Surreal 24 hours
It has been a strange 24 hours, well, maybe it's closer to 30 hours. A little background build-up. We have a new student working in the lab on one of our projects with water loss in frogs. He is measuring water loss rates in a lot of species of frogs across different temperatures. He's just getting started, and I've been spending a lot of time getting him going on the techniques, the frog species, etc. Part of that has been trying to get some frogs for him to work with. Now, I know there is one that comes to my front door every night, but we've already got the data we need from that species. so I've been going out trying to find frogs. Unfortunately, we've had a bit of a dry spell in the middle of the wet season, and it has not really rained enough to bring out frogs in the last couple of weeks. Well, that spell finally broke on Sunday, and I've been trying to take advantage. Last night, I was monitoring the local weather radar, and it looked like there was going to be some rain out at one of our sites on the Adelaide River flood plain about 80km from here. It's a good spot to get a lot of frogs because it is a huge wetland at this time of year, with a highway running right through the middle. That means it is possible to just drive along a pick frogs off the road (as long as they haven't been flattened by the road trains carrying Uranium ore from the Jabiluka mine in Kakadu).
Last night, Keith offered to let me take his car - a Jeep Cherokee (Jeep Liberty for people reading this in the US). It's a long story, but the gist is that it is possible to get a car here as a salary perk, and thus avoid some taxes. Part of the deal is that you have to drive a specified number of kilometers in a year, and Keith is a bit under schedule so far. The deal actually pays for all of the fuel, maintenance, etc. for the car. Anyway, he let me take that car out to chase frogs last night.
I arrived at the floodplain just in time for a good wet season storm, complete with lots of sheet lightening, driving rain, wind, etc. Of course the frogs loved it. I decided that standing on a raised highway in the middle of a great, flat floodplain, during lightning storm might not be the smartest of plans, so I pulled off for a while and waited for the worst to pass. After about a half hour, the rains eased off, and I hit the road looking for frogs. I found lots of them. I was having a great time, and found about 10-12 species hopping around (including only 1 of the pestiferous cane toad, but he was calling...). The rain had slowed to a light spitting rain, and the frogs were everywhere. I came across a good sized water python, and this is where the trouble started. I hopped out of the car, to shoo it off the middle of the road, and closed the door behind me. The snake was a good looking one - about 1.3 m long (4 feet). After a bit of convincing, I got it off the road, and went to get back in the car. Somehow, I had manged to lock the door before closing it. I'm not sure how, because it is one of those cars with electronic, remote locks, and the key was in the ignition. So, there I was, standing in the rain, in the middle of the floodplain, with frogs calling all around me, and a water python sliding happily back into the weeds, staring at a running car, with everything safely locked inside.
Now, these days, cars are made so you can't easily get into one, unless you are an employee of the AAA or an average car thief. I'm neither. My cell phone (which probably wouldn't have worked there anyway) was locked inside the running car, it was 11:30 at night, and I was in the middle of a highway that goes to Jabiru - a very small town. Part of the appeal of this highway for catching frogs is that there isn't much traffic, particularly at night, in the rain. I was about 20km in either direction from the nearest people - not a great place to be. So I waited for one of those road trains that is so good at flattening the fauna in the area. There was something a bit unreal about standing in the middle of the highway, in the middle of the floodplain, in the middle of the night, in the rain, and having a road train pull to a stop right next to me. It felt a bit like a dream sequence. Anyway, the truckie had no idea how to get into the car, without a lot of damage, but he did have a satellite phone, so I rang Keith (the only phone number I could remember) and told him about the predicament. I'm sure he was a bit nervous when I said there was an issue with the car. Last week a student rolled one of our lab field vehicles, and I'm sure Keith had visions of his nice new Jeep upside down, with a belly full of Adelaide river mud. Of course, the bigger issue, is that, of course, I had his car. He rang Steve, who came out to deliver a spare key.
Normally, a couple of hours in the middle of nowhere watching frogs hopping across the highway would be quite nice. And the rain had managed to keep down the mosquitos and other nasty insects. I did enjoy it, but there were moments when I had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. It did end up being a good frog night, though. I suppose the worst part was that I didn't make it home until almost 3am, which added to the surreal nature of the whole thing.
Today's adventures were a bit more earthshaking, literally. This evening there was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake a couple hundred miles to the north. I was helping call lines after our volleyball game when it happened. It was quite strange - I was leaning up against a wall of storage doors in the gymnasium, and the doors started shaking pretty violently. I pulled away from the doors, but couldn't feel the ground shaking. The whole thing was strange because my first thought when the doors started shaking was earthquake, but then I couldn't feel anything through the floor, so decided it much have been something else. Not sure what I was thinking it could be. So, that was interesting.
The last bit to the saga of the last day is a bit tragic. I found out that a friend (not very close) died in a bit of a strange accident with an arc welder. Apparently he was welding when the storm hit yesterday, and died. His wife, a better friend, came home and found him still attached to the current, but there wasn't anything she could do. They were just married last year, and their tales of their honeymoon in Bali helped me figure out my own trip there. It was quite a shock (no pun, please) to the system.
I don't want to wrap up on that sad note, so I'll add one more little strangeness from today. As I was going to volleyball, I turned on the radio and heard a familiar voice. Jared Diamond was doing an interview with the ABC about his new book Collapse, how societies choose to fail or succeed. I just got the book, but haven't had a chance to read it yet. I'm looking forward to that. It sounds like a good one, and his last one (Guns, Germs and Steel) was quite interesting. At least it should be thought provoking.
Last night, Keith offered to let me take his car - a Jeep Cherokee (Jeep Liberty for people reading this in the US). It's a long story, but the gist is that it is possible to get a car here as a salary perk, and thus avoid some taxes. Part of the deal is that you have to drive a specified number of kilometers in a year, and Keith is a bit under schedule so far. The deal actually pays for all of the fuel, maintenance, etc. for the car. Anyway, he let me take that car out to chase frogs last night.
I arrived at the floodplain just in time for a good wet season storm, complete with lots of sheet lightening, driving rain, wind, etc. Of course the frogs loved it. I decided that standing on a raised highway in the middle of a great, flat floodplain, during lightning storm might not be the smartest of plans, so I pulled off for a while and waited for the worst to pass. After about a half hour, the rains eased off, and I hit the road looking for frogs. I found lots of them. I was having a great time, and found about 10-12 species hopping around (including only 1 of the pestiferous cane toad, but he was calling...). The rain had slowed to a light spitting rain, and the frogs were everywhere. I came across a good sized water python, and this is where the trouble started. I hopped out of the car, to shoo it off the middle of the road, and closed the door behind me. The snake was a good looking one - about 1.3 m long (4 feet). After a bit of convincing, I got it off the road, and went to get back in the car. Somehow, I had manged to lock the door before closing it. I'm not sure how, because it is one of those cars with electronic, remote locks, and the key was in the ignition. So, there I was, standing in the rain, in the middle of the floodplain, with frogs calling all around me, and a water python sliding happily back into the weeds, staring at a running car, with everything safely locked inside.
Now, these days, cars are made so you can't easily get into one, unless you are an employee of the AAA or an average car thief. I'm neither. My cell phone (which probably wouldn't have worked there anyway) was locked inside the running car, it was 11:30 at night, and I was in the middle of a highway that goes to Jabiru - a very small town. Part of the appeal of this highway for catching frogs is that there isn't much traffic, particularly at night, in the rain. I was about 20km in either direction from the nearest people - not a great place to be. So I waited for one of those road trains that is so good at flattening the fauna in the area. There was something a bit unreal about standing in the middle of the highway, in the middle of the floodplain, in the middle of the night, in the rain, and having a road train pull to a stop right next to me. It felt a bit like a dream sequence. Anyway, the truckie had no idea how to get into the car, without a lot of damage, but he did have a satellite phone, so I rang Keith (the only phone number I could remember) and told him about the predicament. I'm sure he was a bit nervous when I said there was an issue with the car. Last week a student rolled one of our lab field vehicles, and I'm sure Keith had visions of his nice new Jeep upside down, with a belly full of Adelaide river mud. Of course, the bigger issue, is that, of course, I had his car. He rang Steve, who came out to deliver a spare key.
Normally, a couple of hours in the middle of nowhere watching frogs hopping across the highway would be quite nice. And the rain had managed to keep down the mosquitos and other nasty insects. I did enjoy it, but there were moments when I had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. It did end up being a good frog night, though. I suppose the worst part was that I didn't make it home until almost 3am, which added to the surreal nature of the whole thing.
Today's adventures were a bit more earthshaking, literally. This evening there was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake a couple hundred miles to the north. I was helping call lines after our volleyball game when it happened. It was quite strange - I was leaning up against a wall of storage doors in the gymnasium, and the doors started shaking pretty violently. I pulled away from the doors, but couldn't feel the ground shaking. The whole thing was strange because my first thought when the doors started shaking was earthquake, but then I couldn't feel anything through the floor, so decided it much have been something else. Not sure what I was thinking it could be. So, that was interesting.
The last bit to the saga of the last day is a bit tragic. I found out that a friend (not very close) died in a bit of a strange accident with an arc welder. Apparently he was welding when the storm hit yesterday, and died. His wife, a better friend, came home and found him still attached to the current, but there wasn't anything she could do. They were just married last year, and their tales of their honeymoon in Bali helped me figure out my own trip there. It was quite a shock (no pun, please) to the system.
I don't want to wrap up on that sad note, so I'll add one more little strangeness from today. As I was going to volleyball, I turned on the radio and heard a familiar voice. Jared Diamond was doing an interview with the ABC about his new book Collapse, how societies choose to fail or succeed. I just got the book, but haven't had a chance to read it yet. I'm looking forward to that. It sounds like a good one, and his last one (Guns, Germs and Steel) was quite interesting. At least it should be thought provoking.
2 Comments:
oh cool, I hadn't heard about Dr. Diamonds new book, hopefully it'll pop up in the English language bookstores (I managed to get the latest David Quammen one, so there is a chance).
The keys locked in jeep story was quite a hoot! (sorry! ;) )
I have to admit it - I laughed at the whole jeep thing while it was happening too. It was all a bit silly, really. At least it was a pleasant evening for it to happen. The bugs there can be brutal, but they weren't, and the rain could have been heavier, colder, windier, uglier, but it wasn't. So I guess it's just a funny story...
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