Koala

Tonight I saw my first wild koala! We were walking at "Crystal Waters" which is a park near our house and a woman and her daughter stopped to say that there was a koala down the path a bit in a tree. She said it was the first one she had seen around in a long time. So exciting!! The Koala was actually rather awake and watched us as we looked up at it. It was probably mid-sized and had a nice, silky-looking coat. We watched for a couple of minutes before continuing on our way. Unfortunately the koalas in South Queensland are threatened due to habitat loss, traffic, dogs and chlamydia. I think this is why this is the first one I have seen. I hope it makes it back to it's home without any incidents with traffic or dogs.

Birthday Hike

Spent my birthday hiking in the Binna Burra section of the Lamington National Park here in Queensland. It was a beautiful day. I even got to get under a waterfall!

the view

on top of Surprise Rock

Got underneath this waterfall

Crayfish!

Waterfall

Falling from the Sky

Today I went sky diving for the first time. (An early birthday present to myself) I did a static line jump which means I jumped out of the plane by myself and my parachute was deployed by a line attached to the plane. I jumped out at 3,500 ft. I wasn't completely happy with my take off or landing. My jammed finger makes it hard to grip and to get out of the plane you are supposed to hang off the strut for a moment before letting go. I wasn't able to hang for more than a couple of seconds because of my hand. As for the landing, I didn't do the release fast enough so I awkwardly rolled. But it is okay. I can now say that I have done it. I'd love to do more but it's expensive. Paul got some footage so I will post it once we get it off  the camera.

RIP Rufus

My precious baby Rufus died a couple days ago. Even though it was not entirely unexpected, it was really hard to be so far away.  He was such a sweet, funny kitty. I am going to miss him.

Lizards And Leeches. . . Oh My

Jolly's Lookout

Paul had last Tuesday off and we drove to D’Aguilar National Park which is just west of Brisbane. Paul wanted to do some walking in the rain forest. It had rained a bit in the morning but Paul said that it would make the forest nice and cool. We drove to Jolly's Lookout. Here is what the D’Aguilar National Park has to say about Jolly's Lookout:
         Named after Brisbane's first Lord Mayor, William Jolly, this lookout offers expansive
          views of Moreton Island, Samford Valley and the Glass House Mountains. The Mayor
          was so taken with the view that he agreed to build a road to the lookout for better access

From the lookout we headed out on the Thylogale walking track which takes you through subtropical rainforest.

Thylogale Walking Track

The first ten minutes were quite lovely. The forest was damp and cool, a nice change from the hot sun of the morning. Everything was lush and glistening from the recent rain. And then Paul told me to look at my feet. I looked down to see these inch-worm like creatures crawling up my shoes and ankles. Some were steadily heading to the bare skin above my socks. Others were trying to descend through the mesh of my shoes. The closer I looked the more I saw. And what were these creatures? Land Leeches.

Upon discovering there were critters crawling up my legs so they could suck my blood

Yes, dear readers it seems it is not enough for Australia to have snakes, spiders and jelly fish that can poison you (not that I have seen any. . .yet) and crocodiles that will devour you. Australia is also home to blood sucking leeches that live on land. The land leeches commonly reside in the rainforest underbrush in damp areas. And after a rain they are very hard to avoid. The leeches have suckers on both ends. Usually I would get one end unstuck and then it would suction on to my fingers. I wasn't as talented at flinging them as Paul seemed to be.

Leech on my ankle and a couple on the shoes if you look closely

Once I had divested my self of the first batch, I continued along carefully avoiding brushing up against any leaves or branches. It didn't make a difference. A short while later I check my ankles and once again there were leeches looking for their next meal.

a drier part of the forest

The rest of the walk had a periodically stopping and swiping off leeches. Luckily there were sections of the trail that went through drier forest and the leeches were not as prevalent. The only other wildlife we saw was a skink. I managed to get a picture.

Skink

We decided not to return to the car via the trail because of the leeches. Instead we walked back the road which was leech free. Surprisingly I managed to avoid being actually bitten. Paul wasn't as lucky and he had two bite marks on his ankles. Next time we go to the rainforest I am wearing pants and long socks. 

a beautiful gnarled tree trunk

Jammed Finger

I attempted to walk Paul's dog on Wednesday while we were at his parents. I made it almost across the street before she wrapped the leash around my legs and I fell face first into the gutter. It was really embarrassing. It was an ungraceful fall, my legs went right out from underneath me.I bloodied my left knee, scrapped my right knee and elbow, and jammed my left index finger. The finger immediately swelled up and  it was difficult to bend and straighten. I think I scared Paul and his father. They came running across the street. Another pedestrian even stopped to ask if I was okay. I did the typical dancer shake it off thing. I jumped up, looked at the knee and shrugged, "I'm fine.  I'm fine.  I'm okay. . . oh shit my finger."  So instead of continuing the walk, we went back to the house to put on my finger. There was debate of a doctor visit but we figured since I could move it, it wasn't broken

The photo shows how it looked yesterday. It was that bruised even with all the icing and arnica that I slathered on it. It is no longer as bruised looking because I went to bikram this evening and it seems the yoga and the heat flushed some of the bruising out. So it is getting better.

Wombats

Wombats!

Today I accomplished a milestone on my Australian animal list. I got to see wombats! Only two because they were in a nature park but I have been wanting to see one since my dad showed me pictures from his Australian trip. Wombats are burrowing marsupials with strong legs for digging and a backwards pouch to prevent dirt from entering. They are quite large and can weigh upwards of 70 pounds. The two I saw were sleeping but they were still incredibly adorable. I wish there was one that lived in our backyard. 

a sleeping wombat 

Paul had needed to stop by his parent's house in Ipswich and so we stopped at the Ipswich Nature Center in Queens Park. It was surprisingly good for being a free entry. There was a huge lace monitor, wallabies, kangaroos, bilbies, emus,  bandicoots and a couple other animals. It was sweltering hot so most creatures were dozing in the shade. Unfortunately I had forgotten to charge my camera battery so I had to use the iphone instead. The park is really close to Paul's parents so maybe we will go again when my camera is charged.

kangaroos