Every Day I'm Wanderin

View of Thiaki Creek Rainforest

This week involved a lot of time in the field and work spent writing the paper for "Principles of Forest Management". We spent long hours hiking around in the brush at Thiaki Creek Rainforest, measuring the trunk width and height and determining the mortality rate of trees planted by TREAT several years ago. For my project I compared our data with data taken from the Dry Season (back in September) and found that the trees that exhibited higher vertical growth rates and diametrical growth rates at the base of the trunk were destined to be high canopy trees while those that exhibited higher diametrical growth rates around the trunk at 30 cm height were understory and sub-canopy species. The most shocking realization to me was that I actually could and did correctly determine which species would become canopy trees when I looked them up, all based on which of the growth rates a species tended towards (nerd moment, had to do it).

Setting up the plots

Scoping out the landscape

Unfortunately I had to pull an all-nighter to finish the paper, perhaps in part due to our 2 hour and 15 minute hike on Sunday. It was kind of a spur of the moment idea that led Greg, Rob and I to wander off in pursuit of the infamous Cathedral Fig. So we set off, traipsing across pastures and the old access road until we hit the main road. From there we walked about a mile and a half before we stumbled upon the sign announcing our arrival at the tree. 

Amazing large and incredibly tempting to climb, the Cathedral Fig truly inspired awe, not just because of its great size but also because of its beauty. We gaped at it for a few minutes before realizing that we could even go inside. I've walked through Sequoia trees, but standing in the Cathedral Fig may trump that experience. Just looking up you can tell that this one tree is its own ecosystem, with all its symbionts making up dense foliage at the top and from the mosaic of vine-like branches that would make it an ideal home or resting area for animals looking to evade predators. My picture does not do it justice. After admiring the Cathedral Fig for a good 20 minutes, we headed back and made it just in time for dinner and long before our TA (I know that's not his actual title, but I can't think what else to call him) had predicted. A well-worth-it journey I would say.

A Hercules Beetle that keeps me company as I write papers

As promised, a picture of a Carpet Python

Living on the Edge

First week of classes went well, but we were all excited to start the weekend. Saturday was our first tree planting day! We worked aside members of TREAT (Tree Restoration of the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands) to plant 3000 seedlings. We spent the whole morning throwing fertilizer into holes and planting seedlings within them. It was here that we met Tim, the summer intern who is now probably on his way back home to Brisbane for the fall semester. (Our spring overlaps with their summer). Being one of the first Australians we encountered, everyone was interested in learning what they could about Australian culture from him.
After the tree planting, we touristed a bit. We viewed some waterfalls, ate at Gallo Dairy and later we hit up our first Australian Pub (Peeramon Pub). IDs were not necessary since there really isn't a drinking age in Australia. I'll leave our experiences at the pub on the DL since drinking is a universal phenomenon anyhow.

Well the weekend ends and so began another week of classes. Perhaps the most valuable thing I learned that week was never open your cabin door before shining your light on your porch. I say this because I accidentally let a venomous Eastern small-eyed Snake into our cabin. I instinctively reacted by kicking it backwards to prevent it from biting any of my cabinmates (do not fear animal rights activists, I only kicked it hard enough to redirect it from moving further into our cabin). I then flickered my light towards the corner of the porch so that it would slither away from me and the door. As soon as it moved, I sprinted past it, slammed the door and warned my perplexed cabinmates that they shouldn't go outside until the morning.

My first encounter with a snake was quickly succeeded by a chance sighting of our first python. As I was frantically searching for my misplaced camera, I shined my light into the eyes of a 12-ft long Amethystine python right outside the center. Unfortunately I have no pictures to show since the lost status of my camera was my reason for stumbling upon it. However, I have heard rumors of a Carpet Python that has made several appearances at cabin 2. I will post a picture of it as soon as I see it. In summary, snakes: we have a lot of them.

Thought I'd throw in a picture of a Monitor Lizard chilling on a tree B)

Snakes aren't the only things to be seen when the sun goes down. Yungaburra has quite the nightlife scene, as we discovered on our nightwalk. From bioluminescent mushrooms to the spectacular flickering of fireflies you will hardly need a flashlight to navigate the woods (just kidding, NEVER get caught without a flashlight! You'll need it to see the snakes.) Pictured above are Pademelons, which are small kangaroos and below is a Forest Dragon. Yes, Dragons exist and we have those too!

Embracing the Rain

In order to better understand the history and culture of Queensland, we separated into five groups and set off to explore Atherton, Karanda, Malanda, Herberton and Yungaburra. Our group went to the nearby Yungaburra center. We quickly found out that Yungaburra was the smallest and most rural of all the towns (in fact it is classified as a village since its population numbers less than a thousand). Having grown up in possibly the smallest and most rural town in Massachusetts, I was quite content with this small little town. After talking to some folks at the information center, we wandered about trying to find more information about the town but both the library and the police station were closed... figures. Of course we weren't too disappointed since there was something at the information that really caught our interest.

The Duck-billed Platypus (one of, but not the only egg-laying mammal in the world) is a common resident of Yungaburra. We set out to Alumbah Pocket to find the stream where Platypuses could be found. Unfortunately we found that our chances of finding a platypus were greatly reduced due to both the murkiness of the water and the closure of most of the trail due to "too wet conditions". Slightly disappointed, but still enthusiastic, we wandered back the way we came where we stumbled upon a bowls club.

We curiously wandered down to inquire about the club and found the president right away. He let us practice bowlsing while giving us pointers and answering any questions we had about the town. Bowls is nothing like what it sounds like. There are no pins to knock down like in bowling, rather there is a small white ball that you are aiming to get as close to as possible. So it must be Bocce, right? Actually no. The balls are weighted so that they always curve when you bowl them. Not a game I was particularly good at since I kept treating it like Bocce =P

Our final interviewee was the owner of a small, but cozy coffee shop where anyone could get free wi-fi as long as they bought a drink. For us, this would be a luxury since there is only one building on site where we can access the internet and it becomes markedly slower as more people use it. I suspect we will be spending a lot of time a this shop when internet studying and research are required.

On our way back to camp, we stopped by Tinaroo Lake pictured below. Despite the fact that it is man-made, it was quite beautiful.

Though not as populated or exciting as the other towns, Yungaburra is an excellent place to hike and watch for wildlife (in addition to platypuses, they also have flying foxes and tree kangaroos).

After browsing our towns, we played a long round of volleyball in the rain. Eventually, most of us took our shoes off and shifted about in the mud to return a volley. I believe it is safe to say that we were all soaked by the end, but no one was complaining. Living in a rainforest demands that residents adapt to the constantly wet conditions. Perhaps Yungaburra is not so different from Ithaca after all.