The Wild Life

It's official, the skinks are out. Now that spring is well underway and the temperature is on the rise, the Australian wildlife has started to come out en masse. And that includes the slim mottled black lizards that line the sidewalk and see me off to class each day. I have to say, my first encounter with one nearly ended in a heart attack. There I was walking along, head in the clouds, when I spied out of the corner of my eye a thin, snakelike animal sunning itself next to the bushes. Before I could take a good look, the creature had wriggled under the foliage and vanished. When my heart returned to its normal rhythm, it became clear...the bushes had been compromised. Now as I make the trek across Abbotsleigh's campus to the train station, I expect to encounter at least a few of them. Yesterday, there were five. Lined up in a perfect little row, heads facing the sidwalk, tails still partially hidden in the leaves. It's a bit disturbing knowing five sets of reptilian eyes are watching you as you scurry along the furthest side of the walk but thankfully they seem to understand my paranoia and vanish before I get too close. The skinks are actually the least of my worries. Australia is know for its poisonous spiders and snakes and I've already seen a redback spider in another resident's window and heard tales of a red bellied black snake spotted in Wahroonga. And the best is yet to come. Apparently, flies are a huge nuisance in Australia during the summer, with little swarms of them that simply follow you around all day. I've heard it's worse out in the bush but to me any fly is a bad fly.
However, not all of the emerging wildlife is bad. The change of seasons also means it's cricket time. Now whenever I go to The Glade (the park behind the school) on the weekends I can expect to see a group of grown men dressed all in white running back and forth between two sticks and yelling wildly. It's funny how here you expect to see a game of cricket being played in the park while at home it would be baseball or football. Which, speaking of sports, I was on the train yesterday and passed a croquet club. Yes, croquet. Again, all of the players were dressed in white (and over 70) and were having a grand ol' time next to the massive blue sign advertising trials for new members who would like to join. I'm thinking I might just have to whip out my own white linen suit and have a go at one of Australia's spring sports.
In the meantime, however, I am in the midst of finishing up the semester. Today is actually my last day of class (!!!!) and then I have a little under two weeks to turn in my final essays. Granted, the end of class simply means I have to make up for lost time on my thesis, but it also means more free time to hit the beach and go into the city.
I did finally make it to the beach on Monday (after not having been since our beach walk a few months ago) and spent a few hours with another resident catching some rays. We literally just dropped everything and decided we needed to lay out on the sand at Dee Why for a bit. And the beaches here are amazing! I've only been to a handful but I've yet to meet one I don't like. The sand is soft and not littered with trash. The water is crystal clear and since there's so many beaches to choose from you never have to worry about over-crowding. (Unless of course you head to really tourist-y spots like Bondi or Manly.) And for all of you guys who love nothing better than to get battered by massive waves, Australia's the place to be. There's a reason so many people come here to surf.
Outside of school and work, though, there's very little to report. I haven't had the chance to do much what with working at Abbotsleigh and babysitting and studying. However, I plan to make the most of my last three weeks and Michelle and I have already decided that once my last papers are turned in and her exams are finished on the 22nd we are going to make a point of doing something everyday. Which means lots of trips to the beach and plenty more stories to tell when I get home.

Dee Why Beach...lovely, no?