Girls Gone Wild at Skullbone
EXPEDITION COMPLETE (7-11th November 2011)
11 November 2011
Weather: Who cares, we're outta here...
Final day thoughts:
"I'm so glad I came on this trip with the most amazing bunch of girls. I feel dirty, I smell. I'm tired and itchy. But I wouldn't change the feeling for the world." Sammi
"I hate everybody... haha, just kidding. This will definitley be one of my most memorable highlights of 2011. Thankyou to everyone, for everything." Takani
"Last day of 'Girls Gone Wild at Skullbone' fact of the day- there's no place like home. This has been a great week and could not have been any more fun, funny and tiring. Thank you to all the adults that came on the camp because if it wasn't for you we wouldn't have experienced anything of the sort. Thankyou to all the other girls who made this week memorable, I love you all!" Laura
"I'm really happy I came on this trip, it has been fun and we couln't have had a better group of girls than what we did. The highlight of the trip, I think, was seeing all the different animals and going on big walks. Thankyou to everyone who came." Jackie
"This trip has been one of the most amazing of 2011 that I have been involved in. I have learnt brand new skills for the future and have had the time of my life. Thanks to everyone who made it possible and for making the trip memorable. PS. I will never forget about dragging Bob (the wallaby carcas)." Maddie
"I am hoping that my leech bite will turn into a scar, so that I can remember this experience forever. I learnt so many new skills on this camp that I know will help me in the future and I have embraced a new motto... 'Just do it'" Emily
"As much as I said I hated it and wanted to go home, I kinda miss it. I have had the most amazing time with some of the most amazing girls. I will never do anything like this again, so thankyou Andrew for making all this possible." Kate
"My nose is runny, my throat hurts, my head canes, my ears are aching and I'm covered in mozzie bites but hey, no pain, no gain! I would recommend this to anyone and I am so glad and thankful that I got to experience and be part of this adventure." Phoebe
"Bush bashing through to the Nive River was just one of many highlights. The cold, sleepless nights were tolerable because each day was spent with some amazing people, experiencing more than everyday life. Overall the experience was more than what I thought it'd be. I may have lost my phone, but I gained 5 days of happiness." Sarah
"What a fantastic five days in the Tassie wilderness. Thanks Andrew, Nicola, Ninna and all the girls for such a great time!" Katrina (teacher)
And that concludes the final Skullbone Expedition for 2011. The girls from Ogilvie showed true adventurous spirit in taking themselves out of their comfort zone to endure, embrace and hopefully enjoy a unique Tasmanian landscape. Who would've thought Emily would step up to the scientific plate to test how long a leech sucks blood... on herself (3 hours by the way). Imagine Takani nudging us onto the moonlit plains to spotlight for wildlife on a wild and wet night. Be impressed by Sarah for volunteering to empty 'Steve' the bucket toilet, and Laura for volunteering to help with just about every other dirty job around camp. Listen in as a sick Phoebe brainstorms and acts up a storm for their mockumentary. Stand back as Jackie bashes through the scrub, compass in hand and without complaint, and stand in awe at the laughing power of Maddie when she's on a roll. Be proud of Kate as she tumbles for the fourth time in a few hours and still gets back up, and thank Sammi for coming up with a story or a fact of the day just when everyone needed it.
It was a wonderful expedition thanks to these students and their teacher, Katrina Rudolf. I also need to thank Nic Pearce and Ninna Millikin for guiding, filming and exploring with the team. Back in more comfortable seats Bec Hughes looked after the website and Niall Doran kept an eye on our wanderings. For this and all the expeditions it's been a huge team effort. The Tasmanian Land Conservancy, Sally Bryant and Tim Devereaux also deserve special thanks for allowing us to access a simply perfect location for exploration, investigation and wild rambling- Skullbone Plains. Andrew
Bat Research EXTRA
The team from Ogilvie and Jordan River set up bat detector devices for researcher Lisa Cawthen from UTAS. These boxes recorded bat calls for the two weeks that the groups were at Skullbone Plains. These were the first recordings from this area and at least five disctinct species were identified. Check out three of the little critters below. The photos are all courtesy of Lisa and are NOT from Skullbone Plains, but the graphs showing their distinctive calls are:
Eastern falsistrelle
Southern forest bat
Gould's wattled bat
10 November 2011
Weather : Cloudy with rain in patches.
Animal Sightings: Wedge tailed eagle, wallaby with joey, grub, Tasmanian Froglet, Yellow wattle bird, wombats x2, wolf spiders x2, 'millions' of currawongs.
Highlights
Watching Sammi make noises while being a Tasmanian devil for our mockumentary. Laura
Singing in the rain. Sarah and Maddi
Bush bashing to the Little Nive River. Emily
Running through the forest with Emily, trying to get back to camp, feeling like it is the 'Amazing Race'. Kate
Lowlights
Walking to the Nive River and thinking it would be like the Nile River. Kate and Emily
Trying to film in the rain for our mockumentary. Laura
Da Bush Babes
Today Emily, Jacqui, and I walked to the Nive River with Andrew and Katrina. It was like we walked for hours... but wait, we did. Kate
Emily and Jackie were chief navigators for the journey. The task was to avoid the Valley of Doom that the JRLF team stumbled into last week, and find the Little Nive Rivulet. We bashed through the gum topped stringy bark forest until reaching the plains that Emily named 'The Untravelled Plains of Jaemka.' In vain we searched for the elusive pineapple grass fruit that is rumoured to taste of watermelon. A race across the plain saw me take a tumble and Jackie and Emily take line honours. Kate was official photographer (see todays pics), and Katrina had slowed to do some wombat spotting. Onwards to the Little Nive in mixed (that's code for cold, wet and windy) weather. Lunch huddled behind a bush wasn't enough to dodge the raindrops that dampened the sesame wheat biscuits and cheese. A check of the map and GPS sent us to the south east to hunt down a logging road for a shorter return walk. Emily and Jackie again navigated home but not quite accurately enough to win a hot lunch for tomorrow. Even the dashing 'Amazing Race' ending by Kate and Emily couldn't persuade the pie-giver (me). Andrew
Tropic Thunder
Conversations starting with a glowing devil that has affected the Earth's gravity, making humans unablke to walk, ended with a quite creative mockumentary. The group consisting of Takani, Sammi, Maddi, Laura and Sarah all managed to stew up a not so far fetched story for filming. The day was interrupted numerous times with rain which made it hard to film, but we all pulled through. A day filled with lots of laughs, conversations and hilarious actions ended well. Sarah
9 November 2011
Weather: Cloudy with light showers on and off.
Animal Sightings: Tassie devil. Wombat. Wolf Spider. Forest Raven. Possum. Rabbit. Whip Snakes x2. Leeches x2. Unidentified Grasshoppers x4. Lots of Skinks.
Highlights:
Discovering the Tassie devils using the motion detecting cameras. Maddi
Dressing up for the mocumentry. Emily
Finding out where the eucalypts are. Maddi
Walking through a shallow river when it was hot. Laura
Having a nap after a long tiring walk. Sam
Reaching the van, being able to take off gaiters and excess clothing, then later relaxing and having lunch. Sarah
Lowlights:
Finding out that we didn't have any lunch because we left it in the bus. Maddi
Being sick. Kate
Being whipped in the face by trees when walking. Laura
Being bitten by a spider on the tongue. Sarah
The Tropic Thunder Team
Laura, Sammi, Maddi, Takani and Sarah
Today most of us got up at approximately 7:30. The day started off with rain, as we went to check the cameras. On the cameras, we found evidence of Tasmanian Devils. After this we made our way to the Nive River via the Mini Bus. When we reached the coast line of the river, we then realised that we left our lunch on the bus. So we had to walk back to the bus to eat. After lunch we made our way back to camp.
Laura
Da Bush Babes Team
Phoebe, Kate, Jackie, and Emily
Today we made our Mocumentary, it was really fun. We started with all of the planning and coming up with the main idea over breakfast. This took us to lunch time, then all afternoon we filmed with Ninna. We added interesting and funny scenes into our Mocumentary. We also used the rare flower Hovea Montana. After everyone came back together, I (Emily) decided to conduct a scientific experiment with a leech that Maddi and Takani found. It stayed on my stomach for almost three hours!
Emily
8 November 2011
Weather: Hot and cold, hot and cold, hot and cold - welcome to Tasmania!
Animal sightings: Pademelon on motion detecting camera, wallaby x 5+, Common Froglet x 3, unidentified grasshopper (any ideas?).
Food: Porridge was the choice of the morning and for lunch we all munched into some salami crackers and avacado wraps. Cracked a cold coconut tonight for a different dessert
Highlights:
The awesome feeling of completing the days walk. Sammi
Finding skeletons on the walk. Pheobe
Enjoyed the walk and the peace and quiet. Sarah
The scenery and the exercise. Takani
Spotted the first animal (wallaby) and picked up a grasshopper. Kate
Seeing all the animals, walking and the scenery. Jackie
Going for a long walk through all the puddles. Laura
Walking. Maddi
Playing puddles with Andrew and learning how to use a compass and a map. Emily
Lowlights:
Mosqitoes. Sammi
Went into the water with my shoes on and they got all wet. Pheobe
The weather has been constantly changing. Sarah
Felt like it was never ending. Takani
Really sick and spent the afternoon in the tent. Kate
Mozzies. Jackie
Losing my shoe and not noticing. Laura
Having sore feet and dragging the dead carcas. Maddi
All the bugs. Emily
Report:
The main objective was to have a lovely stroll around Skullbone and arrive back to our campsite at 2pm. By having this stroll we got to know our surroundings and to try spotting the living and the dead. R.I.P to the animals that Laura, Emily and Maddi dragged back to camp by rope (to explain... we found 2 half rotten wallaby carcasses and dragged them 3km back to camp to lure a few tassie devils for tonights remote sensing cameras.).
We got a little relaxed a few times on our walk and didn't arrive back to our camp until 5pm. Kate was light headed and wasn't feeling her best, so set sail back to camp early. There were a few leeches hanging around. Jackie had one on her leg, but didn't notice until Katrina let her know about her little friend. There was another leech on the camera so Sammi started to tell everyone a fun fact, how they suck poison out of blood. Just as she said it she freaked out because there was one on her hand.
Andrew and Emily were picking puddles for each other to walk through, because who doesn't like to watch people to get their socks and shoes wet. Sammi's fun fact of the day- Mosquito repellent doesn't actually repel mosquitos, it just disguises your scent so they can't tell you are there. By Sammi and Phoebe
7 November 2011
Departure: 10am from Ogilvie
Arrival: 3pm at Skull Bone Plains
Weather: Leaving Hobart 23 -25 C
At Skullbone 'Stinking hot' and harsh sun
Animal sightings: Lots of flies, mozzies, bumble bees... and lots more to be discovered!
Food: We all cooked our own meals on Trangias. Most of us ate pasta and some of our dinners were garnished with bush insects.
Main objective: To discover a good camping ground, set up our tents, and organise all of our resources.
Report:
After trekking off the mini bus and shading our tired eyes from the burning hot sun we all just wanted to do one thing - sleep! After coming to the inconvienent realisation that this was not a possibility, we all threw the heavy backpacks on and began our journey of navigating the bushy place. When we finally arrived at our most convienant location we realised there was a much shorter, easier and less painful way of getting there. As we all moaned on our way back to the mini bus to pick up the rest of the supplies Katrina joyfully reminded us that if we hadn't come the first way, we wouldn't have appreciated the easier way (what a teacher thing to say).
After setting up camp, and settling into the Tasmanian environment we had other tasks to complete, such as find an appropriate place to place 'Steve' (the toilet), defending ourselves from the violent mozzies and flies, and setting up the sensor cameras and bat sound detectors and of course sunbathing.
Takani
Funded by an Innovative Flexible Education Grant