To A Place Unknown: 18.June.2016 (Day 13)

She’ll be alright

Every country has a phrase that always makes me immediately think of that place.

Costa Rica: Pura Vida.

Thailand: same same.

And my favorite new one,

Brazil: massa.

Australians have a phrase too: She’ll be alright (pronounced SHe-eel Be 'rite).

I’ve heard it used in all types of situations and I thought it was similar to ‘don’t worry, be happy’.

I guess it is, in a way.

What I’ve gradually come to understand, is that it doesn’t so much mean ‘everything is going to work out alright in the end so why don’t you relax?’.

Instead I think it roughly translates to: ‘chances are you’re screwed...meh’

Why do I bring this confusing phrase up now you ask?

Well….

I drove out to my field site last night...

Remember how I was telling you how common bush fires are….

Bye-bye snake heaven

I’ll give you one guess what phrase was the first out of every Australian’s mouth I tried to complain to/commiserate with.

France: C'est la vie

I somehow managed to catch a snake, most likely fleeing the flames like I was.

Not to mention run into some more gigantor spiders!

Long-jawed orb weaver (Tetragnatha sp.)

Wolf spider (Lycosa sp.)

Also got a chance to commiserate with some old pals. They feel my pain.

Who doesn’t hate mosquitoes around here.

(And BTW the answer is yes, I will put an adorable picture of these frogs up every other day!)

Flying devil bugs

Mosquito in the nose (part II)

I’ve been told that there are other places around here (that presumably haven’t burned down yet) that I’ll be able to catch snakes from. It’s a little sad to say goodbye though.

Today I leave for my next field site to collect more toads. As I mentioned earlier the toads were introduced from east to west.

We’re not going all the way to the east coast (yet), but we’re sampling from a more established toad population in a drier environment than where I’m at now (Site 2, about 9 hours east of here)