So Long Queensland

After 3+ months of rainforest living, it is time to go home.  As I pack my bag, I think of my various Aussie adventures:  capturing 12 foot pythons, diving on the Great Barrier Reef, rolling down the escarpment with a chest full of monitor lizard, handling some of the most dangerous and well-known elapids in the world, surviving Queensland’s worst cyclone in living memory, Blue-tongue Skinks, kangaroos and betongs, sharing my breakfast with king parrots and rainbow lorikeets, and scores of other memories that will stay with me forever.  I do not leave with a sense of regret, no, I depart satisfied fully realizing all that I experienced.  I leave this land content, with a devout resolution to return to the land of OZ.

Final Australian Adventure Pictures

The last pictures from my trip.  Thanks for following the adventure.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Vengeance Varanus varius

The change in seasons, from wet to dry (Northeast Queensland operates on a binary rotation rather than North America’s quaternary, or 4 season, year), literally occurred over night.  The sky transformed from a clouded firmament into a blue abyss, and the sun beat down to dry up the earth.  As the forest floor transcended from a muddy quagmire to walkable terrain, the monitor lizards came out to enjoy (in my opinion) the vastly improved weather conditions.  And they came in droves.  In my previous two months here, I had seen approximately a half dozen Lace Monitors (Varanus varius).  In the first week of the dry I encountered at least ten different individuals on site, including one large male twice.  This brings me to my story…Being secluded in the rainforest obviously entails some logistical issues which often require altering daily “house-keeping” practices.  Following meals, we collect all of our food scraps and deposit them in one of our very large compost piles located in a field abutting old growth rainforest.  Following lunch, I was carrying uneaten odds and ends of the chicken we had enjoyed down to the compost for deposition and heard a rumbling underneath the plywood that covers the pile.  Upon approaching, a large (approximately 4 and a half feet from head to tail) Lace Monitor came screaming out of the hole only to stop 20 yards from me at the base of a large citrus tree.  In an attempt to herd the lizard away from the tree, Andy and I circled around his west flank to hopefully flush him back into the open.  The monitor, not impressed, started up the tree.  I took off through the understory, leaped, and managed to grab his tail and pull him out of the tree.  Yet being on a hill (the site is located at nearly 3,000 feet in elevation and has many steep hills and cliff faces) caused me to stumble backwards and lose hold of the lizard.  He again took off for the tree, I again right behind.  This time as I jumped up, I got a hold of the lizard’s tail and held on.  This was my mistake.  The monitor, determined not to be pulled down a second time (seemingly as stubborn as myself), held fast to the branch he had managed to reach.  Yet the branch was nothing more than a porous, dust-filled decaying appendage of the living tree he so desperately was trying to climb.  As I held on and began my descent back to the forest floor, the branch exploded into a cloud of finite saw-dust particles which instantly blinded me.  Branch, lizard, and “captor” (yes, it must be placed in quotation marks) hit the ground in a massive heap of wood and flesh.  As I somersaulted backwards down the hill, I felt the lizard crawl off of my chest, over my left shoulder, and heard him scurry away down into the gully.  My momentum carried me only so far, and I finally came to a halt next to a large granite boulder.  My pride hurt more than my body, I trundled back up the hill, refusing to accept defeat and promised that I would return and catch this monitor.  The following day I returned to the compost pile, and found my adversary happily feeding inside once again.  This time I quietly approached, slid off the top, and the chase was on.  He once again took off in the same direction (towards that damned tree) but I ran him down before he exited the field, grabbed his tail, avoided a side swiping bite, and successfully captured the “one that got away.”  Varanid vindication.

(I was not able to get a good enough internet connection to upload pictures.)

New Modeling Gallery

On Display Men has posted my new modeling gallery.  Check out my new pics with Michael Hallenbeck Photography plus the other gallery with Josh Camero Photography.  They also have a behind the scenes video from my first photo shoot.  Thanks to Alan Rust at On Display Men and both photographers for their great work.

Outback Jack

This past Saturday night I traveled with a group of students into the dry country of Queensland, just west of the Great Dividing Range.  We were going on an overnight stay with a man named Daryl; a true “Outback Jack” character whose property I was told was eerily reminiscent of the film Wolf Creek.  Being over 40 km from the nearest town, I was looking forward to some camping in the bush.  We arrived at 5 pm, pitched our tents, and sat around a fire.  Daryl was a very agreeable man and a great host, offering us food ranging from fried crocodile to gourmet ice cream (no I didn’t eat the crocodile).  We sat conversing until dark upon which I ventured out in search of snakes.  It was surprisingly cool, and the several mile hike down the old mining roads produced only a small burrowing frog.  I returned back to camp disappointed and haphazardly strolled by the corner of Daryl’s house.  Something reflected in the shimmer of my headlamp.  I look up where the roof meets the adjoining wall and there sits a gorgeous Eastern Carpet Python (Morelia spilota mcdowellii), a different subspecies and color morph than what I’ve been seeing in the rainforest.  But the snake was nearly 9 feet up, and nothing around in sight to stand upon.  Frantically, I ran inside the house to see if being within the enclosure offered me better positioning…it didn’t.  Worried that the snake would escape, I jumped up and grabbed the top of the wall with one hand (praying that no enormous Australian spiders, which are so common, were atop the wall), snake with the other, and slowly worked him out of the cinder block wall.  An exhaustive capture, but a successful one nonetheless.  Despite the intrusive manner of my capture, this 52” male never once even attempted to strike and sat quietly as he was passed around from student to student for a photo to “freak mom out with.”  The rest of the night was spent exchanging stories and political views around the fire into the odd hours of the night, upon which I bid Rosy (Daryl’s domesticated Agile Wallaby which feeds upon spaghetti and watches television on his couch) goodnight and headed for my tent.  An enjoyable night in the bush of Australia.

Diving on the Great Barrier Reef

This past weekend I journeyed to Cairns to embark upon a 6 hour diving/snorkeling expedition to the Great Barrier Reef.  We left at 8 am and traveled northwest, arriving at the reef 90 minutes later.  I threw on my wet suit, grabbed my flippers and a random snorkeling mask, and dove in.  The biodiversity was unbelievable!  I swam along reef edges which dropped precipitously into 50 foot canyons below, snorkeled in 4 feet of water in a near engulfment of dozens of fish species (including several Clown Fish, a popular favorite since the film Finding Nemo), and went on my first ever dive 30 feet below the surface to examine sea anemones, sea urchins, enormous grouper and parrot fish over 6 feet in length, and even found a fairly sizable moray eel.  I was surrounded by various types of coral, emanating every color of the visible light spectrum.  It was a shock to the senses, and my feeble attempt at a description honestly does not do the reef poetic justice.  The GBR truly is a beautiful place, and I look forward to visiting again in the future.  Pictures coming soon!

New Cosmo Mag News

Cosmo Magazine contacted me last week to tell me that I am going to be on their iPhone App which is releasing soon.  They are going to release new pictures that weren't in the magazine.  I appreciate everyone's support.

It's called a Skink

This past week I went on a “walk-about”, a 5 day trek through the eucalypt savannah of central Queensland.  My trip began at Undara Volcanic National Park where I encountered literally hundreds of Eastern Grey Kangaroos and Agile Wallabies, a Burton’s Legless Lizard (my first pygopod), and above all else a gorgeous Western Brown Snake characterized by a jet black head, tan ground color, and orange dorsal blotches.  I then journeyed west to Georgetown, a small enclave full of several species of cockatoos and parrots.  From there we journeyed south to Forsayth coming across two species of whipsnakes and a gorgeous Blue-tongue Skink.  This brings me to my story…

Driving along a dirt track just outside of Forsayth I saw something in the road and jammed on the brakes.  I hopped out and saw a beautiful Blue-tongue Skink!  I raced over to where it laid basking in the road and it took off underneath the vehicle.  I quickly ran around the other side but saw nothing.  I peered underneath the truck…nothing.  Then, to my astonishment, I saw movement inside the rim of the rear left tire!  The large skink (18 inches in total length) had managed to squirm its way inside the rim and showed no sign of leaving its makeshift refuge.  Parked squarely in the middle of the road I feared the approach of a road train, a semi towing 3-plus trailers with a length of over 150 feet.  Yet I was unable to move the vehicle with the skink in the rim and dove underneath to attempt to remove the lizard.  Twenty minutes of work under the vehicle and I finally managed to pry the Blue-tongue free.  Lizard in right hand, shifting with my left (Aussie vehicles have the steering wheel on the right side), I was able to move the vehicle off the road and safely analyze my capture.  It was a beautiful skink, brightly barred and possessing that colorful lingual appendage that gives it its namesake.  My most targeted member of the Scincidae family is now crossed off my list.

The rest of the trip was successful, seeing several monitors, a freshwater crocodile, a tree kangaroo, and a dingo.  Unfortunately I had to leave the beautiful western landscape and head back to Cairns to return the vehicle (and to school), yet I departed with a sense of satisfaction.  Roughing it in the remote dry country of Australia for a week was an amazing experience, one that I will never forget.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Updated Modeling Portfolio

Everyone has been asking so I have updated my modeling portfolio on facebook.  The shots are by Josh Camero Photography and styled by Alan Rust with On Display Men.  It was a cold day in Dallas when we shot but everything went very well.  Let me know what you think!

My Largest Python ever!

It’s twilight, just following a thunder shower, as I walk from the Centre to the car park.  We’re on our way to the Barron River to survey Bufo marinus populations along a re-vegetation site and I decided to take a short-cut through a field (an old mango orchard) up to the van.  It’s nearly impossible to see in the 4 foot high grass, yet I manage to detect movement only a few inches in front of my foot…Australian Scrub Python!  The largest Australian serpent, the species I had been after since day one, is now at my feet.  This is quite a large specimen and I knew immediately the male was over ten feet in length, by far the largest snake I have ever seen in the wild.  I bent down to grab the snake which took off towards the forest edge.  Wrapping both hands firmly around the serpent, I dragged him out of the bush into a more open area. 

He’s bigger than I originally thought!  Andy and I carefully wind the tape measure down his spine (as he decided to wrap his body around my left thigh) and came to a total length of 12’1”.  WOW.  Finally the king of the Wet Tropics.  This large snake is actually the dominant terrestrial predator in northeastern Queensland, preying on marsupials as large as wallabies.  Arboreal by day, the snakes bask amongst canopy epiphytes and descend to the forest floor at night to hunt.  This large male was most likely interested in Red-legged Pademelons, which are very common on site (especially in more open areas).  I photographed the enormous serpent and released him, watching this 12 foot monster disappear into the Australian rainforest.  Maybe I’ll meet his big brother tomorrow…

Black Snake Success

Well it poured all morning, AGAIN.  I feel that simply describing this time of year as the wet season is a severe understatement.  The skies cleared a little near dark and I took a respite from my academic obligations, grabbed my headlamp, and headed up to the greenhouse (where I had previously seen the python and several Eastern Small-eyed Snakes) for a quick search.  The large male Small-eyed was again atop his perch on the mulch pile, yet the greenhouse did not produce a serpent this time.  I wandered over to a rarely used shed, a “microhabitat” frequently utilized by many different snakes and lizards.  Adjoining the shed was an enormous piece of tin, nearly 15 feet in length.  Now while tin is usually a herper’s gold mine, I typically have done nearly all of my flipping during the day.  Yet I couldn’t just pass it by.  I flipped the tin and chaos ensued.  A sizable snake with a very dark dorsum went shooting out into a tangle of tall weeds in front of me.  Judging by its size and coloration it has to be either a Slaty-grey Snake (a harmless colubrid) or a Red-bellied Black Snake (a venomous elapid).  I did not get a good look at the snake’s head and subsequently had no way of knowing.  I sprinted into the mess of weeds both without a stick or tongs (I was studying and went for a quick walk, really not expecting to see anything hot).  No movement.  I can’t believe I missed my chance at my first Red-bellied Black, a rainforest elapid I’d been after for nearly a month.  Frustrated, but not quite ready to admit defeat, I began kicking around in the grass.  There’s a black body!  I look anxiously for the head.  Oh boy, it’s a Red-bellied Black alright.  I reach for his tail and grab the 3+ ft snake which has now become so embedded and wrapped around the tangle of weeds that it’s impossible to separate the snake from the grass.  I grab the nearest implement, a broken broom handle leaning against the shed, to aid me in my capture.  Tail in left hand, broken broom handle in right, I go to work.  Ten minutes later he’s finally free (and now able to freely strike at me, which he did repeatedly).  Feeling both relieved and delighted, I pinned the elapid and grasped him firmly behind the head.  This is when I realized that I do not have a sack.  The one time I’m unprepared.  With no other choice, I hiked back to my cabin with specimen in hand, sacked the serpent, grabbed my camera (along with my stick) and set out to take photos.  Quite the capture with many unusual speed bumps, but a success nonetheless.  I returned to the Centre to study, upon which I stumbled across another Eastern Small-eyed Snake curled up around a chair.  A good ending to a great night.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Amazing Outback Experience

Today I got to experience the Outback, or dry country as the Aussies call it.  We took a trip to Chillagoe, a small mining town west of the Great Dividing Range.  Once a thriving community of 10,000 people, the area now only encompasses 200 individuals with the closing of the smelter in 1943.  Yet the environment of the area is pristine and much different than the rainforest I’ve been living in, and I was anxious to see a different part of the country.  The area is characterized by eucalypt savannah woodland, very comparable to the long-leaf pine savannah that occurs in the southeastern United States.  Jagged limestone outcrops emerge through the woodlands, representative of the coral reef that existed in the ancient Hodgkinson Basin millions of years ago.  Agile wallabies dotted the area at near plague levels, hopping around both the woodlands and our campsite.  I was also lucky enough to see a dingo along the way, a healthy, rustic brown individual jogging alongside the dirt track.  With nightfall came an unbelievable “skyline” of Orion’s Belt, the famous Southern Cross, and hundreds of other southern hemisphere stars that I have literally never seen before.  Laying in the dark in an open field staring at the night sky is truly a humbling experience, and most definitely a sight I could become accustomed to.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Beach picture

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Hey guys!  Here's a picture of me along the Esplanade in Cairns, Queensland.

Beach Time for Work & Play

Today I visited Mission Beach, the coastal community where Cyclone Yasi (read the earlier post about this) made landfall.  On the drive in, the devastation became evident in the rainforest as entire canopies were stripped of foliage and branches.  The SFS student body and I traveled south to this area to aid in a community clean-up, and I personally worked at a tree nursery sponsored by a conservation group.  After finishing with the massive debris pile deposited by the storm surge (nearly 40 yards from the high tide line), I was able to take my first walk along the Pacific Ocean.  What a beautiful sight.  Directly off the coast sit small, mountainous islands that dot the horizon.  I unfortunately was not able to swim due to the fact its Box Jellyfish season (“stingers” as the Aussies call them) and this region was not netted off.  I wanted to swim despite the stingers but the staff would not allow that (which I grudgingly admit is understandable).  So instead I went for a walk along the shoreline and discovered lots of coral, undoubtedly deposited on the beach from Yasi’s storm surge, including an enormous block weighing at least ten pounds.  Too bad I couldn’t take that home as a souvenir.  Torrential downpours cut my Pacific walk short, and we packed up and headed back to the Centre.  The destruction evident at Mission Beach puts the power of tropical storms into perspective, and I hope that the rest of my stay Down Under is cyclone-free.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Aussie Monitor Adventure

Today we had a guest lecture from one of the authors of the MBHNAP, a community-driven initiative designed to protect the habitat and values of the greater Mission Beach area (habitat critical to the conservation of the endangered Southern Cassowary).  At the conclusion of the lecture, a classmate approached me and told me how he watched a large male Lace Monitor calmly walk past the classroom window and head north into the forest.  I immediately bolted for the door and found the lizard 25 yards from the classroom nearly 20 feet up a eucalypt.  I couldn’t believe it.  I saw this individual for 3 days nearly two weeks ago, as he sat nearly 40 feet up a tree unmoving for 72 hours seemingly taunting me.  I was unfortunately off-site when the varanid descended from his perch and subsequently missed my chance at a capture.  Yet here he was again, definitely the same lizard in a significantly lower perch on a much more accessible tree.  I scampered up a few branches and the monitor noticed my presence and greeted me with hissing and tail whipping.  Yet what concerned me was his constant movement out towards the end of the branch, an area which definitely would not support my 200 pound frame.  I realized that I simply would not be able to climb out and grab him as I planned and knocking him out of the tree would only allow me to watch him sprint into the denser rainforest as I remained on the branch.  I quietly climbed down, cut a sapling, and herded the monitor towards the edge of the branch.  I saw my chance and jumped, grabbing the 10 foot high foliage along the terminal branch and all hell broke loose.  The lizard hit the ground running and took off back towards the trunk of the tree.  I had worked for over a half hour getting him out, I definitely was not going through that process again.  I hurdled over a pile of brush, crashed through a small sapling, and managed to grab the monitor just as he began making his way up the tree.  Success!  What a magnificent reptile, by far the largest lizard I have ever had the pleasure of capturing (and possibly the largest I might ever catch, unless I manage to get a perentie or a Komodo Dragon).  This monitor was characterized by a saurian head, razor sharp nails, a 4 and a half foot frame, and a pungent odor that I can only liken to an un-cleaned iguana terrarium.  I took some photos, examined the brilliant specimen, and filmed the release.  The monitor chose not to take back towards the tree but rather dashed back into the rainforest.  Later on in the evening, I caught a large Eastern Small-eyed Snake and another Carpet Python (only slightly smaller than the last specimen).  I retired to my cabin exhausted and drifted off to sleep with ideas of the prehistoric Aussie monitor that reached nearly 18 feet running through my head, attempting to devise ways I would go about capturing this reptile…

See the full gallery on Posterous

Python update

Lady Luck is facetiously unpredictable yet I was finally granted some good fortune tonight.  The snakes had not been overly active, being restricted by the torrential downpours that plagued the Tablelands daily.  The past few days had been dry, and I was hoping for a better night of spotlighting.  I have seen the most snakes around the main Centre, often walking the 3 mile trek through pristine rainforest seeing nothing only to come back to find several snakes on the side veranda.  I decided tonight to check out several of the buildings on site, as abandoned or rarely used dwellings provide excellent habitat for rodents and skinks (and subsequently snakes). 

My first stop was the “greenhouse.”  Though more of a tent than a building, this area contains an old shed, some tin, mulch, and plenty of optimal microhabitats.  Outside the greenhouse was a large mulch pile with two Eastern Small-eyed Snakes perched on top, one small female and one extremely robust male 28” in total length (very large for this species of elapid).  A very good start.  I walked into the greenhouse examining rows both to my left and right.  Ten yards in, I caught something in my periphery.  I glanced left…Carpet Python!!!!  I sprinted the 20 yards down the row, around the end, and back up again.  My first wild python!  What a gorgeous specimen as well.  This 65” male had classic northeast Queensland coloration (yellow and block mottling), retaining juvenile-like markings.  I reached down to grab this magnificent serpent, strike!  He was not nearly as excited to see me as I him.  I eventually corralled the uncooperative python (not without getting nailed in the calf first) and moved him to a different location to take photos.  About an hour later I released this snake, enjoying watching him slide off into the rainforest as much as I enjoyed our initial encounter.  I returned to my cabin content, and write this with high hopes for tomorrow and my next blog. 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Dragon Trail update

It had been a long past few days sitting through lecture after lecture and I was itching to get back out into the field.  I picked a trail near the west end of the site in some old growth rainforest which I thought could produce a python, grabbed my headlamp, and headed out at sunset.  The forest was characterized by vines and strangler figs, a much different ecosystem than the more recent restoration site located a click away.  Darkness reaches a new meaning underneath the closed canopy, and turning off your spotlight truly becomes a humbling experience.  Upon doing so I made an interesting discovery, florescent fungi that can be seen from several yards away.  These tiny detrivores have, for some reason or another, evolved to literally glow in dark, perhaps to aid in spore dispersal. 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

I continued down the trail, avoiding nasty wait-a-whiles (large fern-like plants with razor sharp tendrils) and picking blood-sucking leeches from my body (at one point I counted over ten on or in my body).  Rounding the corner, my headlamp fell upon a truly mystical creature, the Boyd's Forest Dragon (Hypsilurus boydii).  Contrary to the literature on this agamid, this individual was not in favor of discreetly sliding around the sapling trunk out of view but rather took off straight up the tree.  I ran over to the sapling, looked up, and saw the lizard nearly 50 feet up.  The sapling would not support my weight, but I was not about to let this magnificent reptile escape.  I grabbed hold of the sapling at chest height, and shook.  A few seconds later, the dragon came tumbling out of the tree and hit the ground at a dead sprint.  The chase was on!  Running through the pitch black, dodging branches, hurtling fallen trees, I managed to keep my light on the lizard (who was running on his hind legs - bipedal locomotion is not uncommon amongst agamids) and ran him down nearly 30 yards from where we started.  I saw my chance and dove, grasping him by the last inch of his tail (which thankfully didn't break).  Success!  Scraped, bruised, and out of breath I picked up the dragon and headed back to the tree where we had our first encounter.  I spent the next half hour taking photographs, and released the lizard back to his perch.  I finished the walk and saw nothing else of note.  I was not overly concerned and retired to my cabin content, hoping to encounter my new dragon friend again...

Snakes & Dragons

Well we’ve finally had three dry days in a row.  I could not wait to go spotlighting, hoping that my luck would change and I would finally come across some of the snakes I traveled around the world to see.  The night did not disappoint me.  I tried a new trail at 8:00 PM, hoping a change in rainforest type might put me on some different, and larger, fauna.  Ten minutes later, my headlamp fell upon a tiny agamid lizard perched nearly 7 feet off the ground on a horizontal vine.  My first Australian Dragon capture (and redemption from the previous escape at Yungaburra while looking for a platypus)!  While only a juvenile this small Eastern Water Dragon is a very special specimen, a much needed change from the ubiquitous tiny skink Carlia rubrigularis that swarms the forest floor.  Heading back to the main trail, I spotted movement in my periphery.  An Eastern Small-eyed Snake!  These elapids appear to be quite common at the Centre (the Aussie spelling of the site, not my own), and I’ve encountered nearly a half dozen already.  This was by far the largest individual I had encountered yet, but he politely stopped his serpentine motion and allowed me to snap a quick few photographs.  Content with my two herp sightings for the night, I stopped off at my cabin to grab a towel and headed for the showers.  Walking down the stairs, I calmly glanced back over my shoulder to see another Small-eyed literally beneath my cabin.  As I watched, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the more diurnal North American elapid, the Coral Snake (Micrurus fulvius), a warm memory of mine from north Florida.  I let him on his way, and me on mine although I would not be surprised if we crossed paths again.

RAIN forest!

Tonight is the reason it is called a “RAIN”forest.  The intensity of the rain was unbelievable, not to mention the torrential downpour also sustained itself for hours.  Yet with warm summer rains come anurans.  The cacophony of the tree frog chorus was deafening at times, with at least 3 different species calling from the same ephemeral pools.  The largest and most abundant tree frog was the Northern Orange-eyed Treefrog, often the subject of postcards and the “poster-child” of different wildlife organizations (see picture).  Many males were seen calling, and two pairs were actually viewed in amplexus attempting to mate.  My inner child was reborn, and I reminisced my younger years of chasing Carpenter Frogs in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey as I sloshed around an Australian pool some 15 years later for nearly the same purpose.  And while I retire to my bed soaked to the bone, I cannot help but smile as my tub of new roommates call incessantly still with their “waarks” and “pirrs”, a sound I will take anytime over the traffic of the civilization.

Atherton Tablelands Story

This past week, one of our professors drove us through the Atherton Tablelands highlighting different geological features of the countryside.  Being on the Tablelands within the Great Dividing Range, the granite escarpments offer wonderful views (as seen from one of my recent photographs).  These landforms were formed via volcanic activity, and we visited several inactive craters in the area.  Blomfield Swamp, a now marshy depression where cattle graze ironically enough, was a beautiful extinct crater located not far from our site (second picture inset).  The sheer beauty and diversity of the landscapes here in Queensland would be hard to match, and there is not another place on the planet I would rather be at the moment than here…

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Typical days in Australia

So far, every day has been differenet but here is an example of some of my days on the project Down Under.  Some mornings field work can start as early as 5 AM or last through the night.

EXAMPLE DAY 1

0730  Breakfast

0830  Class: Australian & Tropical Rainforest Environments

0945  Class: Australian Rainforest Classification

1100  Economic Theory & NRM impacts in Queensland

1200  Lunch!

1300  Rainforest Disturbance & succession

1430  Rainforest structure

1730  Dinner!

1930  Spotlighting

EXAMPLE DAY 2  Community Service Day

0700  Breakfast

0800  Rotates: Landcare, Nursery, Site Maintenance or Water Testing

1200  Lunch!

1300  Warrawork Atherton free time

1730  Dinner!

EXAMPLE DAY 3

0730  Breakfast

0830  Field Work or write-up analysis

1200  Lunch!

1300  Field Work or write-up analysis

1730  Dinner!

Began with a Bang

My arrival in Australia began with a bang, as category five cyclone Yasi smashed into Queensland and devestated the coast. We spent 36 hours locked down in a central stronghold as the storm passed, awakening the next morning to shattered trees, flooded forest and a loss of power that would last nearly a week. Fortunately for us, the eye wall made landfall further south and we avoided the most damaging winds that so severely impacted Mission Beach and Tully.

Aside from the worst cyclone to hit Australia in recent memory, my week has been somewhat quiet. The drive to the Center from Cairns was breathtaking. We wound through the 2,500 ft escarpment of the Atherton Tablelands, passing through lush green pastures, dry sclerophyll forest and finally ascending into the lush green of the tropical rainforest. Possums (very different from the North American species), pademelons (miniature kangaroos), and bandicoots are plentiful on site as is the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo. My snake adventures have been limited due to the weather (and not just Yasi) as I literally haven't seen the sun since my arrival. It has been unusually moist here on the Atherton Tablelands and we've had heavy rain daily. Yet I have managed to see two species, the Slaty-grey Snake (a harmless visitor of waterways that I collected while attempting to find a platypus) and the Small-eyed Snake (an elapid relative in size and morphology to the North American Coral Snake).

I am hopeful that the weather makes a turn for the better, although it is the wet season and rain is likely until March. Classes start full-time tomorrow (we were forced off of schedule - or "shhedule" as the Aussies would say - by cyclone Yasi) and I need to go work on an essay.  Until next time..

Cosmo Bachelor Experience

Many people have asked me about how I ended up being the Cosmo Magazine Bachelor for Kansas and what it was like.  Watch and find out!

 

Australia Bound!

Working with On Display Men

Modeling with On Display Men

I am starting my modeling career in 2011.  My first portfolio photo shoot was with Alan Rust of On Display Men with Josh Camero Photography.  I really enjoyed my first shoot and everyone was great to work with. There was a lot to learn since I only had to do one shot for the Cosmo Magazine shoot.

You can see my portfolio gallery at OnDisplayMen.com plus my page has some behind the scenes video.

Cosmo Bachelor 2010 for Kansas

2010 Cosmo Magazine Bachelor for Kansas

Name: Mark Margres
Age: 21
Location: Lindsborg, KS
Job: Biology student
In the words of his sister, who nominated him: "Mark is an extremely dedicated, hardworking, and unique guy."
The call of the wild: "My passion is rattlesnakes and alligators. I plan on getting a PhD and studying snakes around the world."
Chick style he loves: "A hoodie and no makeup. If she can look pretty then, you know she's always pretty."
Compliment he craves: "Tell me I'm respectful. Being a gentleman is very important to me."
Would you date a woman your friends didn't like? "I have in the past, but I wouldn't again!"
Do you Facebook a girl before a date? "No, that can give a false impression."
Do you manscape? "Yes."

COMING SOON

Watch for updates and announcements soon.  Subscribe to keep up to date.