I'm Going to Hungary!

It’s official: I’ve finally bought my plane tickets to Hungary for the Speleobats Cave-roosting Bats International Conference! To bring everyone up-to-date, the conference is focused on the conservation and tourism issues related to cave-roosting bats. I received a grant from the Cybec Foundation, a charitable foundation dedicated to supporting the environment, education, and art, to attend and present my Fulbright research. The conference is in late September, which I know is REALLY close and a bit too close for buying plane tickets. The reason I waited so long to arrange flights was because I was waiting to hear back from the organizers of the conference to arrange a trip up to the Aggtelek National Park in northern Hungary before or after the conference. Steve Bourne told me that if I’m in Hungary I HAVE to go there because the caves are spectacular. However, when I looked the park up online, it appeared that it’s quite hard to get to via public transportation (even though it’s only about an hour from Miskolc, where the conference is being held) and that the locals don’t speak English much. If I went I wanted to get the most out of it, so I contacted the conference organizers to try to arrange a trip up there with someone they knew. I recently heard back from them that one of the park staff, who will be attending the conference, will drive me up there when the conference ends and we’ll spend two days looking at the best sites, including caves, buildings, and mines where bats roost. I think we’re also going to be doing some mist-netting. I will have to be extra-careful not to use any of the same gear/clothing I use in caves/with bats in Hungary when I get back to Australia (and the US) in order to prevent the spread of the fungus, Geomyces destructans, that causes White-nose Syndrome in US bats. It’s believed that cavers from Europe brought the fungus over to the US, and that US bat populations were not immune to it or had not evolved with it and thus were decimated. From what I’ve read, Geomyces destructans has been found in Hungary, so I’ll have to be careful. Despite that, I’m very excited that the trip is finally coming together. It should be a great opportunity for me to hear about some of the bat research going on in Europe and to network with even more bat people. It’ll also be the first conference (and international conference at that!) that I attend truly alone, which is a bit nerve-wracking but also exciting. More to come later!

Celebrating One Year and 55 Years

A year ago (almost to the day) I was arriving in Australia, extremely jetlagged but excited to settle into my new home and my Fulbright project. Now I’ve come to the part of my journey when I have to start planning for the return trip to the US. Recently my mind has been filled with so many thoughts, like “Should I stay in Australia until mid-November and try to get a short-term job to earn a few extra bucks while I can (since the Australian pay rate is typically MUCH higher than the US rate)?”, “How the heck am I going to get all my stuff home?”, and “Man, plane tickets to the US are a bit more expensive than I remember them being!”. My massive to-do list for the next two months or so includes, in no particular order, continuing to take thermal camera counts at Bat Cave until I leave, writing a report about the 2012 winter bat survey/an analysis of all the previous winter surveys (which in very rough draft form currently sits at 26 pages), writing a final report about my entire project for DEWNR, writing my final Fulbright report, preparing my 30-minute presentation for the Hungary bat conference at the end of September, preparing a talk for the Friends of Parks Forum in early October, figuring out which visa I need to apply for to extend my stay and applying for it, selling my car, deciding when to go home and buying plane tickets, training the student who will be taking over the Bat Cave monitoring work in how to use the cameras and software, and of course packing and getting rid of stuff I don’t need to take home. My to-do list only seems to be getting longer and I don’t seem to be making any headway with it. It’s one of those things where each thing is so big that I just put it off until the next day, which only exacerbates the issue. I do work well under pressure, so I guess this is no different from how I normally operate. I know it will all get done, but right now it’s a bit hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Perhaps in my pursuit of procrastination, I have begun to get into cooking a bit more. Every night I have been making couscous or quinoa, some sort of protein-based food (eggs, fish, etc.), and lots of veggies like broccoli, green beans, corn (I know it’s not technically a veggie but it counts in my book), and zucchini. I only do very basic cooking like steaming and boiling, but it’s quite fun! And for some inexplicable reason I’ve suddenly had less desire to add lots of salt to my food, which I have always done. I’m also eating a lot of fruit and craving less processed sweet food. Overall I feel healthier and better about how I’m eating, which I suppose is a very good outcome of procrastination!

Now that I’ve had a bit of a rant, I’ll talk about some highlights of the past couple weeks. August 7 was the 55^th birthday of the Naracoorte Girl Guide Discovery Unit, so we celebrated the following weekend by holding an event on the town square. We set up a table for old Girl Guide memorabilia, a barbeque to feed visitors, an old-style canvas tent and a new tent that we use for camping, and field games like Frisbee toss and giant Connect Four. We lucked out for most of the day with the weather (it only started raining towards the end) and we had several old members of Girl Guides stop by to visit and share their Girl Guide experiences. It was amazing to see how the organization has changed over the years. I can’t imagine having been a part of it back in the very early days when girl members were told that “A Brownie always looks smart, clean, and pretty” and that “A Brownie must know how to part her own hair”. These quotations came from a scrapbook detailing how to become a Brownie Girl Guide that an old Girl Guide member made when she first started. Times sure have changed!

 A page out of the scrapbook from the early days of the organization. I can only imagine how our customs and uniforms will be seen by girls in another 80 years or so!

Even in the time I’ve been here the World Association for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) has ratified the new Promise and Law for Guiding in Australia. The changes were made to ensure that the Promise and Law remain relevant to today’s members in Australia. Below are the old and new Promise and Law:

Old Promise:

I promise that I will do my best:

to do my duty to God, to serve the Queen and my country;

to help other people; and

to keep the Guide Law.

New Promise:

I promise that I will do my best
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs
To serve my community and Australia
And live by the Guide Law.

Old Law:

1. A Guide is loyal and can be trusted.
2. A Guide is helpful.
3. A Guide is polite and considerate.
4. A Guide is friendly and a sister to all Guides.
5. A Guide is kind to animals and respects all living things.
6. A Guide is obedient.
7. A Guide has courage and is cheerful in all difficulties.
8. A Guide makes good use of her time.
9. A Guide takes care of her own possessions and those of other people.
10. A Guide is self-controlled in all she thinks, says and does.

New Law:

As a Guide I will strive to:

• Respect myself and others
• Be considerate, honest and trustworthy
• Be friendly to others
• Make choices for a better world
• Use my time and abilities wisely
• Be thoughtful and optimistic
• Live with courage and strength

I must say I’m particularly glad for a few changes, including the removal of “A Guide is obedient” from the Law (that seems very antiquated) and the change from “do my duty to God” to “be true to myself and develop my beliefs” in the Promise. I think this latter part was long overdue, and I look forward to the day when that change is made to the Girl Scout Promise in the US. As an atheist/agnostic, I find it disheartening that there is still the belief among some members of the Girl Scouts of the US that girls/women who do not believe in God (or a god/s) should not be a part of this wonderful organization. I fully acknowledge that the Girl Scouts/Guides was founded on a spiritual basis; however, I think some members have interpreted this to mean that the organization is a religious one when it is not. Some day the Promise may be changed to reflect this more accurately, and I hope I’m still around when that happens. The changes to the Australian Promise and Law just go to show how times do change and that while the core ideals are (and should be) held constant, organizations like Girl Scouts/Girl Guides must adapt to the times if they want to remain strong and relevant organizations for today’s girls.

 An old canvas tent (left) and a new tent.

 Fairy bread, an Australian treat I just haven’t quite wrapped my mind around. It consists of a piece of buttered white bread covered with sprinkles (or 100s and 1000s, as Australians call them). Fluffernutters are better.

Our birthday cake in front of the Australian flag.

 Some of the Naracoorte Girl Guides, old and new.

 The Guide Hall, where we hold our weekly meetings.

The next weekend I headed off to Adelaide to visit Chris. During my stay, we went bowling, and this time I did MUCH better than when I went with the girls in Mt. Gambier. The first game I scored a 194 and the second game I scored a 140. I think 194 is the highest I’ve ever bowled. Yay!

Chris and I also arranged a visit out to Terry Reardon’s place in the Adelaide Hills. He’s partners with Joan, one of Chris’ lecturers at uni, so it worked out quite nicely. Terry recently bough a marine radar and aerial to set up and monitor bat activity in the sky. Well, more like he got a grant for about $10,000 to buy the stuff. Someday I hope I can get grant money like he does. Because he had just bought the equipment, he was still tinkering with the setup when Chris and I went for our visit. He had built a giant tripod from metal pieces in his shed to hoist the aerial and was running the radar off the battery of one of his (many) old cars. Terry has a skill I only wish I could have: mechanical and electrical know-how and the desire and ability to tinker with and build things. I admired what he had done with the setup and I can’t wait to see the radar in action looking for bats (although that may not happen by the time I leave Australia...). After looking at the radar and eating delicious homemade scones, jam, and soup, we took a walk through the hills and I again admired Terry’s lifestyle. He and Joan have a large chunk of land in the hills, and the area is beautiful. Maybe someday I’ll be lucky enough to have a place like theirs.

 Terry and Chris setting up the aerial.

 The image on the radar. Soon it will be used to detect bats flying in the sky!

 In the hills overlooking Terry’s property. Someday I hope to have something like this.

After several days in Adelaide, I realized I couldn’t avoid work any longer, so I headed back to Naracoorte. Along the way I had a “funny” incident. I was driving along the highway about an hour out of the city when a cop car came up behind me. I had just pulled around someone who was going 10kph under the speed limit, the whole time doing EXACTLY the speed limit. After I merged back into the left (slow) lane, the cop car followed me for about a minute and then its lights turned on. I didn’t immediately think they were flagging me over, but after a few seconds I realized they were. I pulled over and waited. The cop came to the passenger window and asked to see my license and registration. I handed that over and then asked, politely, what was wrong. He said that my car was registered but that there was no license number with my name. I explained that I had bought the car in November and am only here for a year. When he saw my International Driving Permit (the $15 permit I got from AAA) he said, “Ahh, that’s why. They don’t usually put international license numbers into the system.” Phew, I’m glad I hadn’t done anything wrong! He handed back my stuff and as he turned to leave he looked in the back seat and said, “And you should tidy up your car.” Ouch. It’s my field car so there’s a bunch of stuff in it, including several coats and raincoats, several extension cords and power boards, and shopping bags. I try to keep it relatively tidy but field cars don’t usually stay that way for long!

Since my run-in with the law things have been pretty uneventful, except for having a wonderful (and spicy!) traditional Korean meal at Jinhwa’s place last night. As I talked about before, I’m now just trying to organize my life for the next few months. In other words, even busier times await!

Worm-lizard Survey

Last week I took a little “break” from bat work and headed to Mt. Gambier to help Cath and Alix, a student from the University of Queensland, with a worm-lizard project. Several months ago Cath left her role as Regional Ecologist at DEWNR and helped found a not-for-profit environmental organization, Nature Glenelg Trust. The group supports and undertakes conservation and ecology research, provides environmental consultancy, and engages in nature restoration and protection activities. The project I helped with was a survey for worm-lizards (Aprasia sp.). We spent three days driving around the area (including lots of pine plantations owned by Forestry SA) and laying out grids of 50 roof tiles each in habitats similar to the habitats in which the worm-lizards had previously been found. The tiles will hopefully attract the Worm-lizards so that when the tiles are checked in six to eight weeks we find lots of them! Although the study won’t be statistically significant (mainly due to a lack of replicates), it will hopefully shed some light on where the worm-lizards are, which habitat type(s) they might prefer, and if they’re even in the area.

The days were long (I’m not used to getting up so early!) and the tiles got quite heavy after awhile, but it was a blast. I enjoyed helping with a project focused on another group of animal besides bats. In the three days we laid out 10 grids, for a total of 500 tiles. My muscles sure got a workout! We also got to check some tiles that were already out, and we found some pretty neat critters underneath them. We found lots of really nasty-looking centipedes, some Little Whip Snakes, and several skinks under the tiles. We also found a juvenile Eastern Brown Snake, which is considered the second most venomous snake in the world. Don’t worry, it’s winter here and the reptiles are quite cold and sluggish, so when we turned the tile over the snake barely moved. Also, Cath told Alix and me that if there’s a snake under a tile when you lift it, even in summer, the snake is quite stunned and will often just lay there without moving.

One of the perks of helping Cath with the project was the fact that I got to stay at her place for a few days. That meant I got to eat her delicious cooking and make pumpkin pie with her. Alix liked the pumpkin pie (my grandma’s recipe) so much that she asked for the recipe. Good cooking Grandma! I also got to watch TV, which has turned into a novelty for me. Although I do have a TV in my room at Wirreanda that used to get about eight channels, it now only gets three channels, none of which have much good on. The Olympics are on right now, so after work we’d sit and eat pumpkin pie while watching the games. It’s been quite an interesting experience being in another country during a worldwide competition like the Olympics. Of course I still “root for” the US athletes, but I also find myself supporting the Australian athletes too. However, when it comes down to it and both the Americans and Australians are competing in the same game, I still (usually) root for the Americans. I’ve noticed that the Australian media only covers the games in which Australians are competing. It’s been awhile since I’ve watched the Olympics back home and I don’t remember if that’s how it is in the US, but I wish they’d cover more than just those games. They also tend to cover only the Australian athletes and maybe a few others in the same competition. It’s kind of a letdown! Also, the media here puts A LOT of pressure on the country’s athletes. Before every competition the broadcasters say things along the lines of “We’re sure to win this one” or “She’s on her way to gold”, like they definitely expect them to win. There sure is a lot of emphasis on winning gold! Sorry Australia, but you’re not even coming close. As of today the US has the most gold medals (44), and the most medals in total (102), of all the countries. Australia has seven gold medals, making it tenth in the gold medal standings. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do!

 A Veined Helmet-orchid (Corybas diemenicus).

We saw a lot of this in the three days driving through the Forestry SA lands.  

 Alix, Cath, and I decked out in our hi-vis vests and safety helmets (Australians sure do take health and safety seriously!).

 A full-grown Little Whip Snake (Rhinoplocephalus flagellum). They are quite small!

One of many large centipedes we found under the tiles. They will give a nasty bite if you get too close.  

 Two Little Whip Snakes under a tile.

 An Eastern Ctenotus (Ctenotus orientalist), a type of skink.

A juvenile Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis). This snake is considered the second most venomous snake in the world, behind the taipan. 

  Me holding the Brown Snake. Haha, just kidding. I'm only holding a skink.

There are some really funny road signs at Bool Lagoon. This one says:

ATTENTION HUMANS: Drive slowly. Tortoises crossing the road. Thank you.

ATTENTION TORTOISES: Stretch out neck. Look both ways for speeding cars. Cross the road when safe. Good tortoise.

This one says:

ATTENTION HUMANS: Drive slowly. Frogs crossing the road. Thank you.

ATTENTION FROGS: Leap, ribbit, jump, croak. Watch out for speeding cars. Good frog.

A beautiful sunset over Bool Lagoon.

Girls' Day Out

Now that Chris has moved out and back to Adelaide to finish his last semester of university, I’m back to living alone again. I was thinking the other day about how I have never really lived alone for a long period of time. Up until graduation from high school I was obviously living with my parents, and then in college I lived with three roommates. During the summers I was living with other field assistant in various places. Only when I came to Australia last August did I truly live alone for a little while, and even then it wasn’t that long before Chris moved in. Now that I’m alone again, and not in a college setting, I’ve realized that I need to make more of a concerted effort to get out and socialize. It’s so easy to get in the habit of sitting in the bunkhouse working all day or just being by myself. Because of this, recently I’ve begun to hang out more with the park guides and some people I’ve met in Naracoorte over the year. Last Friday several of the park guides (Jinhwa, Dannielle, Sally, and Lisa) and I had a “girls’ day out” in Mt. Gambier. What a day! We stopped at Penola, which is halfway between Naracoorte and Mt. Gambier, to go to the lolly shop and play in the town’s playground. It was fun to act like kids again for a little bit (although apparently my body is not as tolerant of the spinny contraptions as it used to be). By the time we got to Mt. Gambier it was lunchtime, so we ate lunch in one of the pubs. Then it was time for a little bit of shopping at the Centro (hello $2 shirt from Kmart!) to pass the time before our movie, “Ted”, started. The movie was entertaining, although it took things a bit too far sometimes. After the movie we got coffee at a café and then headed to the Salvation Army thrift shop, where the girls proceeded to pick out clothes for me. They had quite good taste! Our final hoorah of the day was bowling (ten-pin bowling, not lawn bowling which is more common here). I swear I used to be good when I was in a Big-Little league with my grandma when I was younger, but I must have lost my touch since in three games I never bowled over 100. Ouch. Jinhwa was surprisingly good, so we decided she must have been the South Korean bowling champion and she was keeping it a secret. It was such a blast doing one of the activities I’ve loved since I was little. We got home around 9:00pm after a full and fun day. I hope we can have another girls’ day again soon!

Dannielle, Sally, me, Lisa, and Jinhwa at the bowling alley.

 

Random photo: The second kangaroo steak I’ve had while in Australia. It’s quite delicious!

Lots of Batty Things

Recently I’ve had a lot of bat-related things going on. Three weeks ago, on July 21/22, I coordinated the winter survey for Southern Bent-wing Bats in South East South Australia. The caves in the region are split into two areas, the Lower South East (which includes Naracoorte and the surrounding caves) and the Upper South East (which includes Mt. Gambier and the surrounding caves). The survey took months to plan and was a coordinated effort between the South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, or DEWNR (formerly known as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)) and the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment. Since the bats don’t recognize state boundaries, they use caves in both South Australia and Victoria. We wanted to get as accurate a winter count as possible, so of course we wanted to survey all the known caves. In South Australia this meant surveying 39 caves in one day (well, we had to survey a few caves the next day due to the logistics of accessing them). The idea of surveying in one day was to minimize double-counting of the bats, as they may move between caves overnight. Unlike in very cold areas, the bats here only go into torpor and not full hibernation. They often come out of their over-wintering caves several times in the winter if it’s not too cold and if there are insects out for them to feed on. They may also switch roost sites during this time too.

It took months of planning and several phone conferences to get everything in place. I had to contact cave landowners for permission to access their caves, assign volunteers to survey teams, distribute information to volunteers about the count, and coordinate the Upper South East volunteers on the day of the count. In total we had about 30 people help with the South Australian side of the survey, including volunteers from the Cave Exploration Group SA Inc (CEGSA), Friends of Naracoorte Caves, University of South Australia, Flinders University Speleological Society Inc (FUSSI), and staff from DEWNR. Thank you to everyone who helped!

We lucked out with a beautiful day for the survey. Each survey team consisted of 2-4 people (we kept groups small so as to minimize disturbance to the bats) and was responsible for checking several caves. Chris and I headed off with Mick Dennis, a member of the Friends and a skilled rope person, to check five caves around Naracoorte. The first cave we visited had a nice surprise for us. We found several large clusters of bats, totaling a bit over 5,000 bats. They were only about seven feet from the ground. We could have plucked them from the ceiling! Chris made a cool discovery among the massive cluster: a banded bat. Unfortunately we couldn’t read the band, but it was neat to see. The bats were quite awake when we arrived, and seemed in good health. Because we surveyed in July instead of June like in previous years, the bats were more active and were likely flying out every night to feed. There have been lots of tiny moths around Naracoorte at night, which would provide a perfect food source for the bats.

After the survey I collected the data sheets from all the teams, and now I’m in the process of writing up the results in a report. We found a total of 15,478 bats in the caves in South Australia (I don’t yet have the results from the Victorian side of the survey). This is obviously far less than this year’s peak summer population at Bat Cave of about 40,000. Where are the rest of the bats? They aren’t all dying off during the winter, as the majority comes back to Bat Cave in the spring. Are they using caves we don’t know about? Are they roosting in parts of known caves that we can’t access/see? Are they over-wintering in structures other than caves? We don’t know. More research is needed to tease out the reason for this discrepancy.

From the preliminary results of this year’s survey, appears that more bats were using caves in the Upper SE compared to previous years. Again, I think that’s because this year’s survey was in July and the bats are likely starting to head back to the Bat Cave maternity cave for the spring. I will begin taking regular thermal imaging counts again at Bat Cave to see how the bats come back from their over-wintering sites, whether they come back gradually or all at once.

Speaking of taking more thermal imaging counts, now that my time here in Australia is coming to an end, I have to figure out how this project will continue once I leave. Monitoring the bats at Bat Cave regularly, over multiple years, is vital if we want to be able to make any accurate judgments about the status of the species. I’ve spoken with the Friends of Naracoorte Caves (of which I am a member) and I’m hoping we can get someone from a university to pursue an Honour’s project here. Chris isn’t going to be able to come back to the US with me when I leave, so there’s a possibility that he could take up the work for his Honour’s project. For now, Mick Dennis has said he’d like to learn how to operate the cameras and analyze the counts, so at least he’ll be able to continue the project in the short-term after I leave.

 The entrance to one of the caves was full of blackberry bushes. Ouch!

 

Mick using a thermal imaging camera to look for bats in the cave while I record information.

A large cluster of bats in one of the caves we surveyed.

 This was how I counted the bats in the photos. I used the program Paint to put marks on each bat as I counted it. It took awhile to go through over 5000 bats!

Another exciting thing that’s happened here is the installation of the new fence around Bat Cave. In one of my previous posts ("Stepping in to Help the Bats") I explained that when the pups started flying in the summer, the number of hits on the fence increased dramatically. In order to minimize the number of hits, we decided to move the fence back several meters from the cave entrance, which would hopefully give the bats, especially the pups, more time to see and avoid the fence. After many conversations and modifications to the new fence design, we finally installed it in early June. Three of the sides were moved back about 3 meters, and the front was moved back about 10 meters. Now when I set up both thermal imaging cameras (the one near the cave entrance and the one far from it) I don’t have to take down the whole front of the fence so it’s not in the camera view. We are also planning to build a permanent shelter in which the thermal cameras can be set up and run, even during inclement weather. I’m not sure if that will get done before I leave, but it’s on the agenda to do.

In other bat-related news, I was contacted by Stuart Stansfield from the ABC SE Breakfast program (on the radio) to do another interview about my work with the bats. Of course he wanted to do the interview in the middle of when I was sick with a cold, so I didn't sound my best, but it did go well. You can listen to the interview below.

OWU Roommate Reunion: Australia (Part 2)

Wow, where do I begin? I’ve gotten SO behind on blogging since Sarah left. I’ve been really busy with bat stuff like planning and coordinating the winter cave survey and giving a talk for the South West Integrated Flora and Fauna Team teleconference. I will blog about all that later, but for now I’ll bring everyone up to speed about the second half of Sarah’s and my adventure in Oz.

After taking a few guided cave tours at the park so Sarah could get a taste of the history of the caves (when Sarah saw her first echidna!), we headed off to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road. We are in whale watching season now, so we stopped at several known whale sighting spots along the way (Portland, Port Fairy, and Logan’s Beach in Warrnambool) to try our luck at spotting some Southern Right Whales. Unfortunately we had no luck, despite the fact that whales had been seen at those locations only days before. Ah well, it was still a beautiful day and Sarah got to touch the Southern Ocean for the first time. Farther along the Great Ocean Road we stopped at Martyr Bay, London Bridge, and the Twelve Apostles, a must-see when travelling through the area. It was near sunset when we arrived, so we had a great view of the sun dipping below the horizon behind the rock formations. Picturesque and perfect.

 Shadows from the skeletons of megafauna in Victoria Fossil Cave.

 Standing on the Naracoorte Caves entrance display of skeletal megafauna. 

Looking for Southern Right Whales.

Logan's Beach in Warrnambool. Unfortunately no whales. 

At London Bridge.

  Sunset over the Twelve Apostles. 

That night we stayed at a caravan park that we had chosen because it was near our next day’s adventure, the Otway Fly Treetop Adventures in the Otway National Park. We headed there the next morning after a close call with the car’s extremely low fuel level (WARNING: If you are ever driving in Australia, fill up with gas (petrol) if you get to half a tank. Unlike in the US, petrol stations are so few and far between and I’ve nearly run out several times (and did run out once). It’s also a good idea to carry a can of petrol in your car, just in case.). It was a nice day, but it got a bit chillier once we entered the cool temperate rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest environment of the park. It looked and felt like a whole different world. The trees were deep green and covered in thick moss, little sunlight penetrated the thick tree canopy, there were large ferns everywhere, and it was eerily quiet, with very little birdsong. When we entered the Prehistoric Path to see some dino replicas, I could truly imagine myself in the time of the dinosaurs.

Ha, got it!

Sarah's T-rex impression.

After the Prehistoric Pathmcame the attraction that had drawn us to the park in the first place: the Treetop Walk. The metal walkway, which is built above the ground so as to minimize disturbance to the vegetation, started out relatively low to the ground, but gradually got higher and higher until it reached its maximum height of 30 meters (about 98 feet). There was a tower that ascended even higher (to a height of 47 meters above the forest floor (about 154 feet)), so of course we had to check that out. When we got to the top the breeze was blowing and the tower swayed gently. Quite an interesting feeling!

 

At the beginning of the Treetop Walk.

Almost to the tower!

 Look at the people to give some indication of how high up we were.

 This place looked like it was right out of a Jurassic Park-type movie.

After several hours wandering through the park and walking along the Treetop Walk, we sat down for a delicious, fresh lunch from the park’s café and then headed off back on the Great Ocean Road to complete our journey to Melbourne. We made it there around 6:00pm, which was perfect timing since we wanted to see the fireworks at 7:00pm. Every Friday in July the city put on a fireworks display over the waterfront, which sounded like a perfect way to start our weekend in Melbourne. It was. The large crowd gathered on the waterfront, the club-type music blaring from the speakers, and the city lit up in the background got us pumped up for a busy weekend. Unlike in Adelaide where we had lazed around and casually toured most of the time, in Melbourne we decided to amp up our tourist modes and hit some key Melbourne attractions. 

 

 Haha, in one of Melbourne's shopping centers they had a playground full of snow.

 At the Docklands for the fireworks.

A fire eater!

Our tourist experience began on Saturday afternoon when we attended a professional footy game (AFL, or Australian Rules Football) at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), the largest stadium in the country and the place where the Grand Final is held every year. Before the game we walked around the area so Sarah could see the Rod Laver Arena, where the Australian Open is held every year. Sarah’s a big tennis fan so she HAD to see the arena. We passed by the Olympic Park near the MCG and the Rod Laver Arena (the 1956 summer Olympics were held in Melbourne). For the game we had good seats pretty close to the oval so we could see all the action. I had been to one footie game before, but that was a local game in Naracoorte with amateur players. This was a whole different thing. The crowd was obviously MUCH larger, and the crowd participation was amazing. Every time a team scored a goal, the followers of that team jumped out of their seats and erupted in cheering. The team we were rooting for, the Richmond Tigers, won with a score of 101 to the Melbourne Demon’s 78 (Note: In Australia, you do NOT say that you “root for” a team, as that means to have sex. Instead you just say you support a certain team.).

One thing we did notice was the lack of “music” throughout the game. Unlike in most sporting events I’ve been to in the US, there were no sounds broadcast over the loud speakers to announce when a goal had been made, and there were no announcers. Also, at the beginning of the game the national anthem was not sung, which I was quite shocked by. The US national anthem is something that’s so prevalent in our sporting events that to not have it felt weird. There definitely is not a lack of national pride in Australia, so I guess they just show it a bit differently.

 In front of the MCG.

 Sarah with her beloved Rod Laver Arena.

 In front of Olympic Park.

 What?

After our footy game experience, the next thing on our to-do list was to visit the Chill on Ice Bar. We had read about this place in one of the brochures in the hostel and it sounded pretty cool (no pun intended). I’d always wanted to go to an ice bar, so what better place to do it than in Australia? At Chill on Ice the entire bar is made of ice, including the stools, tables, bar, sculptures, walls, and even the cocktail glasses. It’s definitely a tourist attraction, but hey, we were tourists, right? The entry fee included the use of a parka, boots, and gloves to keep warm, a free cocktail once inside, and 30 minutes in the bar, which doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but when it’s -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) inside that’s PLENTY of time. One of my favorite parts was being able to “eat” the cocktail glass after finishing the drink!

 

 Melbourne at night.

  Chilling out in the Chill on Ice Lounge.

Sunday’s adventure took us to the Queen Victoria Market, which was only a few blocks from our slightly-out-of-the-way hostel. We made it just in time before the market closed. The place was HUGE! There were so many stalls with every imaginable item possible. Clothes, knives, jewelry, fruit and vegetables, trinkets, souvenirs, massages, framed photos, you name it. We happened upon an opal jewelry stall, which was perfect because one of the opal earrings that I bought in Adelaide fell out and washed down the drain when I was taking a shower a few weeks back, so I was looking for another pair. Opal is my birthstone so I really wanted some earrings. The prices at the stall were much less than the prices at the opal stores, so I lucked out. I ended up with a beautiful pair of opal studs that look red in one light and blue/green in another.

 This one's for you, Father.

 Sarah browsing in the Queen Victoria Market.

 Very Australian.

 A penguin playing the bagpipes. The night before in the same spot was Elmo playing Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean on the trumpet.

That evening we headed into the city for drinks, which ended up being 30 minutes of walking around the streets looking for somewhere that was open. Our brochures had said several places were open on Sundays, but we couldn’t find any of them. We ended up at Welcome Stranger on Bourke Street, where Sarah gambled away $25 on the pokies and I watched her lose her money.

We had one more touristy thing to do on Monday before heading home: visit the Old Melbourne Gaol. We took the Watch House Experience Tour, during which we were “arrested” and locked up. The City Watch House acted as Melbourne’s central custody center or “holding place” for people arrested and awaiting trial. We were all lined up and led into the gaol by the Charge Sergeant, a “mean” lady who gave us our orders and went through with us the procedures the prisoners would have gone through. We were locked in a cell for several minutes in the dark (quite dark!) and then got to walk around the men’s exercise yard, where up to 80 prisoners spent almost all day, every day. There was a separate adjacent exercise yard for police informants, as you can imagine what would have happened if they had been allowed in with the rest of the prisoners. We then went into one of the padded cells where prisoners were put if they were likely to harm themselves. We finished in the women’s exercise yard, which was slightly smaller than the men’s yard but there were usually only a few women in there at a time. The Watch House was used up until 1994, which I couldn’t believe. The place seemed so run-down and out-of-date!

 Help, I'm stuck in jail!

  Being lined up for inspection as part of the Watch House Experience Tour.

  The men's exercise yard in the City Watch House, where up to 80 prisoners spent most of their day.

  Locked in a padded cell.

  I always knew she was a bad egg!

  I guess I'm not much better...

We then went through the actual Old Melbourne Gaol, which is right next to the Watch House. The gaol was built in 1842 and closed in 1929, and was the site of 133 hangings including Australia’s infamous bushranger Ned Kelly. The first inmate was a woman arrested for profanity on the steps of the gaol during the opening ceremony. Most of the prisoners were locked up for crimes like gambling, debt, and disorderly conduct. The youngest inmate was three years old, and he was arrested for idling because he had no money in his pockets and no parents. Women prisoners were often put in with their babies. Times sure have changed!

 Inside the Old Melbourne Gaol.

 The death mask of a prisoner, which was made from the corpse after execution. 

 These leather gloves were secured to a prisoner's hands in order to prevent "self-abuse" (aka masturbation).

On the way back to Naracoorte we took the inland route (which is a bit faster than the Great Ocean Road) so Sarah could see more of the countryside. We stopped in Ballarat, one of the centers of the first Australian gold rush, and toured the Gold Museum.

  With the Welcome Stranger, which weighed 2,284 ounces and was the largest nugget ever found. It was uncovered in 1869 and was found just 2.5cm below the surface. Wow!

The title of a book from the late 1800s. I'm sure glad I didn't live back then!

On the last leg of our journey back to Naracoorte, we got really low on gas, again. It was only 6:00pm when we were driving through the rural towns, but ALL the petrol stations were closed! It was so crazy. I can’t believe that with so much distance between towns/petrol stations, at least some of them don’t stay open past dark. It gets dark quite early here in winter, and truckers and travelers are still out driving past sunset, so you’d think that at least SOME of them would stay open! Luckily we did make it back fine and one of the petrol stations in Naracoorte was open.

Once back in Naracoorte, we decided to continue our touristy mood and see some of the Naracoorte and surrounding area sights. The main attraction in Naracoorte was the Visitor Centre/Sheep’s Back Museum, which chronicles the history of the Limestone Coast and the history and process of sheep shearing in the area. The upper floors of the museum also go through the history of Naracoorte and the life of settlers through the years.

 A shelter tree. Aboriginal people used controlled fires to create hollows in large gum trees that faced away from the prevailing cold winds of winter. Some of these trees are estimated to be 800 years old.

In the Bat Cave replica.

Haha, I love this.

 At the wool sorter's table.

 The Robotic Shearer was designed as a mobile unit with its own power source. It could service a large number of properties by working around the clock to harvest and pack the wool and then move on. 

We then spent a day in Mt. Gambier, which is one hour south of Naracoorte. We visited the Blue Lake first and walked up to the top of the crater overlooking the lake. Of course our day couldn’t go off without a hitch. When we got back to the car it wouldn’t start. There was no power to the car at all. We had to call the RAA and wait 45 minutes for someone to come out. Of course when the guy got to us, he got in the car and turned the keys in the ignition and the car immediately started. We were quite embarrassed, but when he looked under the hood he found that one of the battery terminals had been worn through and was broken off, so it wasn’t connecting properly. Luckily it was only 4:30pm so we had time to swing by a local mechanic and get a new terminal put on for only $10. Phew!

Once that was fixed, we went to a local café, Sorrento’s, for dinner, and then visited the Umpherston Sinkhole where Cath had taken me during my first week in Naracoorte to feed the possums. On our way to the sinkhole we walked through a park and a mom possum came right up to us, with her little baby clinging onto her back. She could smell we had food (leftover pizza) so she proceeded to try to climb my leg! Her claws sure were sharp! We quickly backed off after that because I didn’t really like being thought of as a climbing post. When we arrived at the sinkhole there were plenty of possums to greet us and eat our offerings. We both thoroughly enjoyed the experience. 

  At the Blue Lake in Mt. Gambier.

  Sarah feeding a possum.

  Mom and baby possum. So cute!

After Mt. Gambier we headed off to Adelaide for Sarah’s last weekend in Australia. Her flight was for the next Monday. On the drive to Adelaide I let Sarah drive for the first time on the left side of the road. She was thrilled and did quite well. When we got to the city we went through the Central Markets since we hadn’t gotten a chance to visit the last time we were in Adelaide. It wasn’t quite as big as Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market, but it was still neat to see all the vendors. Friday night was our last night out on the town, which turned into a late night/early morning out. We stayed out dancing until about 6:15am, but when we went to leave we couldn’t find our coats. The staff at the club wouldn’t let us check the coat room until they closed, which wasn’t until 7:00am. So we had to wait around until then, to no avail. They couldn’t find our coats; somebody must have stolen them. We were both really bummed because I’d had my beloved (fake) leather jacket for four years, and Sarah had just bought her new coat. We had to walk back coatless to our hostel in the cold and wind as people were going to work. Not quite how we wanted to end the night.

On Sunday, Sarah’s last full day in Australia, we did one last touristy thing: visit the Cleland Wildlife Park. The park is home to many species of native Australian animals, and you can buy animal feed to feed to them. As soon as we entered the park and were greeted by little scurrying Bandicoots I knew this was the place for me. We took several hours to walk through the whole park, and along the way we saw (and fed and pet) some amazing animals, including Gray Kangaroos, Red Kangaroos, a wombat, potoroos, bandicoots, a bettong, Tasmanian Devils, Dingos, a koala, spoonbills, Tawny Frogmouths, Bush Stone-curlews, emus, and Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies. If you’re ever in Australia and want to experience some Australian native wildlife in a natural setting, Cleland is the place to go. It was a great way to end Sarah’s Australian visit.

I drove Sarah to the airport early the next morning, and we parted ways (a bit tearfully on my end) as she got on her plane. I cannot believe I was so lucky to have such a great friend come visit me here. Being with Sarah here was just like college, only in a new place with new adventures. Sarah, thank you for a wonderful time and many, many good memories. 

 Watch out, Sarah's driving on the left! 

  Our first encounter in Cleland: a Long-nosed Potoroo. These guys were so cute!

  A wombat!!!

  Feeding a potoroo.

  A Tasmanian Devil. I had SUCH a hard time getting a good picture of these guys because they just wouldn't stand still!

  Feeding a kangaroo. 

  Dingoes ready for feeding time.

Potoroos and bandicoots galore!

  Sarah and me posing with the koala. We got to pet it too!

A very inquisitive spoonbill.

  A Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby. They have great camouflage!

  That darn emu wouldn't come for food.

  Saying goodbye at the airport.

  There she goes, back to the US. Bye for now Sarah!