Wildlife count

Mosquitoes:
Today I was bitten all over the neck and elbows by a creepy looking mosquito. They are not normal the insects up here. When I finally slapped it, it squished up some good looking red blood, my juices. ick. Hope it didn’t get me on the eye or the forehead like the other day. Some unearthly beastie chewed on my flesh, so I ended up looking grossly deformed, with a bulging forehead and eye. Two bites to the face and I looked like a candidate for the circus sideshow.

Frog:
A massive green frog blobbed like a lump of porcelain on my kitchen bench last night. It had no intention of going anywhere. It just lifted its foot while I moved my papers away from it to the other side of the bench. Now I know what has been knocking things down from the top shelf at night. That green hopper. Big as my fist it was.

It looked like THIS: (but no spots).

Spider:
In the sink this morning. I’m sorry – it had to go – it’s war here. The ants found it and made it their lunch and dinner.

Sleepless in Darwin

Well that was a sleepless night! And I say that as I squash ants that crawl across my trusty Mac laptop, writing my journal. It wasn’t the heat or the rain that kept me awake last night, or dreams of crocodiles (which happened the night before), no it was the frogs carrying on all night in the backyard. They are quiet now of course, now that the day is here and I am supposed to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed leaping out of bed for work.

But on the positive side, I think I have won the battle with the ants and giant cockroaches that partied in my pantry while I was away for a month. Had to throw out half the contents of the cupboard. Everything that wasn’t in a really really really tightly sealed plastic container went into the bin. Those cockroaches, I tell you, they lean on the sides of a jar of mango chutney or a tin of beetroot, their arrogant wavy feelers pointing at me, and say, well, what you going to do about me, eh? They even crunched holes in some of the plastic bags to find what they wanted. So out it all went: rice, cornflour, cereal, chips, biscuits, pasta. You name it, they munched it, pooed in it or bred in it. There are still some cockroaches and a colony of Daddy Long Legs in the bathroom to be dealt with, but they can wait.

The mildew removal is another matter. I have four pairs of shoes to either clean up or send to the tip: they are no good as they are, all furry with green organisms. And I had to throw out one mildew coatedpillow from the bedroom, the other three remaining ones will probably be okay with a turn in the washing machine. Two survived the process last night anyway; let’s see if the third makes it today. (Go AWAY ants. . . creeping over my screen while I type . . . they are a real nuisance . . there’s no food in there, only zeros and ones – 0101010101010101010101000001111.) Ah well, off to work in my thongs, through the puddles . . .

Captain’s Log

Star date 18042009. Three months out from our exit point and we are steering steadily towards the Dry Season. Most days are still damp and sticky, and strong downpours continue, but the occasional cooler, dry day promises a change in future weather patterns. Easter was eventful, a camping trip to Kakadu proved a test of endurance and required management of continual onslaught from enemy insects. While our stocks of ammunition were high – Aeroguard and Rid – they proved only a temporary deterrent to invasion. Constant vigilance is required in these climes to ensure the application of the ammunition to the body at all times, to ensure that one returns to civilization with skin intact.

Surprisingly, back at the town encampment in Darwin, an unexpected freeloading army of green ants was observed swarming over the motorcar yesterday – apparently they were ready to eat the metallic paint. Although I have been told that they prefer the electrical connections in the engine. Excessive ant invasion may cause the vehicle to be immobilized. I will keep watch over our vital equipment for the next few days.

We continue to battle the abundance of wildlife here and aim to set a course of ecological sustainability. However the odds are stacked against us at present. Insect populations will continue to be monitored on a daily basis.