Within all this fallen timber there is, as you might expect a fair amount of insect life, and you will by now have realised that I find them really interesting. The idea that some of these critters are likely to be very painful or even lethal is partly scary and partly fascinating. Not that I'm taking any risks... I'm just very keen to find out about this stuff, call it self preservation I guess.
The other day, when Daile, Phoebe and I were up at the site, Daile pulled a bit of bark off a big log, and under it was a scorpion. She had not been wearing gloves, so the discovery was the more worrying. The girls are advised about the dangers, but they don't seem to be all that worried, which is scary too.
Today I had 3 interesting encounters. The first was a really fierce looking hornet that was hovering around the outside table, and which I decided to remove. Here it is around Phoebe's leg...
Given the size of it, (it was big, or perhaps it just felt big because of its fierce colour) I was a bit worried about the sting. When I caught it with a tennis racket, It was madly trying to sting something, and its sting must have been a good 3 or 4 mm long. OUCH! It also had quite terrifying looking jaws. I put it into a jar, where it carked it in about 10 mins. As it shuffled off its mortal coil, it thrust out the sting in one last defiant effort to hurt something. The photo that shows it with the sting out was at the moment that it stopped moving.
While I was at the site later, I was just sharpening and setting the teeth of the chain saw, when I heard a noise behind me and when I turned slightly ... there looking at me was a Kangaroo. I just carried on sharpening, and sneaking looks through my legs and out of the corner of my eyes. She (for the sake of argument since I didn't see anything hanging down...as they do with Kangas...) seemed to relax. She appeared to have noticed me at the same time that I'd noticed her. I slowly made my way over to my bag, but by the time I'd got out the camera, she was moving away.
Later, whist I was in amongst the timber with the saw, a little critter came scurrying down the trunk of the tree that I was chopping up to 'fend me off'. It lept over the slot that the chain saw was in, missing the blade by a couple of millimeters only. I switched off the saw and took these. It was a mantis. Only it LOOKED more like an ant. I prodded it with a stick and it reared up! Apparently not dangerous to humans so it says on the net... http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_hoppers/BoxerBarkMantid.htm
So far, everything that I've come across at the site scurries away when disturbed, with the exception of this one, so it was a relief to know that its not dangerous, though it might hurt a bit I'd guess.
I had a successful interview yesterday, in as far as they seemed to like me and take me seriously. No job from them yet, but they are checking out the other companies in the group, so hopefully they may find me some slot to get going with. If you're interested they are called Moreton hire, and their web address is www.moreton.net.au - this is one of their 'tents'.
Finally, here's some pics of a little walk we did with the girls on Sunday to show them what a subtropical rain forest is like. This was just a little (1km ) walk that goes to a little fall and back. It was enough cos it was raining and they were not properly kitted out for that. Some of the trees are truly spectacular, and the roots are complex and spooky looking.
This pic is of a tree that has been got by a strangler vine,
and this is one that has had the vine removed...leaving deep tracts of damage.
Good though eh? When they're bigger we'll do some serious walking in this. Its a spiritual experience.
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