L.A.M.B!

So far so good
Wednesday, December 19, 2007

My 1st week in Sydney was spent in a jungle (Smith's Lake). Haha. Well, it's not literally a jungle as there are several different types of habitats in Smith’s Lake (i.e. Salt marsh, Swamp and forest). We were split into different groups and each day, we would have to venture into the one of the habitats to look at the mammals caught in the traps. Bascially, what we caught were all only rats! Bush rats, black rats, swamp rats... Oh, there were several Antechinus (sweet-smelling mouse) that we caught and they're really cute! All of us had the chance to go into each of the habitats and bird-watching was also part of the field sampling.

An Antechinus that was caught

A tamed flying fox (megabat)

Me and my bunkmates... The room is really freaky... Loads of spiders and their webs... Disgusting...

There weren't many ticks and leeches around, though I did find one in my hair while I was on toilet duty in the gents. Thank goodness it was still crawling and hasn't sunk its teeth into my head yet. We went frog-catching and bat-watching on 2 separate nights. I enjoyed the frog-trip as it was really enjoyable. There many frogs out by the lake and the lecturer taught us how to identify the different frogs based on the types of croakings. Some of them were very small and I had to strain my eye to look at it. The lecturer managed to catch a really big frog that croaks like “Mwa Mwa”. Haha, it was pretty worth the time. Bat-watching, however, was disappointing. We had to stand out in total pitch dark for 40 minutes as the person-in-charge played his weird and eerie music, which he said was supposed to attract the bats. The problem was, it was so dark we couldn't even see one. Mind you, it was also freezing cold and we weren't allowed to move or squat. Basically, we couldn't make a single sound. Right... And what did I get... Shivers, trembles and even more quivers. It certainly wasn't that fun. Nevertheless, after 2 hours of trekking from 11pm to 1pm in the chilly night, we did manage to spot a flying fox on the top of a tree. It was only a glimpse as the flying fox just refused to remain still under the spot light. Haha. The best part of the trip absolutely had to be the moment when I hugged a baby kangaroo in my arms. It felt pretty light and was very shy. It kept hiding back into the bag, though there are times when it popped its head out to look at me. So kawaii!!!

Baby kangeroo in the bag

Anyway, I'm just so glad to be out of Smith’s Lake and to be back in my dorm room, where it is tick-free. It is kinda tiring if I have to constantly worry if there are any ticks or leeches on my body everyday.

2nd week in Syndey is a pretty hectic week. 12 lab reports to complete within 3 days, 4 museum visit reports and 2 essays to be handed in after the Christmas 1 week break... And this is only the workload of 1 module. By the way, I have 3 modules here in UNSW. This summer programme is beginning to feel like a nightmare. Haha... Initially, I planned to spend that 1-week holiday touring Sydney. There are many places to go like Blue Mountains, The Rocks/Opera House, definitely the ZOO (I wanna carry a koala bear!), Darling Harbour, Sydney Aquarium (heard it's really big, certainly not like Underwater World back home), LunaPark, Bondi Beach (lecturers shared with us that there may be people who like to wear nothing at the beach. Oops.), and lastly, factory outlets!!! Now, all these plans will have to be put on hold as I attempt to insert deadlines for the assignments and plan for the holiday trips. To make matters worse, the internet connection in the hostel is down and under maintenance till God knows when. The library will be closed from 21 Dec to 6 Jan. How am I supposed to do research and get primary references for the essays? This is frustrating. I don't feel like studying!!!

The breakfast that I look forward to everyday... It's the only 'free' meal... Food in Sydney are waaayyyy too expensive... One plate of ordinary fried rice costs AUS 8.50. Sigh, I miss hawker centres in Singapore.

--Mary HAD a little lamb--

9:19 am