riverECHO

4,341 kilometers around Australia

We had a few unexpected wildlife encounters today that are worth sharing.

Last night BJ came back from the bathroom and reported having seen a poem posted to the wall about a frog named Graham that lives year-round in the bathroom. Sure enough, on his way out he almost stepped on him. This morning, I was eager to investigate and found that the same frog apparently lived in the ladies bathroom as well. It sounds like people have tried to remove him and his family from these bathrooms numerous times, but they just keep coming back. And guess where their favorite spot to “chill” is – the toilet bowl. I lifted the seat in the very first stall and, although somewhat expecting to see a frog, I jumped as this little green creature about the size of my palm stared up at me. I left him in peace and used the next stall down.

Tonight we are camped in the town of Mount Isa, pronounced “eye” “za.” Smack dab in the middle of town is a huge copper ore plant which looks like it could just swallow up the rest of the town. BJ read that the mine has 1,000 kilometers of underground roads. 1,000 kilometers! We haven’t even driven 1,000 kilometers since we left the coast and that was three days ago. We set up camp on a slightly shaded field on the outskirts of town, with a view of our trusty internet tower. It is still getting chilly at night which immediately makes up for the sweaty days. Tonight, just as the cool air settled in, we noticed a swarm of birds flying overhead. At closer look they were hundreds and hundreds of bats. They barely make a sound when they fly and they just kept coming; we must have watched them for at least five minutes.

We are looking forward to much anticipated evening of watching Crocodile Dundee. We purchased this two disc set (the original and the sequel) about a week ago and we were sure that we would get lots of laughs. But the guy behind the counter simply nodded his head and said “What a classic. Great Choice.”