Building Suspense

To add to the dramatic effect of the story of my time in Australia I will leave you with this photo taken today. You will not guess what I did or what I am now officially certified for but check back soon to find out. Sayonara!

Day Off in Darwin

Back to work tomorrow but not before a beautiful day of tennis, museums, and swimming. Here are some photos of Randy (from Burlington) in front of the fish feeding building, the apartment building seen from the park, a photo of my work area from this morning (sitting outside on the balcony with a nice seabreeze), and our massive amount of choices of things to do in Cairns.

Back Home

At least my home for now, Darwin. The trip to Cairns was lots of fun. Last night we went to see a platypus, turtles, possums, and wallabies high in the cloud forest. It was pretty wet and cold but still a good time. I'm taking the day off tomorrow to relax before I head back to work for a month. My dad comes to Australia soon and he'll be here for my birthday which will be pretty awesome. I didn't have my camera much in the rainforest since I forgot my waterproof case but I'll be sure to get some new photos up soon. Until then here is the 'thumbs down' section of the Pine Creek newspaper (more like a newsletter) which is the town where I spend a lot of my time after work. You know you're in the northern territory when there's a good ol' fashioned horse massacre. That's right, a massacre. Crazy people.

Daintree Rainforest & Great Barrier Reef

Here are some more photos from the Daintree rainforest which I went through earlier in the week as long as a shot from over live aboard on the Great Barrier Reef. We spent two days on the reef where I did 6 dives including a night dive. I saw plenty of white tip reef sharks (really cool to see them at night) as well as lots of clownfish, massive cod, starfish, and many others. We even saw some humpback whales on the way to the reef!

Bat Catching and a Sneak Peek From the Rainforest

Here are a few photos from a night of catching bats with some research scientists near where I work. It was at this really cool gorge with tons of butterflies, flowers and a water monitor. It's getting later in the dry season so all the animals tend to flock to areas with water which are getting scarce. I'm in Cairns currently where I went into a rainforest yesterday (last photo) and I'm diving the great barrier reef the next 2-3 days. Should be lots of fun.

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The radio made me like this.

Gross

Our House in Kakadu

Since I haven't done much lately except work I don't have many exciting photos. I'm off to Cairns to dive July 17-24 which should be great. Here is a shot of the station wagon me and Andy rented when we went to Kakadu a few weeks ago. It was the worst sleep of my life since it was probably close to 40 C and you couldn't crack any windows because loads of mosquitoes would come in. I ended up with swollen ankles and my lip for a few days because of sand fly bites while I was sleeping. If you ask Andy it was probably the angriest (and sweatiest) I've ever been. It ended up being an amazing day inside the park which made up for the lack of sleep. Hopefully some better updates soon. I was trying to get a photo of two Jabirus (large black and white stork like birds) but they kept spotting me and flying away. Might have an opportunity to work with a dolphin researcher on my time off and start doing some underwater videography and photography. A dolphin called the snub fin dolphin was found in this area only a few years ago so I might help out with that.

Kakadu Trip

Went into a restricted area of Kakadu National Park on friday and saw dingos, wild pigs, and cattle. We culled the cattle (feral to Australia) to give the meat to local aboriginals. It was a pretty crazy experience and so neat to get to go where no one else can access.