IMPORTANT: The following journal is intended for the use and viewing of approved persons only and may contain information that is confidential, privileged or unsuitable for overly sensitive persons with low self-esteem, no sense of humour or irrational religious beliefs. Any dissemination, distribution or copying of this work is not authorised (either explicitly or implicitly) and constitutes an irritating social faux pas. Unless the word ‘absquatulation’ has been used in its correct context somewhere other than in this warning, it does not have any legal or grammatical use and may be ignored. No animals were harmed in the creation of this journal and a minimum of Microsoft software was used. Those of you with an overwhelming fear of the unknown will be gratified to learn that there is no hidden message revealed by reading this warning backwards.

Year View| Summary| Highlights| Month View| Monday 27 December 2004 (Day View)

Thu 23 Dec | Fri 24 Dec | Sat 25 Dec | Sun 26 Dec |   Mon 27 Dec   Tue 28 Dec | Wed 29 Dec | Thu 30 Dec | Fri 31 Dec |

27.12.2004 – Monday 27 December – Wet & Very Monday

• I noticed on my walk that the Home Rule Bridge is covered in debris, so the water must have been over it. I didn’t think it had rained enough for that, but obviously, it did somewhere upstream. Unfortunately, the creek has now gone down again, it’s only a foot higher than it was last I looked. Still, it does seem as though the wet season is slowly arriving – it’s been raining slowly all evening, and everything is getting pretty wet. The downside to the wet season is that it rains all the time, and most outside things don’t work quite the same when it’s raining, meaning that there’s often not a lot to do. Everything also goes mouldy, but that doesn’t affect me so much. The upside to the wet season is that, in a horribly dry country like Australia, it rains almost all day, almost every day – and I love rain, at least for the first month. Most of Australia is dry and either desert, or bordering on it, so it’s very nice to be in a tropical rainforest. Many people don’t like the humidity, mould, multitude of things that buzz and bite, nasty prickly and stinging plants, and general harshness – but I can’t think of anywhere better. Everything up here is alive, everywhere you look, there’s something living – even if it is a nasty crawling thing with large nippers, in stark contrast to the rest of Australia. It also floods, which is great fun although dangerous. Still, it hasn’t flooded enough to go drowning yet, and because of the rain, about the only thing I’ve done outside all day was my evening walk, as it was only sprinkling at the time – I think I actually stayed drier than when it’s hotter, from not sweating as much.

Comment by kathryn – Thursday 30 December 2004, 12:35 PM

  it's interesting to see how much it is raining up in the far north. This Christmas and holiday season i'm futher from my comfort zone of the central coast( the people who named it had a superioity complex) to the relative filled Brisbane. Having never been in a real tropical rainforest, but being already amazed by the diversity living under rocks at uni i can't imagine the creepys and crawlies up north.
  Hint don't wash your car in flying ant season, they leave wings everywhere.
  this has been another random message from someone you don't know
  over and out
  

Comment by Ned – Thursday 30 December 2004, 5:04 PM

  They say there’s probably more diversity in a single small pocket of rainforest up here, than the rest of Australia. It’s a strange dichotomy that the rainforest is actually some of Australia’s least nutritious, most uncultivable land – yet supports more species per area than anywhere else on earth, expect perhaps some of the Amazonian rainforests.

Comment by kathryn – Friday 31 December 2004, 11:54 AM

  It’s a dam good thing not to try and cultivate it because the second you do try is the second we stuff it up. The only reasons the rainforests are so diverse and so wet is the vegetation.
  A hundred years ago silly white man (yes, I’m a silly white woman) said “hey look there is lots of trees and water in rainforests that would make ace grazing land for our cows sheep and lamas” (except I guess they would of said all of the above in a British accent). #see note post for conclusion

Comment by kathryn – Friday 31 December 2004, 11:56 AM

  So they cut down trees and they cleared the land and then poof the one inch of fertile soil and the water and the animal’s disappeared and then they wondered why the grass wouldn't grow and the cows all went hungry. Because the cycle is not there, the rotting wood and the decomposers and the canopy are all needed to create the fertile environment and with out them it just dead soil.
  Ok that’s enough of my environmental rant, sorry if you already knew all that, hooray if you learnt something today.