It's been awhile since I've written anything. I wrapped up my platypus research, and headed back to Cairns on the 29^th. Spent rather a hectic week writing up the paper ("The effects of creek vegetation and invertebrate composition on the foraging behavior of the platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, in Lower Peterson Creek, Yungaburra QLD"), but finished it by Saturday morning. We spent all day Sunday and Monday morning listening to each others' presentations, which was neat. It was interesting to hear what everyone had been doing for a month. Maria gave an excellent presentation on bee sperm and apiculture, Karen studied wallaby scats, Tim chased after sharks, Hannah looked at collective behavior in fish, Alyse improved cane toad traps… the list goes on and on. There were eighteen of us altogether.

Monday afternoon we headed off to somewhere (we didn't know where), which turned out to be Mission Beach. Stopped at a beautiful little swimming hole on the way, with a pebbly creek bottom and very clear water. And also at a fruit stand, where we bought tons of lychees. We ate them on the bus. In Mission Beach, we stayed at the Treehouse again, the hostel with the nice kitty cat. Monday night we went for a walk in the little town of Mission Beach, and had a barbeque on the deck. We ran into Tasha, Tony's other half, and his daughters Em and Elli at the fish and chips shop. There were heaps of interesting beetles at the hostel, including enormous rhinoceros beetles. Maria and I had fun looking at them. We tried going for a walk that night to look for more, but we didn't have much luck.

We spent Tuesday at the beach, swimming in the stinger nets (full-on stinger season now). The nets keep out box jellyfish, although the tiny irukandji jellyfish can still get though, as they're only about the size of your fingernail. But they monitor the amount of jellyfish in the stinger nets, so it's generally all right to swim. The water was beautiful and warm, and we had sun until the afternoon. Tony's family was there, as were Russ, Ian, and Giovanne. I was in the water most of the time, and Tony's kids were chasing Maria around because I told them that she was actually a crocodile. Then we had our last ever Merrell lunch, which was a bit sad. Back at the hostel almost all of us showered and promptly fell asleep, and then got dressed for our dinner.

We had dinner at a restaurant/resort called the Elandra, which was really very nice. They put Christmas crackers on all of the place settings, so we had a fun time with those (especially Tony's kids). I had six magnificent oysters to start (they call appetizers entrées here, for some unknown reason), and a delightful piece of salmon with a small salad and roasted potatoes. Lychee and green tea crème brûlée for dessert. And Tony ordered us some pretty nice wine to boot. It was quite a feast, and we all had a wonderful time (although Maria didn't really enjoy my oysters, poor thing). We got a bit silly on the way back to the hostel. Tony handed Em the bus's built-in microphone, and she started singing Australian Christmas songs, which are hilarious on so many levels. And the combination of extreme tiredness and a few glasses of wine got us all singing.

Wednesday morning we got up, threw our things in our bags, and headed off in the bus. We stopped at a beautiful stream in the rainforest on the way home, had a swim, and said goodbye to Ian, Russ, and Giovanne. Then we stopped at another fruit stand and bought about seven kilos of mangoes, and several more of lychees. I can't get over my excitement at being able to buy tropical fruits by the side of the road. We spent Wednesday afternoon clearing up odds and ends around Cairns. Most people were packing up, buying last minute gifts, closing bank accounts, etc. Then we met Tony in the evening. He handed back our field notebooks and a few other things, and read a little excerpt from everyone's notebook. Half the group, including Tony, was tearing up a bit by the end.

We decided that it would be nice to go out for Indian food, so we walked to the infamous Spicy Bite, down near the Esplanade. Unfortunately for the poor waitresses, we hadn't called ahead of time (there were nineteen of us), but they obligingly served us just the same. Maria and I split an order of samosas, and also shared palak paneer and dahl mahkni. Another nice meal. And Tony, the stinker, grabbed the bill before we knew what was happening, which was totally uncalled for (but very much appreciated). We went to walk around the Night Markets, and then came back to the hostel.

Everyone in our room except for Sydney and me was frantically packing, and I tried to make a start of it, too. People kept coming by asking if anyone needed this or that, or had extra space, or was on their flight. Tony came by and gave me an adorable little glass echidna, which was very, very sweet of him. And we all ended up in Karl's bar one more time, for our last evening. Carolyn was bawling her eyes out, along with several other people, but we had a good time in spite of it. I didn't end up going to bed until around midnight, and then I woke up at four in the morning because Hannah and Shannon had to catch their flights. By that point, poor Carolyn was positively wailing. But we got them to their cab all right, and saw them off.

This morning, Thursday, I got up around seven-thirty. I went out to have my tea, and found several people having breakfast with Tony, who had showed up to say goodbye. I cut up a bunch of mangoes, so we had mangoes and tea and wonderful Aussie yogurt. Around ten, Maria and I got our togs on and headed off to the Lagoon, the outdoor pool/artificial beach on the Esplanade. Remember that the city is built on a mud flat, and there are crocs on the muddy beach. But the Lagoon is filtered seawater, and faces the real ocean, and has fountains and beautiful lights at night, so it's a nice place to have a swim (it's also enormous, and approximately the shape of Queensland). Anyone can go there and have a swim.

We had to say goodbye to a few more people first, though. It's very strange to say goodbye to people who you may not see again. I'll certainly try to keep in touch with this wonderful group, but a few people are bound to slip through the cracks. It's sort of weird and sad. And we said goodbye to Tony, the Koala––our Fearless Leader. He has made so much of this trip possible, and he's a sweet and amazing man. I hope I get to see him again some day.

Despite this rather depressing start to things, we had a really nice swim. And then we came back, and said goodbye to a few more people. Maria was leaving around eleven-thirty, so I hung out with her until then. I was so sorry to see her go. She's off to New Zealand for a couple of weeks (flying home on Christmas Eve!). I'll miss having her around, though. She's a sweetie. People trickled out until about two-thirty, and now it's just Lauren, Sydney and me left. Sydney and I are going to Sydney (hee hee) on the same flight tomorrow at noon, although she'll be traveling on to New Zealand and Tahiti from there.

I spent a rather depressing afternoon packing things up and writing a few last postcards, and now we're about to go get dinner, although I don't yet know where.