A long overdue update.

It’s been quite some time since I last updated this blog. I had every intention of doing so numerous times, but life here has gotten quite hectic. I’m writing this right now from the comfort of my own bed and it’s the first time in over a week that I can lay here and know I’ll actually get to spend more than one consecutive night here (that’s not to say I’ll be getting much of a reprieve — mid-semester break begins on Thursday, so off I go again).

Since the last post, I’ve meant to tell you about my home stay weekend (in summary: great food, interesting people, incredible relaxation), my first trip to the Pacific Ocean (on this side of the world, at least) at Mission Beach (one word: AMAZING; another word: sunburned), and the beginning of my directed research project (I’m doing plants! I know, I thought I hated plants, too). I’m sure there’s quite a bit of other stuff that’s happened since then, too. So I guess I’ll just start with the most recent and work my way back as best I can.

The present: I just got back from a weekend volunteering and concert-going at the annual Yungaburra Folk Festival. I have to say, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I love folk music, and I like the idea of music festivals, but after a rather long week (I’m getting to that), I just wasn’t psyched about it when we all piled into the van Saturday morning to be dropped off at the campground, on our own for the next 24 hours. Thankfully, I lucked out with my volunteering tasks. On Saturday all I did was work the door at one venue for an hour and then work in the kitchen of another for two hours. Both of my shifts were midday and I managed to catch the acts I wanted to (unlike a couple of my friends who were stuck working while the rest of us seriously enjoyed the 11 p.m. reggae band (which may or may not have had something to do with the alcohol in our systems by that point)). My Sunday shifts were equally low-key: I was doorkeeper again for two workshops and then I worked the merch table for a couple hours. No sweat. I enjoyed the excessive Yungaburra free time much more than I thought I would, too; I got to eat nice(r) food, visit my new favorite bookstore, and interact with the locals more than usual. Really, the only part of the weekend that was sort of frustrating was the lack of my own bed Saturday night. Instead of the usual shuttle us everywhere routine, we camped at the free-for-volunteers campsite, which was about a 15-minute walk from the festival. The campsite was decent enough, but man was I over camping at that point. Which brings me to:

The past: DR (directed research) group camping trip to Undara. Undara is this super isolated region southwest of here that’s famous for its lava tube formations. My group was technically there to do research on dry rainforest trees, but that didn’t mean that Tim, our professor, wasn’t also going to take full advantage of our research permit to let us explore otherwise private cave systems. It was fantastic. It was also completely physically exhausting. The project I’m working (along with one other classmate and an intern) on requires us to set up 50m by 20m plots in the forest and then visually inspect every tree in that area for a few characteristics. You can guess how tiring this can get when you’re doing four plots with up to 80 trees each in the heat of the day in the Australian outback. Also factor in that the ground isn’t really soil, but a series of boulders and smaller, wobbling rocks. (And that it’s me we’re talking about — I trip over my own feet on an almost daily basis.)

Still, I really enjoyed myself. If you told me six months ago that I’d be spending my days climbing boulders that most certainly have poisonous snakes under them, I would have assured you that you were in fact crazy. But now, I’m gaining confidence in my outdoor abilities; I’m learning to trust my footing, to just brush off the creepy crawlers (as opposed to my former method: squeal and get someone else to deal with it), and to push past my fears. If I fall, I fall. I’ll get back up again.

The future: Tomorrow morning we head off for fall break. I’ll be spending five days on Magnetic Island, a beautiful little island off the coast of Townsville. I’m incredibly excited to get a break from this place, and to get even more of a chance to be a beach bum (and see koalas!). Maybe while I’m there I’ll even have time to update this blog again!

Advertisement