Cane Toad Racing?

Yes, it's true.  We attended another sporting event.  Cane Toad Racing.

It is everything that you can imagine and more.  As an earlier post states, Cane Toads were introduced here to rid the sugar cane of grubs that were destroying the crops...102 were introduced from Puerto Rico, and within 12 months or so, they had increased in number to well over 100,000.  That's a lot of toads.

One of the benefits of this abundant population is Cane Toad Racing.

At the Iron Bar in Port Douglas 

Every evening at 8pm.

Our lucky numbers of 24 and 25 were not chosen.

You pay $5 to see six Cane Toads sit in the middle of a table and have people blow horns at them to get them to move...then, they auction off the privilege of blowing a horn at the same Cane Toads for the main event.  The goal is to blow the horn at your Cane Toad to get them to hop to the end of the table.  It's a complete racket (obviously).  We witnessed one family blow about $200 on buying horn-blowing rights for their 4 kids.  RACKET.

"Jockey's" gathered around blowing horns at their Cane Toad.

What Do You Do If A Leech Attaches Itself to Your Eyeball?

The answer to that question is required knowledge if you are to bushwalk unguided in the forest and rainforests of far north Queensland.  Fortunately Laura and I had a seasoned vet in Pete to show us around the Daintree Rainforest.  The Daintree Rainforest is listed as a World Heritage site as it is recognized as the world’s oldest rainforest.  Pete also referred to it as the world’s safest  rainforest.  Other than a ton of bugs, animals which can be found in this rainforest include two species of python, wallabies (midget kangaroos), cassowary, and a venomous snake … but as Pete pointed out, the venom might be enough to kill a child but is only enough to make an adult nauseous (making it hardly worth mentioning by Aussie snake standards).  It should be noted that the cassowary, an endangered large emu/ostrich-like bird, can kill a man by disemboweling them with their center claw.  Having said that, they have poor eyesight and the recommended defense is to hide behind a tree.  A pretty easy maneuver to pull off in a rainforest.

Before moving onto the rainforest tour, a brief word about Pete.  He’s a tough old bloke.  He grew up in tribal areas around the border region of Kenya and Tanzania affectionately referring to his time there as “when I was a black kid”.  He was there for civil war and then departed for Papua New Guinea to start tea plantations.  Papua New Guinea is where tribal people eat people of rival tribes that wander into their territory to this day.  He left for Australia when civil unrest arose and has some stories to tell.  He has guided forest tours in all three places and knows a thing or two about plants and bugs.

So Pete picked us up around 8:00am and we were immediately got a taste, literally, of what lie ahead.  He knew of an area with green ant nests about 2 minutes from the resort.  We stopped and licked green ant butts.  Green ant butts give you a shock like licking a battery and taste very sour.  We also squished 7 of them, the proper dosage according to the native Bama (an apparently respectful name for the local Aboriginal people), and sniffed them to clear any nasal issues we may have had.  Then we proceeded into the rainforest where we learned more about every type of plant in that place than you have the patience to read about.  How they survive, how they’ve adapted, what the barks and saps can be used for, which ones to look for in survival situations, which ones will kill you … etc.  We also ate a bunch of fruits and berries ranging from pretty tasty to downright repulsive.  We planted mangroves.  I swam in a rainforest pool Pete guaranteed was croc-free.  For the record, I didn’t stay in long as I kept a wary eye out with that being hunted feeling despite being able to see clearly to the depth of the pool.  Laura had an adverse reaction to either bug spray or some of the grasses.  Pete was more concerned than he let on, but she’ll live despite some minor bumps.  We did not get leeches.  We did get rained on.  And we did get to see one of the 1,500 cassowaries on the side of the road (in an area of 1,200 square kilometers).  He was followed by a baby cassowary.  And for some reason we learned a vehicle keyless entry remote trick.  Apparently you can significantly increase the range of your remote by depressing the transmitting end of the remote to your chin, opening your mouth in the direction of the vehicle, and operating the remote.  It worked, no lie.

By the way, the answer to the question is leave it until it falls off of it’s own accord.  Disgusting, but there’s a good chance of vision impairment in the concerned eye otherwise.

Pete offering Laura a lick of green ant butt

A prominent plant in this rainforest, it accordions out to a full circle to absorb sunlight and retracts to survive in high winds.

One of apparently numerous types of ginger plant species.

Termite mound on a tree.  When a mound becomes full, the termites grow wings and fly out of the mound like a geyser to form a new mound.  Pete used to put his mouth over the hole during such an event for "a good meal" in Africa.

Vine swing.

Due to the shallowness of the soil in this rainforest, many trees root structures resemble this one.  The Bama cut chunks out of the roots of this particular tree to make hunting boomerangs.

Hanging out inside a fig tree.  The tree grows around a host tree eventually consuming it.

View up the "trunk" of a fig tree which has consumed it's host.

No monkeys in this rainforest, or all of Australia for that matter, but a Tarzan vine inspired my inner monkey.

Cassowary poo.  There is a plum they consume 3 to 5 times before being done with it.  Yeah, that means they eat portions of their own poo.

Lace mushroom.  This thing stinks!

A cane toad.  With only 102 introduced in 1930s to eradicate a grub, it became a pest as the population exploded with no predators.  A 60 toad night wasn't out of the norm on the way home from a night out.  After 70 years, crows have developed methods of consuming them without ingesting the toxin they excrete and populations are declining rapidly.

A dip in a rainforest pool.

Mangroves

Rainforest coast.

The cassowary we caught a glimpse of.  They can move pretty fast, even the little dude.

Laura opening the Land Rover outside the remotes normal range.

Good (g)Reef.

On Tuesday, we had a trip planned to the Great Barrier Reef.  We chose a smaller company, where they would take up to 30 of us out...there are several companies that will take between 300 - 400 people out to snorkel and tie up to a permanent structure out on the reef, complete with a restaurant, cafe, bathrooms, and a bar.  Considering that we had to pay an "environmental" fee to help pay to repair/continue growing the reef, a permanent structure had us feeling a little weird...so small boat it was!

Our boat and Skipper John

Out on the open ocean.

There were 29 snorkelers, a marine biologist, a deck hand, and the skipper and we set out on an all day cruise.  We would stop at three different places on the reef - Turtle Bay, Seagull and SNO (not sure what that stands for), and they were all on the outer reef.

Because it was stinger season, we had to wear full-on lycra suits, from head to toe.  It was...something.

Rockin' our lycra suits.

My best ninja pose.

"What Up, Fishes."

Outside of the lycra suits, it was so cool.  Our favorite spot was SNO, which was somewhat unfortunate, as our camera battery died, and we had to leave sooner than we had planned because there was a huge storm between us and shore...but, it was awesome.

We saw lots of fish, a couple of sharks (though Jeff didn't realize they were sharks), and all kinds of weird and interesting hard and soft coral.  We were pretty bummed that we didn't get to see any turtles, but we now have a reason to come back!

Giant Clam.

Turtle Bay. 

Bowl in SNO.

Bowl in SNO.

White Tipped Reef Shark. 

There was a point on the trip out to the reef that I got a little nervous - the captain went down to the engine room, then came up with noise-cancelling headphones on, asking the deck hand to do different things with the throttle, including completely turning the boat off...but we made it out and back safe and sound.

Tomorrow we head out on a Daintree Rainforest tour with Pete.  Pete is so Australian that I only understand every third word or so...stay tuned!

Have a Merry Chrissie...see you in the New Year.

Common holiday-time greeting here in Oz...and the thing is, they aren't meaning January 3rd...often times it's the 19th or later.  Holiday time is taken seriously...so Jeff and I decided to partake :)

We found out around the 19th that Jeff didn't have to work between Christmas and New Years, which was too late to get a flight back to the US for the holidays.  Unfortunately.  So, we decided to take advantage of the time and explore Australia.  We booked a week in Port Douglas to explore the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest.  Both of which are World Heritage Sites (as defined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a site of as of special cultural or physical significance).

We flew out on Christmas Day, thinking that it would be quiet at the airport and we would arrive in Cairnes with no issues...EIGHT hours later, this actually happened.  The airport in Melbourne is anything but quiet - school holidays (summer break) coincide with Christmas, so many families take advantage and utilize the entire break for their vacation time.  It was a zoo.  To complicate matters, Melbourne was experiencing a day of pretty severe thunderstorms.  After we boarded the plane, we had to accommodate someone who was having a panic attack and needed to get off the plane - with her whole family and their baggage for over an hour.  Then, we sat on the tarmac in 100km/hr wind, rain and hail for over an hour.  Yes, we had a white Christmas!

If you look really hard, I'm certain that
you can see dime sized hail.

Once we finally arrived in Port Douglas, we got to FaceTime with Jeff's family and watch the kiddo's open their presents and chat with everyone...we miss you guys!  Then we got up to FaceTime with my family just as they were having dessert - so good to see everyone.  We miss you and love you!

We are staying at a Sheraton and it was likely built in 1970 or so, and at the time, it was HOT.  Now, however, it is NOT.  But, I will say that it is very clean, the staff is wonderful, and let's face it...we don't plan on spending that much time in the room from 1970.

Sweet-a$$ shell headboard.

Gold fixtures, shell shaped sink, and triangle bathtub.

Control panel night stand...can pretty much launch a satellite.

Monday we hadn't planned anything but relaxing by the pool and exploring.  It may occur to you that we went to the northern coast of Australia, and we were planning to sit by the pool...this seemed odd to us at first, too...until we figured out that we were visiting during "stinger" season, and these things mean business.  The Irukandji jellyfish are in the coastal waters from October to March, so you can't swim in the ocean...if you want to be freaked out about these stinking jellyfish, follow this link.  So, as expected, we decided to sit by the pool...and an awesome saltwater, 2.1 hectare pool it is :)

What the sign really says, "Don't swim in the ocean.  If you do, you might die." 

Right next to the sign is one of these...a tube
that holds vinegar...which will hold off the extreme
pain from the stinger until you can get to the hospital
and get morphine.

This place is gorgeous...like what you see in movies and pictures that someone else takes.  It is unbelievable...

4 Mile Beach.  Right outside of our hotel.

Huge palm trees and coconuts everywhere. 

Our view from brekkie. 

Daintree Rainforest. 

What appears to be a smoking volcano, but what we
 believe is more of the Daintree.

To end the day, we got back to our room after dinner and found this little guy.  

Karma chameleon.

He freaked me out - they are cute and fascinating outside, but not so much in our room.  Jeff got him out of the room and outside, which is good, otherwise I would have had to change rooms.  And I wouldn't want to risk a night without the shell headboard.

Tomorrow, we head out for a full-day of snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, complete with lycra suits, to protect us from the Irukandji.  Hopefully the Great Whites will be immune to the powers of lycra, as well.

Awesome hats to protect us from the super strong Aussie sun!

Jiminy ....

Cricket.  With the AFL and rugby on hiatus, cricket is all the rage here.  Laura and I went to a match featuring the "exciting" format of this sport.  If you DVR Sunrise Earth to have something exciting to watch on the weekend, this is the game for you.  If you fall asleep reading this post, you're in the same boat as a good number of fans and even the coaches.

Before the match started.  Jeff was happy and not sleeping.

So the basic parameters of the game ... The batting team has two batters on the field at all times.  The batters are at either end of the pitch.  The pitch is a hard packed surface about 30m long in the center of a very large oval field.  There is a wicket, or stumps, at either end of the pitch which the batters "defend".  The team in the field consists of ten players, one of which is the bowler ... the guy that throws the ball.  A bowler throws from one end of the pitch towards the batter at the other by any means necessary.  The only thing he can't do is bend his throwing elbow and cross the line 20m from the batter.  A bowler bowls six balls from one end, called an over, and then is replaced by another bowler who bowls from the opposite end.

the Pitch

A batter can score three ways and get out three ways.  Batters score by:
     1)  Hitting a ball over the boundary line on the fly (not called a home run) which is 6 runs
     2)  Hitting a ball that rolls over the boundary line which is 4 runs
     3)  Hitting a ball into the field and running back and forth between the wickets with the other batsman, you get one run for each time both batsmen reach the other wicket

Batters get out by:
     1)  Somehow whiffing on a bowled ball that hits the wicket ... this rarely happens as the bat is massive and the bowlers don't always go for the wicket
     2)  Getting a ball caught on the fly off the bat
     3)  Not reaching the wicket before a fielder hits it with the ball when trying to score runs running between the wickets ... basically the ball getting to a base before you do if you relate it to baseball

I think there are four formats for this sport, but I only know details of two.  The international format is a five day Test Match.  I tried watching Australia vs. New Zealand in one of these on a Saturday after a big Friday night.  They literally break for tea during these things and the coaches are often caught on camera lounging and asleep.  The pay must be good as I can't imagine how one would muster the resolve to sit through five days of this without losing the will to live.  I had the match on for five hours and neither batsmen got out over that period of time.  In this format, the sides only switch after one side has gotten out all 10 of the other sides batsmen, or the side batting feels like they have enough runs to win.  A team must bowl out the other team twice in order to win a Test Match, so you might do this if you've only bowled the other team out once, are up a couple of hundred runs, and it's getting late into day 4.

The exciting format we went to watch is called a Twenty20.  It only last about three hours.  Basically one team bats for twenty overs (120 balls), then the other team bats for twenty overs.  Whoever has more runs at the end wins.  It is not exciting.  What's worse is they've tried to manufacture excitement through cheesy neon uniforms, horrendous mascots, and pyrotechnics that fire off for seemingly every ball regardless of what occurs.  The only exciting thing we got to see was "the Michael Jordan of cricket" come out of retirement Brett Favre style for the match we attended.  He got rocked for 19 runs on two overs.

Cricket legend Shane Warne bowling

So cricket is massively popular here and I'll never understand why.  It's essentially baseball with a twist, except it lacks ALL of the drama of baseball.  You don't get a pitcher trying to work his way out of a 1 out bases loaded jam, or 2 out in the bottom of the ninth down one and a full count.  It might get close at the end of a cricket match, but it took five days to get there and may take another five days to declare a winner if it ends in a tie the first time.  And I'm not sure I can even go to another Twenty20 match.  As much as I appreciate that they have tried to generate a more interesting format for perhaps the world's most boring sport, I'm irritated at how poorly it's done.  This is the list of nicknames for the teams in this league:  Heat, Sixers, Stars, Scorchers, Hurricanes, Renegades, Strikers, and Thunder.  Yeah ... so it gets hot here and you get 6 runs for hitting it over the boundary.  Other than that, none of these names mean anything to these people and they're playing in uniforms which appeal to fans aged 0-2.  The team called Hurricanes is based in a city which has never been hit by a hurricane ... or typhoon as they're actually called over here ... since the beginning of time.  Even better, the two major sponsors of the league are  fine American companies.  KFC and Jenny Craig.

Creepy Star/Shark mascot for the Melbourne Stars.  Notice
the haze on the field from the pyrotechnics.

.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

At least the night ended on a good note ... fish jerky and Fart Bombs

Poof. An Update.

many of you have asked how Poofie-the-cat is doing (not entirely true, but thought i'd build it up a bit), so i thought i'd give you a little update.

cute guy.  this was when he thought
australia was just a vacation destination...

laying upside down on his favorite green chair.

Poof went to live with jeff's aunt and cousins in columbia, south carolina.  we were thrilled that they were able to take him because we knew he'd have a good home, and he LOVED the kids.  LOVED them.

about a week before we left, jeff took Poof to his new home - we didn't really know how this transition was going to go for him because he had a bit of a hard time with the move from charlotte to atlanta and he was going to have to share his "people" with another cat.  we knew that i was going to be a complete basketcase (and i was...crying so much in the vet's office that someone asked if we were there to put him to sleep...which only made me cry more).  jeff got him settled in and stayed the night with everyone.  turns out, Poof is way better at coping without us than i am coping without him.

Poof the day he went to his new home.
isn't he handsome!

when we arrived in los angeles to catch our connecting flight to melbourne, we received a text message which essentially said, "poof is doing well.  he broke into the cabinet, ate an entire box of treats, then slept for hours."  keep in mind that he had been there less than a week and he was already making himself comfortable.

Poof's new mom sends us notes about once a month, with updates on how he's doing.  all signs point to him enjoying life greatly!  he and tater (the other cat) had a couple of tangles initially, but it now seems as though they are fast friends.  the other night poof was cleaning tater's face!!  yes, you read that right, he was cleaning tater's face!

he's also up to his old tricks with bedtime rituals:
1.  when he's ready for bed, he expects everyone else to be...he's hovering around 11:30pm right now, which is pretty late for him
2.  once in bed, he gets his scratches for the night
3.  he gets UNDER the covers and sleeps on your legs
4.  when he gets too hot, he comes out from under the covers and sleeps on your head

yes, he already has his new mom trained!

kim, austin, and joelle, thank you so much for taking such good care of our only son and welcoming him into your family.  tater, thanks for putting up with Poof's shenanigans!

OHHHH.  and more exciting news...Poof is an international celebrity...our friends who moved to geneva, switzerland about the same time that we moved to melbourne have blogged about him on their blog, schwingen in switzerland.

doesn't look like he's lost any weight...
cracks me up that he sits like that

Poof and Tater.  Poof is on the left,
if you couldn't tell from his girth.

Poof and Tater sharing toys!