Jade Down Under

As a Canadian student in Australia I don't think I will ever get used to the mass amounts of wildlife. Yes, it's great during the daytime when you can see the critters coming, but at night time or in your personal space, it is not welcomed.

For example, yesterday's shower was with the company of a spider (used to be 3, I'm not sure where the other two went), a gecko (only a baby, clung to the inside of the shower curtain), ants (many of them), and two different type of flies which I do not recognize - one green, one red.
The night before I went over to Liz's floor and on my return I saw a Wallaby (who are great, no complaints), a possum (we scared each other pretty good because this thing looks like a HUGE rat in the dark), and a cane toad, who was too close to the pathway for my comfort. These are the ones I can see!!! My goodness, I don't know what else is looking at me that I can't see!
The occurrence with the possum was quite funny because as I came outside the possum was right under the table, I screamed and ran back towards Liz's room because as I said it looks like a cat-size rat. I heard the possum slam into the outdoor table/chair, scraping it across the cement, before scurrying into the bush. Seems like we scared each other equally.

The cane toads are a pain in the butt. There is a rule that if you see them you are supposed to kill them - no chance of me doing it. They were brought over to eat the cane beetles, who were eating the cane crops. The story goes that the cane toads were brought into Australia where the toads then discovered cane beetles were yucky (even though this was their main staple in their home country) compared to the other food sources Australia has. So now Australia has a problem with cane beetles, and cane toads. These icky things are everywhere and they are poisonous. Luckily, I've been told they only have enough poison to be deadly to smaller animals, so if our new Res dog, Roti, tries to eat one it could be fatal for him. Darn toads.

The common species inside our floor are the random green tree frog, praying mantis', spiders, geckos (lots of them), flies..... many things. I usually walk to the bathroom staring at the floor to see what I might step on; I do have slippers that I wear constantly. Other than the ants, the geckos are the most common sight. They are like mice around here, a simple pest.

Anyhow, I'm dealing and nothing has tried to eat me yet so I'm all good. Hopefully with time I'll learn what all the animals are so in the dark I can walk with confidence. Until that time the random girly scream will be heard throughout Rotary.