I can't believe it is almost Christmas! 2007 has flown by! The last few months have been really really busy with both my PhD and the two other project I am working on having moved on to the next level. I am currently developing a postal survey that is due out in January. But even bigger parts of January will be taken up with helping to run a 3-week intensive undergraduate subject, which involves 10 days in the field. I am really looking forward to this experience - being paid to look after students in Kosciuszko National Park is my idea of a dream.
The really good news of the month is that the Bushfire Corporate Research Centre has taken me under their wing. This relationship was initiated with me attending a 3 day meeting near Melbourne earlier this week. It was great to get up to date on what's happening in my field across Australia and to share stories and experiences.
I made the most of having to make the trip down to Melbourne and caught a flight a day early, jumped in a rental car and drove down the Great Ocean Road. Wow! The coast is just stunning here and when I wasn't marveling over the coastal views, I was enjoying the wonderful old growth forest that still grows in patches along the coast of Victoria, and quiet moments with birds and wallabies. I think the photos speak for themselves...
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To remind myself that I moved to Oz to slow down (my pace lately has been worryingly similar to my London lifestyle!), I made the 3ish hour drive up north to the Hunter to visit my friend Julian's biodynamic farm. I will once again let the photos speak for themselves bar from saying that the view from Julian's front porch is near on to die for (and should you be interested in wwoofing or alternative farming do check out the Imago Forest website: http://imagoforest.googlepages.com/home).
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