Small marsupial on the street!

This is the last update before we leave tomorrow morning. Just one sleep!

We spotted this little animal on the way home from the park on Saturday. Nate and I immediately thought it was some kind of marsupial...being in Australia and all.

We got home and whipped out the Wildlife to Greater Brisbane (Thanks again, Penny and Peter!) and tried to give a name to this little creature.

We decided that it looked most like the Yellow-footed Antechinus or maybe the Brown Antechinus. Both of these species are quite rare within city limits because of competition with mice and rats in urban areas, and because of the vicious Felis catus.

Antechinuses reproduce only once a year, and the male yellow-footed antechinuses die after mating from the stress of it all. Hard to compete with the fecund house mouse!

If you haven't figured it out from the pictures, it turns out that our 'marsupial' is the lowly Mus musculus. We were really hoping it wasn't, but it makes more sense that we would see a mouse in the gutter of a busy street than a rare and threatened marsupial. Shoot! If only her snout was just a bit longer... and she had a pouch under there...

It's amazing how similar the antechinus and mouse look considering how distantly related they are! Science!

Next stop, California! Well, technically, our next stop is Aukland, THEN California, but let's not get picky.

Five!

Five-ish hours.

Five days.

Five weeks.

Five months.

Labour Day Weekend

Nate had Monday off from work for Labour Day, so we took advantage of the long weekend and stayed two nights in the Gold Coast hinterland to celebrate my birthday. We stayed in a resort in the Binna Burra section of Lamington National Park. It's about 30 km from the Pacific and 900 m above sea level. It was the first time in months that I've felt cold - it was wonderful.

Most people travel to this area for bushwalking. There are over 160 kms of walking trails and we managed to squeeze in about 12 kms. It is the one of the largest patches of subtropical rainforest in the world and has a lot of endemic flora.

Inspecting the leaves of the Antarctic Beech, Nothofagus moorei. Nate has described an insect species that occurs on this plant and the stand in Lamington NP is the northernmost occurrence of the plant in Australia.

Kweebani Cave - Aboriginal hiding spot from inclement weather.

Pademelon! This was the best picture I could get of this cute little marsupial that crossed our path early one morning.

We were so stoked to see these Frogmouths, or Froggies, as the locals call them. Do you see the one on the right has turned his head to look at us? They roosted on a stump just down from our balconey all morning. (Mom, are you jealous!?)


Our 'rustic' room. No tv, radio, internet, and we had a lovely Huntsman living in the shower door. It was great.

This spider scared the living daylights out of me. I pulled down the bathmat that was hanging over the shower door and she was underneath it! She stayed in that position for so long that I thought she was fake! She finally moved when we moved the door to take a shower.

Our resort's dining room at sunset. At dinner, we sat with a man who studies koala ecology for the National Parks in New South Wales. He told us he saw koalas during his walks in the park, but we didn't spot any.

Another sunset shot from the resort's BBQ area.

Queenslanders love Lord Lamington, their governor in the late 1800's. Not only is a beloved National Park named for him, but the cake pictured above is called a Lamington. It is a sponge cake dipped in chocolate and coated in dessicated coconut. Eaten with cream, of course, just like every other dessert here. This was our first delicious Lamington... the first of many, I hope.

Just like a real Australian! Eating cake with my tea!

Roxy used Daddy's hands as walking poles and held onto them for the duration of our hikes. She'll be ready for the John Muir Trail in no time....

Well, maybe we'll give her a few years...

On the way home we stopped at a roadside cafe and enjoyed a delicious pizza on their patio protected from a rainstorm. It was a fantastic weekend and a wonderful way to welcome my 30's!

Nate calls this my, "Hey! I'm 30!" picture.

We will definitely return to this park, but we will probably camp instead of staying at the resort - that was definitely a birthday treat.

Not all fun and games in Oz

Nope, one of us has to go to work. For seven and a quarter hours, each day of the work week, I (Mr Ozisforlovers) sit in this room:

A taxonomist's workshop. Microscopes, computers, glassware, a slide cabinet, an institutional chic, a general sense of disorganization, and a hypnotizing view of some genuine Ozzy bush.

When I have done enough public service for the day, I egress though this grand exit:
Note the weedy Opuntia just inches from the gate, as if to say "Hey weeds, come on in!"

Every other Wednesday, on the way home from work, I stop off at the University of Queensland Staff Club to meet with some other evolutionary biologists and chat about a journal article over a beer. I got there a bit early this time, and shared my beer with a rainbow:
Pleasant.

Cory mentioned that I enjoy watching Rugby League, and that I was even considering naming a kid after a footy player:
Wouldn't you? Manu Vatuvei. Tongan Winger. Nicknamed 'the beast.' Note his 'game face.'

Easter side note (and a picture of our "landscaper")

My sister sent an Easter care package that arrived today (Wednesday). It was opened by the Australian quarantine folks, which probably delayed its arrival. I wonder what they saw in the X-ray that made them open it up:

Thanks for the treats! I was forced to eat all of the jelly beans immediately.

Did they think there was straw (prohibited) in the box only to find fluorescent pink and green ? Maybe they saw eggs (also prohibited) and discovered they were only plastic and filled with yummy jelly beans and Reese's eggs. Or do you think they just saw the boxes of Peeps and just wondered what the hell they were and opened up the box to have a look?

And now for something completely different!

Some of you (those who have seen our yard) know that we have really crummy gardeners. The first month we were here, they sprayed Round-Up on everything instead of mowing. When they showed up six weeks later, Nate spoke to them and asked them not to spray Round-Up on every living thing. The guy explained that our landlord is cheap and if we wanted improved service from them, then we should complain to the landlord. Whatever.

They showed up this afternoon just as Roxy was settling in for her nap. I snapped a picture of the guy Nate spoke to back in January and I think he's wearing the same outfit he had on back then.

Using the weed whacker to mow the lawn.

Easter Weekend

A couple of hot cross buns.
Every bakery in town has been advertising their buns for weeks. I bought a couple at our local bakery on Thursday just as they were closing and they gave me a half dozen for free! We ate them all weekend - very yummy! Sweet buns with raisins.

We were invited by our friends (Nate's boss and his wife) to attend an Easter brunch potluck at their friends' house (a lovely couple with two young daughters). We hung out under the house.

This is the American half of our host couple. He couldn't be a nicer guy and he embraces the "loud American" stereotype. Here he is hanging Easter eggs from the clothes line with duct tape. It took the kids a while to find them!

Easter egg hunt!

An entomologist's work is never done! Nate and his boss Shaun inspect a demolished termite mound.

If you can't make it out, it says, "Look at the grasshopper".

The gigantic pecan tree in the backyard. What do you do with yard full of pecans?

You make pecan pie, of course!

Afterwards, we retired to our friends' house for a Mexican feast! Tortilla chips, salsa, fajitas and beer. We also played some Nintendo Wii, but I stopped taking pictures so you're just going to have to imagine it.

Nate spent a lot of the weekend working on a big grant proposal and has been working pretty hard at his job. His bike commute, workload and a baby-that-doesn't-know-she's-supposed-to-sleep-in-on-the-weekend are starting to take their toll. (Don't feel too sorry for him, though - he stayed up late to watch Round 3 of the Masters on Sunday.) On the bright side, we're getting into a predictable routine with the bub and it's making life a lot easier.

More from the "Shhh! Daddy's Sleeping" series.

Roxy turned four months old this weekend, too! As a present, I took her to get her shots. What better gift than protection from measles, mumps and rubella?

Four month old baby rides face out in the carrier!

All Sports Network!!

A new digital network launched here about a week ago. It's all sports, all the time and it's all free!

As far as Aussie sports go, we've been watching of AFL, Rugby League, Rugby Union and just a touch of cricket. Nate's become such a fan of Rugby League that he's decided we'll name our first son after a New Zealand player. You'll have to ask Nate about it if you want details.

There are epic broadcasts of Netball, which is a women's sport that we're still trying to understand/appreciate. It's actually pretty awesome to see hours primetime programming dedicated to women's sport.

NBA games are shown all afternoon and the NCAA basketball games were on, but only from the Elite Eight onward and they weren't live, but we'll take what we can get! But we're not so desperate - we turned off the NCAA Championship at halftime last night - what a boring game!

And now. The best part. They're broadcasting Major League Baseball games five times a week! Wonderful, right? The only catch is the games are on from noon-3:30 during the week so Nate won't get to watch any of them.

I, on the other hand, get to watch as much as I want (and as much as Miss Rox allows). I can't believe I'm actually watching the live Dodgers-Padres game right now! I was just telling Nate the other day that I want to track down a baseball scorebook to follow the Dodgers this year. I love to collect data!

We're both pretty stoked about this new network and we're wondering how much American football we'll get to see!