Of Pubs and Parrots

Quite a lot has happened since I last wrote on my blog! Here are some highlights of my adventures over the last week:

I drove for the first time in Australia! I don’t have a car yet, but I’m allowed to borrow the park guides’ car after-hours to run to town for groceries and things like that. Thank goodness it’s an automatic, because although I did learn how to drive a manual this summer (thanks to Joe and Lauren!) the car is “reversed” here, so I’d have to use my left hand and be on the right side of the car (although the pedals are arranged in the same order). I’m not comfortable with that at this point, plus I had never driven on the left side of the road before! Driving on the left actually isn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It does feel weird, but it’s not difficult. The difficult part for me was parking. I’m not used to having so much car to the left of me, so I kept misjudging how close I was to the curb on the left. Also, the car I was driving was much larger/wider than my Subaru at home, which didn’t help. But I’ve made it to town and back twice with no incidents, so I think I’m doing okay!

This past weekend Cath Dickson, my Department of Environment and Natural Resources go-to, took me to the town of Robe on the South Australian coast, about an hour and a half from Naracoorte. The permanent population of Robe is about 1,300, but during the tourist season in the summer holidays (so over Christmas/New Years) I was told it reaches over 25,000. When I was there it was a pretty sleepy, but cute, little town. I was there for a shorebird workshop with Birds Australia. I got to go out birding in the coastal lakes and find out just how much I don’t know about Australian birds. I can figure out the general group that a bird belongs in, but that’s about it. It’s pretty neat to be in a place with a whole new bunch of birds to learn! We saw Sooty Oystercatchers, Latham’s Snipe, Whimbrels, and Masked Lapwings, just to name a few. Also part of the workshop was a free lunch, so I got to experience my first Aussie barbeque, a.k.a. sausage sizzle! I have decided that in order to get the full cultural experience (and also because it’s difficult not to here) I will eat meat while in Australia. I won’t most of the time, but at things like barbeques I will. So I had the Australian version of a hotdog, which was quite delicious. They don’t use hotdog buns here but instead put their sausages on a regular slice of bread or on a hamburger-type bun. Interesting but still yummy (so good I ate two). That night when we got back to Naracoorte we went to the local pub for drinks and dinner. The Rugby World Cup was playing on the TV (Australia vs. Ireland) and one of the guys I was with used to play, so he explained a lot of the rules to me. It was fascinating, especially watching these big, burly men wrap their arms around each other and headlock in the scrums. South Australians are all about footie (Australian Rules Football, or AFL) but some people were still getting into the rugby game and cheering the Australia team on. It was quite an experience to drink some Australian beer (Toohey’s Extra Dry) in a rural Australian pub and watch a rugby game while eating fish and chips. On a side note, I’ve discovered I like Australian/Tasmanian/New Zealand beers a whole lot better than American beers. Maybe I just haven’t had the right American beers, but all I know is that I’m actually beginning to enjoy drinking beer.

The next day, Sunday, was the Threatened Species Day event at the park. It was put on by DENR, so of course I got to help out! I gave a bat talk about my research during one of the cave tours, and afterwards the tour guide told me he had been a little nervous when he was told I’d be  tagging along on his tour because he didn’t want to say anything wrong about bats in front of me. Wow, it was so surreal to hear that he considered me an expert on bats. I have never thought of myself like that! That comment definitely put things in perspective. I just graduated from undergrad a few months ago, I am 22 years old, and people are listening to what I say and taking it for fact. Kind of puts the pressure on, especially because I’m still learning (and hope I always will be)! Later that day I got to do something I’ve always been curious about: dress in one of those giant theme park-type costumes and walk around interacting with people! The person originally slotted to do it had a last-minute conflict, so I jumped at the chance to dress as Ollie the Orange-bellied Parrot, complete with silver spandex and a giant head from which I could see practically nothing. I had a “minder” who walked around with me to make sure I didn’t trip over stuff (I tripped over my own feet once) and to make sure I didn’t overheat inside. I walked/danced around and tried not to scare the children too much. I was such a celebrity! One guy even tried to hand me his baby so he could get our picture, but there was no way I could hold the baby in my awkward giant wings. I wasn’t supposed to talk, so luckily Cath, my minder, came to my rescue and stopped him from dumping the baby on me. During pictures, I couldn’t help but smile even though nobody could see me inside. A natural reaction I guess. After about 20 minutes my time as Ollie came to an end. When getting in costume, I had been advised to strip to my underwear, and I’m glad I did because by the time I was done I was COMPLETELY drenched in sweat. The experience was hot and sweaty and stinky and ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I can’t wait to do it again. Apparently at these DENR events they usually have a hard time finding somebody to volunteer to do this, so maybe I’ll become the official Ollie!

On a final note, I participated in an Australasian Bittern survey last night. This bird has recently been listed as an Endangered Species. Cath and I got a survey spot on a boardwalk at Bool Lagoon, about a 20 minute drive from my place. We sat and listened for the bitterns and looked up at the gorgeous stars. The Milky Way was the brightest I’ve ever seen it, like a thick fuzzy ribbon across the sky. Listening to the ruckus of the birds and frogs at twilight and seeing the stars reflected in the calm water made me realize just how lucky I am to be here and to get to see this part of the world while doing something I love!