Australia: Day 81 and 82 Onward to Bairnsdale

Thursday was a blur. Pretty much I attempted laundry (so much red dust!) and tried to get some organization to my room and school work. It was so beautiful outside that in the afternoon I caved on the responsibilities and went for a run. In the evening I met with group for a project and attempted to put together a power point and paper. I caught the 6:30 train to Bairnsdale to meet my friend Ben as his family had invited me to stay for a few days and check out some of the local wildlife areas. The train didn't arrive till ten or so but I stayed up and watched a movie (Happy Feet!!) before heading to bed - they gave me Ben's younger sister's room because it was covered with Teddy bears and puppies and they thought it would be the most animal themed for me. haha.

Friday morning we got up relatively early (nothing compared to WA, but not too bad) and headed out to Buchan after some brekkie and coffee. After an hour long drive or so we explored the visitor center and decided to take a tour of Royal Cave. Since we had some time to kill before the tour we grabbed an early lunch (a country pie) and took a short hike up a hill to check out the look out and what it showed of the park. The cave tour was pretty interesting and the crystals pretty. Oddly enough the tour guide was a Whitlian who knew some of our friends and recognized Ben from the Pajama Game which she had come to see - small world. Anyway after the cave we did a 3 km loop up to what should have been a waterfall - but it was dry. Saw some skinks and funky spiders. About 2 we headed out for Fairy Dell in one of the state forests. On the way we saw a lizard on the road - a big one! It got scared and ran right up a tree - seriously awesome to see giant lizard climbing up a tree. Anyway when we got to Fairy Dell the weather was starting to become questionable so we only took a short walk back through the temperate rainforest. Pretty impressive. I just learned in my CRNM class that there is some serious logging debates in these forests even as far as involving violence between the greenies and the loggers - it's a shame they can't work out a compromise :o( Anyway after Fairy Dell we headed back to Bairnsdale for some home cooked dinner. Bridget (Whitlian) came over afterward and we headed out possum spotting on Ben's Grandparent's farm. We only saw a roo and a wombat so it was mostly us walking around in the woods in the rain laughing - but still it was a good time! We celebrated our lack of possums with some hot chocolate back at Ben's before saying goodnight.