Paluma Rainforest, North Queensland

By 9:15 a.m., Vilis and I were on our way to the highland village of Paluma and its rainforest 65 kilometres north of Townsville and 22 kilometres inland. Highway A1, the Bruce Highway, carried us nor...

Townsville’s Queens Gardens and Geckos

In steady rain, Vilis and I drove to Townsville’s Queens Gardens in early morning, the peak of Castle Hill shrouded in cloud above us. Entering the gardens at Gregory Street, we passed a coconut...

Castle Hill, The Strand, Cane Toads, Snakes, and Devil Facial Tumour Disease

This morning at breakfast, Vilis told me, “Last night, I killed a cockroach in the living room.” I asked him how big it was, so he indicated a length of about three inches and told me, “They...

The Wet and James Cook University

At 3 a.m., I was awake, a victim of my body’s inability to adjust to the 14-hour time difference between Queensland and Nova Scotia. In the bathroom, miniscule ants less than 2 millimetres long form...