Nearly off to Namibia

Sorry about the slow rate of entries here lately - things have been a bit hectic around here the last several weeks. I've been trying to get things done in time for a month-long trip to Namibia that starts on Saturday. That's meant doing everything that should have been done in October before October, which hasn't been easy (or even possible, really). Last week, Keith and I had a visit from a potential PhD student, who's interested in the project we're developing on crocodile digestive physiology. That took up most of 3 days to show her around, introduce her to us, the university, the guys at Crocodylus Park who will be heavily involved (and are partly responsible for funding the research). This week has been a flurry of job applications with deadlines between now and November. And dealing with a bunch of experiments in various stages of progress. Ugh.

So, now I'm pretty much in panic stage. I'm quite sure I've forgotten to do several critical things, but I have no idea what they are. And I'm still working on getting things packed, and deciding what I can actually take. So, I'll do what I can to post from Namibia, but the Gobabeb station has only basic internet access (slow, unreliable, expensive). Photos will probably have to wait until I get back, but I'll be taking lots, so I'll post some.

Should be a fun trip - once I get on the plane...

frog line

frog line
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

A line of tiny frogs (Litoria bicolor) hanging out in the shade on a hot dry season day. These guys are amazing because they remain active during the day during the dry season, even though it might not rain for 6 months.

Florence Falls

Florence Falls
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Sarah and I escaped Darwin for a day this weekend. We went down to Litchfield National Park for an overnight trip. We had planned to go to Walker Creek (see earlier photos), but that trail was closed because of fires in the area. Instead, we went to Florence Falls. It's a lot more busy than Walker Creek, but it's got some nice country. There is a nice path down to the plunge pool - unfortunately, it is easily accessible to busloads of tourists. We counted 6 busses the morning we left. There was a grassfire in the area, so that might have chased some people away. In fact, the campground was pretty smokey, and we could hear the fire crackling just downhill from us. We walked around at night an found a bunch of interesting wildlife there - short eared rock wallabies, a couple of species of native frog, an interesting little mouse (not a house mouse) and of course a bunch of cane toads. I guess that explains why we didn't see any snakes or qualls. But the falls were impressive, and the fire was really pretty interesting too. It stirred up an incredible cloud of black kites (a common raptor here) - at one point there were hundreds of them circling over the burned area looking for a bit of barbecue.

firey sun

firey sun
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

There was a good fire going just downhill from our campsite. When we arrived at the campsite, we weren't sure if it was going to go up in flames. We stood around the campground for a while listening to the fire, and watching its direction. We eventually decided that it was going the other way, that it was a cool fire, and that there was enough bare ground around the campground that even if it turned, it couldn't get to the tent. Made for a pretty smoky night, but definitely an interesting light show after dark. And a pretty good sunset.

cane toad

cane toad
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Yes, cane toads have arrived at Litchfield National Park, in full force. We took a walk at night and ran into dozens of them, just haging around on the path. This male was about the size of my fist, and he had his eyes on a lady even bigger.

big spider

big spider
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

We were looking for geckos along a rock face, when I noticed this guy around my feet. I have another photo of this one with a credit card in it for scale (not a very good photo) - and the card is smaller than this spider, at least across the leg span. It was about 5 inches across the legs. It had a friend nearby, but that one wasn't as photogenic.

Sarah with termites

Sarah with termites
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

The obligatory photo of my roommate in front of the magnetic termite mounds in Litchfield. I'm sure if you did a bit of searching on Google, you'd be able to find about 100,000 photos of this spot.

Me and termite mound

Me and termite mound
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Some of the termite mounds around here get pretty big. This one was one of the bigger ones we drove past on the Litchfield trip. And it was far enough off the main highway that there wasn't a beaten path to it (except for the ring of bare ground that the termites themselves made).

Darwin moment

Tonight I had a very Darwin moment. I was at the deckchair cinema, watching an Australian movie (Footy Legends - quite good, I'd recommend it), drinking a Cooper's pale ale (South Australian beer) in a stubby-cooler, when a possum (not the standard north American opossum, but an Australian native of some sort) walked across the top of the movie screen. It doesn't get much more Darwin than that.

Local Bloke

Local Bloke
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

I'm thinking about adopting this as my new logo.

Tympanocryptis sp.

Tympanocryptis sp.
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

This is a little lizard we came across while looking for agates at the Wave Hill site. It's probably a Tympanocryptis, but we're not sure of the species. It is possible that it is a new species because it is from a pretty remote area that has not been collected much, and there is some question about species identification in this genus.

burned Cyclorana

burned Cyclorana
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

This is what happens to burying frogs that don't bury before the fires come. I found this guy on the ground on the way to the Wave Hill site.

Wave Hill site

Wave Hill site
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

A few weeks ago, I went to Wave Hill station for the rock slime project, where we're looking at cyanobacteria that grow under translucent rocks. This is Keith and Sarah at the site looking for the thumbnail-sized dataloggers we placed under some of the rocks in June. If you look closely, you might be able to see some of the rocks marked with orange flagging. We found most of the loggers, and suspect the others were dragged off by rats.

Dragonfly

Dragonfly
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Hanging out on the clothesline on the balcony this morning.

Fishing at sunset

Fishing at sunset
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Nightcliff jetty

Nightcliff jetty
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

High tide at sunset

Nightcliff jetty

Nightcliff jetty
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Low tide at mid day.

Frog art

Frog art
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

As part of the Darwin festival, there was a sculpture show in the park downtown. This was an entry from a local high school, illustrating the sentiments of native frogs toward invasive cane toads.

Frog with lips

Frog with lips
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

A close-up of one of the frog activists. Sexy lips, don't you think?

beach showerhead

beach showerhead
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Okay, I've been pretty busy lately, so not much action on the ol' blog. Sorry. Here are a few photos from the last few weeks to catch up.