In early morning, I sped into and through Bicentennial Park on my bike as though chased by some dark pursuer. Time, perhaps. Each day in this country races by, our days in Australia already totalling more than four months, a third of the span allotted to us before our return to Canada. What, in that time, have we done, seen, absorbed into our souls?

Vilis continues with his work at James Cook University’s School of Marine and Tropical Biology, where he is investigating animal movement patterns. Being surrounded by other scientists has inspired him in his research and opened the window to linking his studies with tropical animals and ecosystems. He has, however, lamented that our excursions in Australia have so far been only brief looks into various locales, and wonders if he will ever be immersed in true wilderness again, as he was while conducting research in Canada’s Northwest Territories and Yukon Territory. I suggested to him that perhaps our three weeks in outback Western Australia will give him a fix of true wilderness, Aussie style.

My goals of focussing on writing, birding, and hiking have been reflected in the posts of  A Year in Australia, which I breathed into life while pacing the airport in San Francisco on December 28, en route to Australia. The blog has both challenged and burdened me, made me accountable for my time here and spurred me on in my year-long independent study of this country.

My count of Australian birds identified stands at 143 species, slightly less than a fifth of this country’s total. I have, on average, identified more than one new bird species per day. Add to that more totals – 14 mammals, 8 reptiles, 3 frogs, 11 butterflies, and odds and ends of vegetation. Slowly, I’m edging my way into the vast biodiversity of tropical North Queensland and other snippets of this country. I have, of course, become most familiar with the fauna and flora of Townsville, which is a rewardingly rich place to be if one is a birder or butterfly enthusiast.

With the exception of our eightthr-day exploration of Tasmania, our ‘going bush’ has been confined to weekends, when we’ve bushwalked tracks in the dry tropics Townsville area and several wet tropics locations to the north, notably in Paluma Range National Park, Girringun National Park, and on the Atherton Tablelands. As Vilis lamented, our hiking could be likened to reading abstracts of books rather than the books themselves; however, our day-hikes in Tasmania and North Queensland have opened our eyes to several major vegetation zones – tropical savannah woodland, wet tropical rainforest, temperate rainforest, dry sclerophyll and wet sclerophyll forests, buttongrass plains, coastal heaths – and their denizens. Two weeks from Thursday, we’ll begin our three-week immersion in an Australian desert, which will be a whole new ballgame.

Townsville itself was almost unbearably hot and humid during the summer months, but is now refreshingly cool during the mornings, although still soaring into the upper 20’s during the afternoons. The humidity has, thankfully, decreased to less than sauna levels. The parks and Ross River Parkway remain the city’s greatest asset, soothing us with space and beauty. The city is sports crazy – as is all of Australia – and hosts a variety of cultural events, although not on the same scale as Melbourne’s extravaganza of international and national cultural events.

To sum it up, I’d say so far, so good. Now, on to the next third of our Australian adventure.