It's almost winter break!

So since beer prices are so high the great alternative that we came up with is brewing beer at home! (ha and some of you were thinking we would stop drinking). Well our first batch was a simple lager and it came out really good surprisingly. The next beer that we brewed was closer to a hoppy red and now that it has matured a little longer it tastes pretty good. Fermenting right is our first hef. Hopefully that one will be great also because they really don’t have many wheat beers here. So if anyone comes and visits we might have some tasty homebrew waiting for you.
For our spring/fall break Crystal and I each went on field trips that were completely different. For my trip we headed out to Morrinya which is in the outback. We were there for four days and did eliot traps, pit falls, mist nettings, night spotting and just general catching of reptiles, birds and frogs. I must say that it was a great field trip. We caught tons of geckos, skinks, and dragons. My favorite so far is the pebble mimicking dragon. It is really tiny and blends in with rocks, when it sees a predator is bunches up and pretends it’s a pebble. It is the damn cutest lizard though. On the last day I talked to a few teachers about switching to a research masters and it looks like they approved of my idea. So im not sure when but soon I will switch and start working with goannas which im really looking forward to. When I got home I went and visited a bat rescue house owned by Dominique. She showed me all the fruit bats she was taking care of at the moment, these included the black flying fox and the smaller red flying fox. To top it off she showed me a new animals that was brought to her, a tube nose bat. The picture does not do it justice, it is the weirdest animal. The wings have green in them to simulate veins on leaves and the face is a cross between an old man and a werewolf. A very unique and seldom seen bat that I want to get more pics of.
Crystal went out to Orpheus Island where she was in the water the whole time measuring corals and fish and having a blast. She got a job being a ref for volleyball, it doesn’t pay handsomely but it seems to be a fun job that is flexible around school.
This weekend we went out to magnetic island to relax a little before the huge amount of work that is about to be due. We only have a few weeks of class left. The island was great, very different from the mainland and closer than Catalina. We must have hiked a total of 15 km during the weekend. We got to swim on some remote beaches and even saw some koalas. One hike ended us at the top of a peak where the army built gun stations and lookout towers during WWII, so that was neat to see, and it had a great view.
Well its crunch time with all of our projects getting due and finals around the corner, so we really aren’t going to leave the house for the next two weeks (except to play volleyball which we are now 4th place with finals coming up).
Take care everyone
Scott and Crystal

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