Rain is a good thing. (?)

Rain is a good thing. Unless you have to hike in it.

Last night's weather conditions offered some of the best sleep I've had in quite some time but the downside to sleeping to the lovely pitter-patter of rain on the safari tent is waking up when it is still raining. The weather has been absolutely relentless and the rain has been constant since last night. I had to cross a literal river to get anywhere. I expected Noah's ark to pass our tent by this morning but the ground was surprisingly dry, meaning I didn't need to swim to get to breakfast.

Waiting for us was some delicious fluffy enormous pancakes... perfect long hike fuel. However, when we finally got to the trail head after slipping and sliding along the mud road in the enormous coach, the rangers informed us that most of our destinations were closed due to the monsoon-caliber rains. So, in order to accommodate for such a travesty we decided to do the Boolimba Bluff hike which consists of about 1,000 steps to the top. Begin mad sprint.

The view was disappointing after having last year's experience and it was about 100x as wet. Simon, after stuffing us with fruitcake and ANZAC biscuits, lectured us a good bit about the surrounds all the while we became increasingly soaked. Once Simon gave the final word, I turned tail and ran the full 3.2 km back to the visitor center.

Apparently rain jackets are only waterproof to a certain point, and once you get past said point, you can effectively ring out several milliliters of water.

Returning to the tents, I crammed my clothes with some sacrificial module papers in a desperate attempt to have dry clothing. Eh, I have an electronic copy.

Colin treated me to more coffee, to the point where I'm pretty sure that I have a caffeine circulatory system instead of a blood circulatory system. Feels great. I wonder if I'll get any sleep tonight or the next couple days.

In addition to the successive cups of coffee, I also received a tim-tam while the rest of the lunch crowd watched as I proceeded to have a tim-tam slam. It's even better with coffee than hot milo... that's saying a lot.

Peeling myself away from the constant flow of coffee, I trekked to the end of the road where another covered area is for Bob's biology group talk. We had a number of spectators aside from students including several very large grey kangaroos and a group of red-winged parrots.

Simon came to join us there as well and pointed out a fan-tailed eagle just gliding along on the horizon.

After the freezing cold chat we headed back to our cabins, shivering. If you close your eyes and think about it hard enough it's not impossible to imagine that the fluorescent light bulb is the sun. I just want warmth. I knew we got away with too much when I didn't shiver the first night here.

In the hour and a half or so that I had to waste I managed to avoid doing anything productive which involved staring at the NZ things that I should be planning. Only staring.

Before I knew it, it was time to load up the bus for round two of mini-hiking. Tonight we were spot lighting. We found a few gliders, one greater glider and another feathertail. A bit of opposites, really, since the greater is one of the larger species and the feathertail, if I recall correctly, can cram into a matchbox.

On our way out of the hiking spot Simon spotted one of my favvvooorrriiittttee animals: THE CANE TOAD. Enter squeals of excitement. It was a little tyke, about 6 inches long and about as round as an orange.

Driving back and slipping all over the place in the mud, we (Colin) spotted a bandycoot. Simon quickly jumped out of the coach, bearing a massive grin on his face, and chased the little bugger out of the bush. What a strange little animal.

Tomorrow- early morning sunrise and then the long hike! I can't wait!