A final week in the land of Oz

Wow, where did the two months go? The first month of field work didn't seem to drag on, while we kept busy. When we got to month two, we were full up on our work load. Some days went quick (especially those with blind watches that were busy), but then some days seemed to drag a bit. Especially those that had equipment problems.

But, things all timed out extremely well. Some of you may know that Aussie is in a 7 year drought. That was brought to home by our local creek (or as I say, "crick", which drove some coworkers crazy!). At the start, when we got a few rainstorms, it stayed at a decent level to fill our water buckets and take a dip. By the last week, it was very low, and very hard to even decently fill a bucket with one dip.

On December 19, we did our last route in the morning, and headed to town. On the 20th, we all went to our routes in the morning to take down equipment. 30 minutes after the last of us was in, it rained. For the next day and a half. YAY! Thank heaven it happened after we were all in. Then it was pack all the gear in, and head back to Brisbane! With only minor vehicle issues.

In sum, I am glad I took this field job for so many reasons. I got to see some great new birds. I met some wonderful new people, and I got an excuse to go to New Zealand again. I'm already thinking of my next trip to Australia, if only to get to Tasmania, which I can't manage this trip.

My species total for the trip was 65 new species for the world, and 66 new for Australia (at least). I am now 7 species away from my landmark 1.200th bird...which I may, if I am lucky, get on day 2 in New Zealand! I do have many wonderful photos (and will be trying to get them up next). I made sure I began to write in my journal again regularly, and will be trying to get blog posts up on a regular basis in New Zealand.

And I guess the final question...what do I do from here?

I have no idea. A good, yet very scary feeling. As a (potentially) final field job...I don't regret Australia at all.

My final thoughts for today. I actually made some new years resolutions. So, i thought I might put a few up here, so that people can call me on them if I begin to deviate...

- get to my 450th bird for north america
- get a full time, permanent job (this is actually my #1 priority for 2010)
- see family more often [i hope to make this the last time i spend christmas away from family]
- see a new country

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all. On the docket for today is pack the bag for New Zealand, and a Christmas Eve picnic in the park with one (two?) of my coworkers who are still here in Brisbane.

Return to Brisbane...

The last few days have been a bit of a whirl. I am still trying to sort out my thoughts on everything, and I am sure I will post again when my thoughts are a bit more organized.

First and foremost, Happy Christmas everyone. Or as they say down under, Happy Chrissy. And Happy New Year, too, but I will be sure to post (and maybe even call...?) before then. It feels weird, again, to have no snow. But I got the red and green with the parrots and parakeets, and the white with the Cockatoos. And I had a Christmas tree, briefly.

Work ended abruptly, and my body was quite glad to be done. I used my GPS to track my route to find out just how far I walked every day. Turned out, I was walking at least 10 miles, yeah, that's right, 10 miles a day. WOW. No wonder my body was ready to be done!

I have seen some new birds. And I have gotten my good pictures of the birds I wanted.

And my mind is wandering way too much. I will write again soon, all.

Happy Holidays again. I miss you all.

Michael