Battling the sclerophyll forest

Today was a good day. Slept in till 10. Lounged around and skyped until lunch. Attempted to clean my room, didn't work out too well. At 1 pm Liz picked me up and we headed off to Pyramid Mountain to start a new fieldwork site! This had sclerophyll forest instead of rainforest. It was about a 45 minute drive. Mondays are the first day at a new site, so instead of baiting or opening traps we had to measure out the grids and trails where the traps would be set up the next day. We used a meter tape to measure 100 m into the forest because you can't start any closer to the edge than that. Then we had to hack our way off that line to make three separate parallel lines for the traps. It was pretty dense forest. It took us about three hours total. She has used a machete in the past but it was dull from use so we used giant clippers. Hard work let me tell you! But it was amazing in there. I ended covered in sap, dirt, and probably an assortment of bugs but exhilarated! 

A cute dog named Pepper, owned by the people who live right near the mountain.

Their horse.

Wild pig bones, eaten by dingoes.

The view as we are scat collecting.

More views.

Inside the forest.

View from the road.

The pyramid! We were at the base of it.