Day 10: 1…2…3…4…

Morning came and instead of just hearing the birds it was time to go out and find them! Bird watching time. We saw several birds including the kookaburra (I think I sang the kookaburra song at least 10x the entire trip) and by the time we were done attempting to find the birds that Dan miraculously would spot with his naked eye, it was feeding time. I believe that food has become a new major activity in my life on this trip, especially since I half gave up on breakfast when I began buying my own food at college (no more of that!). After breakfast it was time for lab report data collection. We counted trees, evaluated the canopy and ecosystem of different plots to study and make our hypotheses… but I’ll spare you and myself the scientific detail. Most the day was filled with data collecting, eating, and watching people do a zip line. However, at night we got to do something really cool. We partnered up (me and allie) and layed on our backs and counted flying foxes (bats). It was not just 30 flying foxes but more like 30000! We counted and counted and counted and I decided it was quite a disorienting job to have. In the dark I would mark my hand with a pen line for every 100 we counted, and because I didn’t use my headlamp I later realized that I had notches all over my hand in random places and directions. Not to mention I also think I went half blind to the world around me and saw only flying foxes and numbers in my head for the next hour. That happens when you count thousands of flying foxes at one time. After getting my bearings I of course…ate again…dinner. Soon we were all around the campfire talking. This is when family really began! It is amazing how close people can get in small amounts of time when you are put together nonstop for days in addition to fun activities. With that note, another day for the books and for Aussie land.

Day 11:

Today is our last day at Binna Burra and it has flown bye…Woke up early and ate breakfast while studying for our Binna Burra quiz. We had a short module discussion and took our quiz. Before I knew it we were packing up and heading out of the National Park and off to Brisbane once more for one night before heading to Carnarvon Gorge (outback). On the way back from Binna Burra we stopped at the Gold Coast for a few hours to eat lunch and wander, but before I knew it I was back on the bus. However, before we departed, allie, Vanessa and I went into “Crazy Clark’s” for a little cold weather shopping. We ended up with very trendy and cute sweatpants and sweatshirts, along with some knee high black and orange socks. Needless to say, by the time we all got to Carnarvon our entire group was almost matching in colors and clothes. ). When in Brisbane my list of things mainly was LAUNDRY! Our hotel, which had a broken dryer and washer before we left for Binna Burra still had not fixed anything to my dismay. But, as Bianca, Beckie, Stephanie and I checked we saw no sign saying out of order on ONE washer and ONE dryer (in a separate room) so we happily loaded our clothes together. Our victory was shortly lived though as the machine wouldn’t take our money and our clothes sat in this washer with detergent seeping through them. Distraught about the situation, our eyes soon set on the big sink right next to the washer and couldn’t help but laugh about what was going to happen next. So, naturally we quickly loaded the load into the sink and turned on the water and poured on more detergent (which later was one of the best ideas we had). Elbow deep, kneading these clothes, our genius idea become a reality. Stephanie was deemed our “wet-clothes runner” and took piles of dripping wet clothes to the room down the hall to the only working dryer. Finally, with all the clothes “washed” and loaded into the dryer, it was only a matter of time for us to have perfectly clean clothes. Only, as we waited at least an hour the dryer suddenly broke! Our clothes still very very wet and no working dryer at the hotel, we decided to try our best to hairdry or hang all of our clothes. However, even after dinner and before bed, all the clothes were far far from being dry and I was forced to wait out the night. But, done with modules and with a free night in Brisbane, several people met downstairs at the bar and enjoyed some wine. Some people wanted to go out, and I was soon convinced to go to “Down Under” for the first time. This bar was very close to the hotel and was known to be the crazy backpacker, hostel bar that was a “necessary experience.” Most people had been, expect me, so I agreed to go along and dance. The bar was hilarious in itself, but dancing was great. Down Under. Classy classy.