Oh, you’ve got to take this test, yo.

Australian Citizenship Test.pdf

I have now been here for exactly four months. Two-thirds of the way through. I’ve been trying to keep up on how things have changed since I arrived, but I think that a more honest assessment of my own development as a person might be conducted once I get back to the US where people that knew me before I came over would be able to conduct said assessment. Personally, I feel as if I have a much clearer picture of what I would like to do for the rest of my life.

Of late I have been trying to balance this lifestyle decision that I have made (that is, a job that, on a fairly industry-wide scale, is not very high-paying) with the desire that I have to want to share it with somebody. Too bad Jane Goodall is a little too old and a little too dead for me, hey?

But seriously, living in relative isolation on the top of a mountain has certainly opened my eyes up to the fact that people can survive quite nicely and contentedly without all of the “necessities” that a city offers. In the last four months I have been off the mountain fewer than ten times. I have survived without a mobile phone. I have done just fine with limited internet access. The last time I bought clothes or shoes was right before I left the US. It’s really not that hard, you know? It’s just that it’s very easy to get wrapped up in all that when that’s what everyone around you is into. Of course, the same thing could be said for the rabid voraciousness with which I now consume book after book about the flora and fauna (specifically, birds) of Australia; it’s just another contagious human behaviour.

For example, when I was living in Roseburg, I found my identity in the music that I played and the “lifeguard lifestyle” that I lived. Then I moved to Bend and started finding my identity more in the outdoor activities in which I participated (and, subsequently, in the gear that was necessary for the completion of said activities). Now I’m here in Australia and I’ve realized that I have stopped caring what people associate me with. I love where I live and work and everyday is a brand new adventure that can either be as complicated as hiking somewhere I’ve never been before or as simple as identifying a new bird call. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been thinking lately. Oh, and happy birthday, Mum! Love you!

I got three consecutive days off the other week, and needing a bit of an escape from the confines of the guesthouse I booked two nights in one of the campgrounds on Moreton Island. It’s situated off the coast of Brisbane about 35 kilometres out, and it’s the third largest sand island in the world. Anyway, the western coast of the island is quite protected, and there are about 11 ships that have been sunk only about 75 metres off the beach in an attempt to form an artificial reef. Well, the attempt worked, and it was right by those wrecks (called “The Wrecks) that I camped. And snorkeled. And watched birds. And it was faaaaaaaaaaaaaabulous. But more than anything, it was just a very welcome relaxation that I needed very badly. There’s just something almost spiritual about floating motionless in the waves and watching all the blue wrasses and sharks and stingrays and manta rays and porcupine fish and wobbegongs gather silently about you. I enjoyed that trip. Anyway, this is what I say while I was there.

BIRDS:
Whistling Kite
Brahminy Kite
Common Starling
Rainbow Bee Eater
Brown Honeyeater
White-Throated Honeyeater
Forest Kingfisher
Beach Stone Curlew
Bush Stone Curlew
Noisy Friarbird
Silver Gull
Australian Pelican
Pied Cormorant

MARINE LIFE:
Bottlenose Dolphin
Wobbegong (Sand Shark)
Tiger Shark
Blue Wrasse
Sergeant Major
Butter Bream
Silver Bream
Three-Striped Porcupine Fish
Manta Ray
Common Stinguree
Hardhead
Sea Turtle
Dugong

Hey there!  I’ve finally gotten around to posting some photos under the Pictures! page.  Navigate to them by clicking on the Pictures! link, yo.

Oh, and enjoy…