I’m comfortably established in my internship now and am settling in quite nicely.  In addition to guiding (which is my full-time gig) I also work one day a week as a concierge and pick up some short shifts behind the bar as well.  It makes for a rather interesting experience because guests will check in on the day that I’m working as a concierge and I’ll get to know them in that capacity.  Then, the next day, I’ll be their guide all day long as they do activities, and when night rolls around they head up to the bar and yours truly is serving them their margaritas.  This phenomenon lends itself to some interesting nicknames that have been bestowed upon me.  Nicknames like “Jack-of-all” and “Hop-along Jack” and “Mr. O’Reilly’s.”  I suppose that you’ve got to be notorious for something, right?

In other news, I won the O’Reilly’s Mission Statement Award at the quarterly staff party last week.  I didn’t even know that I was eligible to do so!  Hooray!

I think that I’ve made my mind up about staying in Australia.  I reckon I should go back to the US in January and finish up at Uni.  It’s time for me to be done with school.  So there.

Otherwise, life is fairly normal lately.  I get up in the morning, I walk around the third most biodiverse region in Australia, I tell some jokes, help people find different birds that they’re looking for, and then I write in my hours and go home.

And now, a quasi-comprehensive list of the different animals that I’ve seen whilst in Lamington National Park…

BIRDS:
Australian Brush-turkey
Brown Quail
Australian Wood Duck
Pied Cormorant
White-faced Heron
Little Egret
White-necked Heron
Glossy Ibis
Australian White Ibis
Straw-necked Ibis
Brown Goshawk
Grey Goshawk
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Brown Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
Grey Plover
Masked Lapwing
White-headed Pigeon
Brown Cuckoo-Dove
Crested Pigeon
Wonga Pigeon
Wompoo Fruit-Dove
Topknot Pigeon
Glossy Black-Cockatoo
Galah
Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
Rainbow Lorikeet
Little Lorikeet
Australian King-Parrot
Crimson Rosella
Eastern Rosella
Pale-Headed Rosella
Fan-Tailed Cuckoo
Powerful Owl
Souhern Boobook
Sooty Owl
Barn Owl
Tawny Frogmouth
Australian Owlet-Nightjar
White-Throated Needletail
Laughing Kookaburra
Albert’s Lyrebird
White-Throated Treecreeper
Superb Fairy-Wren
Red-Backed Fairy-Wren
Spotted Pardalote
Striated Pardalote
Yellow-Throated Scrubwren
White-Browed Scrubwren
Large-Billed Scrubwren
Brown Gerygone
Brown Thornbill
Striated Thornbill
Bell Miner
Noisy Miner
Lewin’s Honeyeater
White-Throated Honeyeater
White-Naped Honeyeater
Eastern Spinebill
Rose Robin
Pale-Yellow Robin
Eastern Yellow Robin
Logrunner
Eastern Whipbird
Varied Sittella
Golden Whistler
Grey Shrike-Thrush
Little Shrike-Thrush
Spectacled Monarch
Rufous Fantail
Grey Fantail
Willie Wagtail
Varied Triller
Dusky Woodswallow
Welcome Swallow
Grey Butcherbird
Pied Butcherbird
Australian Magpie
Pied Currawong
Paradise Riflebird
Torresion Crow
Green Catbird
Regent Bowerbird
Satin Bowerbird
Red-Browed Finch
Mistletoebird
Bassian Thrush
Russet-Tailed Thrush
Common Myna

MAMMALS:
FAMILY ORNITHORHYNCHIDAE
-Short-Beaked Echidna
-Platypus
FAMILY DASYURIDAE
-Brush-Tailed Phascogale
-Brown Antechinus
-Common Planigale
FAMILY PERAMELIDAE
-Northern Brown Bandicoot
-Long-Nosed Bandicoot
FAMILY PHASCOLARCTIDAE
-Koala
FAMILY PETAURIDAE
-Common Ringtail Possum
-Greater Glider
-Sugar Glider
FAMILY PHALANGERIDAE
-Common Brushtail Possum
-Mountain Brushtail Possum
FAMILY BURRAMYIDAE
-Feathertail Glider
FAMILY MACROPODIDAE
-Red-Legged Pademelon
-Red-Necked Pademelon
-Whiptail Wallaby
-Red-Necked Wallaby
-Swamp Wallaby
FAMILY PTEROPODIDAE
-Black Flying Fox
FAMILY MURIDAE
-Water Rat
-Hastings River Mouse
-House Mouse
-Swamp Rat
FAMILY CANIDAE
-Dingo
-Fox (Vulpes vulpes, to be specific)
FAMILY FELIDAE
-Feral Cat (Felis catus)

AMPHIBIANS:
-Cane Toad

REPTILES:
FAMILY GEKKONIDAE
-Leaf-Tailed Gecko
-Asian tree Gecko
FAMILY PYGOPODIDAE
-Burton’s Legless Lizard
-Common Scaly Foot
FAMILY SCINCIDAE
-Rainbow Skink
-Lively Skink
-Eastern Striped Skink
-Major Skink
-Land Mullet
-Blue-Tongued Lizard
FAMILY AGAMIDAE (DRAGONS)
-Jacky Lizard
-Bearded Dragon
-Eastern Water Dragon
FAMILY VARANIDAE (GOANNAS)
-Lace Monitor
FAMILY BOIDAE
-Carpet Python
FAMILY ELAPIDAE
-Yellow-Faced Whip Snake
-Red-Naped Snake
-Stephen’s Banded Snake
-Tiger Snake
-Red-Bellied Black Snake
-Eastern Brown Snake
-Bandy Bandy

There are simply too many insects and arachnids for me to mention, but yes, I have seen the Funnel Web Spiders.  And the centipedes.  And the Trapdoor Spiders.  And the jumping ants.  And all the wonderfully dangerous critters that they keep down at Sea World.

Well, that’s about it for today.  I’ll check back in later on update this list as necessary.  Cheers!

So what do YOU think of the whole peerage thing that they seem to embrace so freely in the United Kingdom? And no, this is not just one of those random questions.

Now, according to that convenient and highly reliable source of information known as “the Internet” (you know, Al Gore’s invention…), there hasn’t been anyone knighted in Australia since 3 March,1986.

Evidently, on 14 February of 1975 the queen decided that there should be a system of honours in place that would “supersede” all other honours conferred upon men and women of this humble continent, so with a magical wave of her scepter she created what was called the “Order of Australia,” or something like that.  There were five levels of honour included therein, with knights and dames at the very top and valet parking attendants at the bottom.  Or maybe it was pedicurists…  Anyway!  So they’ve got this system, ok?  Then in 1986, and for reasons unknown to 99.9997% of the world’s population (the other .0003% are the only ones who actually give a flying hoot about the whole “titles of nobility” nonsense), somebody decided that knighthoods and dame…doms(is that a word?) were against the rules.  I can picture the decree now…

“A serfdom shall be the extent of thy progression, and thy progression shall be to that of a serf.  To baron shalt thou not progress, neither shalt thou progress to peasantry excepting that thou proceedest regressing directly to back serfdom.  Thou shalt not progress to knighthood.  A duchy is totally out.”  Thank you, Mr. Python.

So all that to say the following: we had a guest staying with us the other day who absolutely insisted that we, the peasant rabble, only address her as “Lady Smith.”  (Obviously, “Smith” is a fictitious name that I have created to protect her privacy.  Hehehe…)  In fact, this is not her first visit to the O’Reilly’s fiefdom –I mean the guesthouse— and there are stories of her extendedly berating and verbally abusing previous employees who made the grave, grave mistake of calling her by her given name, Edith.  So this time, they gave us some warning in advance about her.

And the whole concept just made me sick.  It must be the American/Mexican/human being in me that was stirred into questioning whether or not it’s right that people should DEMAND that deference be afforded them simply because someone tapped them on the shoulder with a bit of a sword.  I can understand why one could enjoy the “feel-good” feeling that would accompany being called “sir” or “lady,” but when you command other people to address you thusly, isn’t it a little counterproductive?  There’s no respect behind it.  There’s no feeling other than hostility and resentment accompanying it.

And I, stubborn as I am, inwardly refused to call Edith “Lady Smith.”  I wasn’t going to stir the hornets’ nest by walking up and drawling, “How yer goin’, EDITH!?!?!???” but I absolutely refused to go all subservient for someone who had done nothing to earn my admiration.  So the whole time she was here I just called her “ma’am” in the most Sam Elliot fashion I could muster.

Ok, I’m done.

Sorry.  I’ve been kinda lazy.  And busy.  But I promise that I’ll do one tomorrow, because I have that day off!  In the meantime, y’all up in the northern hemisphere can sit around and be jealous of the sweet tan that I’m developing now that it’s springtime!

 HA!