Spiders, Birds, and Possums, Oh My!

I haven't written about the wildlife around campus yet which is surprising because it's so different than the U.S.!  For starters, the birds around campus are so beautiful... but also so loud.  There are Kookaburra's, Magpie's, Rainbow Lorikeet's, and Australian Crows.  Almost every morning, Australian crows wake me up.  They sound very similar to a dying baby, a dying cat, or a dying sheep.  Listen for yourself:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPsIu9y_wuE

Magpie

Kookaburra

Rainbow Lorikeet

Australian Crow

The spiders around Australia aren't annoying; they're scary!  A lot of people here are petrified of spiders and at first I didn't know why.  But then, within a week's time span, there were two huge spiders in our common room!  Spiders here different from back home--they're huge and hairy.  I'm not really afraid of spiders.. but these ones are terrifying.  And, you don't know which ones are poisonous, so you always have to be careful around them.  So the other night when there was a spider right outside my window, I almost freaked out.  Watch below : )



About a week and a half ago my friends and I also saw an Australian possum.  It looked like a mix between a raccoon and a woodchuck.  When my friend Mike made noises to catch its attention, it literally started running for us.  That was the last time we'd ever call a possum.

I have yet to see a kangaroo or a koala bear. However, this weekend I'm going to Jervis Bay with my Colgate group.  Jervis Bay is one of the really well known beaches on the southeast coast of Australia.  We're going dolphin watching on Saturday and then to a nature reserve of Sunday... where we've been informed there's many kangaroos!

I also got a new camera today, which is awesome because now I can take still-photos.  I took my camera with me when I was snowboarding about two months ago and it's been acting funny ever since.  The pictures started turning weird colors; I thought it was because of moisture that got in the lens.  Come to find out, once you've had a camera for 3 or 4 years (I've had mine for 4) the sensor starts to go and you're left with purple pictures and pictures with lines across the middle.  So yay!  New Sony camera to take lots of pictures with.