Western Australia Coast
Trip Start
Jan 13, 2009
1
8
17
Trip End
Ongoing
Green Head,
Australia
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Joe's plots are in a sea of shrubs, a seemingly uniform landscape of rolling hills with scattered trees on top. However, this is considered a hotspot for botanical biodiversity with over 250 endemic plant species. Joe is studying how these plant communities respond to repeated fires; all of the plots burned some number of years ago, and this season they were to be burned again. On a beautiful fall morning Joe, Billi, Dan and I headed out to one of the plots to set up instruments to measure the fire's intensity. Extensive vegetation measurements of the plot had already been done earlier in the season, and measurements would be taken again at several intervals to see what came back. The square plot was on flat terrain, covered by a variety of waist high and lower shrubs. While densely covered, it was not challenging to walk through (well until we set up some of the soil temperature instruments that created an obstacle course of thin, coiled wires going everywhere). After we were finished setting up, the fire crew showed up. The large water vehicle also served as an off-road bulldozer-they used it to create a fire break around the perimeter of the plot. Next came the pick-up with a giant flamethrower in the back; it slowly drove around two sides of the plot blowing a stream of fire at the ground. The gentle wind was enough to pick up the flames and push them across the plot in a rather dramatic fashion, with flame heights over 12 feet. Only moments later the plot was reduced to a few blackened stems and charcoal covered sand. It was neat to see.
The work week over, we drove north up the coast to Kalbarri. Along the way we stopped at the Hutt River Province, a ranch that successfully declared independence from Australia in the 70's due to agricultural policies. So, officially, we entered another country. An interesting place to be sure, they have their own currency (1:1 with the Australian dollar...hmm...), are governed by royalty (His Royal Highness Leonard-we are not making this up), and will stamp passports. When the post master stamped ours he showed us all the markings in our passports that are only visible under a UV light. The whole experience was a bit surreal.
In Kalbarri we had a glorious late afternoon swim in the warm, turquoise Indian Ocean. At times there was an impressive shore break, one big set of waves caught Melanie slightly off guard, and off came the sunglasses during an emergency duck dive. Joe tried to retrieve them for her by snorkeling for them, but they were no where to be found. As he was exiting the water another big set came and slammed him into the sand, ripping the mask off his snorkel in the process. Another piece of eyewear claimed by the ocean. While trying to put on the second mask (to look for the lost first one) it too fell in the water and we thought that one was lost as well, but it washed up against Melanie's leg. Great place to swim, bad place for eyewear. The amazing sunset, complete with a pod of dolphins swimming just offshore, more than made up for our losses.
In Kalbarri National Park we hiked along the Murchison River, one of the few large rivers in Australia, to explore one of the many canyons in the area. The hike had fantastic scenery and abundant bush flies. We can see why they are one of the world's most infamous annoying insects.
Seemingly almost as soon as it began, our trip to Australia was over. We truly enjoyed being here, highlights being Tasmania, the giant eucalyptus forests, the confluence of the Southern and Indian Oceans, laughing kookaburras, the unusual melancholy raven call, abundant parrots, and of course kangaroos. But really so much about this trip was the amazing opportunity to experience all this with Joe, Billi, John, Melissa, and Sam. It was such a great thing to have a reunion on the other side of the world, creating all these memories together.
