made in Canberra and the energy and activity of the city, and I must admit I'm a little apprehensive about living alone and making new friends in a new town as small as Naracoorte (population ~5000). However, I'm ready to finally see where I'll be living for the next year and to settle into my new home. I feel like I've been on vacation for a week and have not been able to fully process everything that has happened. I think some home decorating will be in order soon!