Camper Cruising in Victoria Part Two

Just like Oprah says, the things you want badly enough will come to you.  Sometimes that happens to me and whenever it does I usually thank Oprah/the universe.  In this case, I wanted more new observations and new techniques and I got them.  Actually, what I’m suspecting happened is you (mom) wanted to read about more new observations and new techniques so bad that Oprah/the universe graced us with the educational presence of pillars of science/the community Jim McNabb and Peter Southcott, respectively.  It all started when Adam almost fatally misread (almost referring to fatally, the misread part is a cold hard fact) the campsite map and we ended up at the supremely lovely Kurth Kiln campsite near Gembrook, just east of Melbourne.  During our stay there, the former and campsite caretaker and general wealth of information led us on a three-hour private impromptu guided nature walk of the immediate area surrounding our campsite.  This man knows everything there is to know about the flora and fauna of Australia and will gladly tell you everything there is to know about the flora and fauna of Australia as long as there’s time before bed.  I’ll give you the highlights of the information we absorbed that I can remember that are useful, and leave out the highlights of the information that have something to do with details on each of the 38 species of gumtrees and so on and so forth.  So, here’s one: you can crumple up a handful of eucalyptus leaves in your hand and rub the residue on your exposed skin and the bugs won’t bother you and you won’t get cancer (from the eucalyptus leaves).  That was a big one and I think it qualifies for both new obs. and new tech. categories.  Also, we learned that you can eat this certain type of grass that I don’t remember the name of but I’d know it if I saw it at the base before the color changes and it does not taste good (Mr. McNabb pulled a Crocodile Dundee on me here) but it will sustain you if you run out of food in the wilderness as well as keep you regular.  And much much more.  So moving on, as Oprah would have it, the latter, a fire tower watchman, chimney sweep, animal rights activist, vegetarian, and charming free spirit, hosted us in the fire tower one afternoon.  Aside from witnessing forest fire fighting in action and a good look at the best view of Victoria in Victoria, we got to hang out with Pete when he stopped by our campsite later that evening.  This was as exceptionally memorable a night as possible considering the circumstances, but to keep things on track here we’ll stick to the categories.  Flies have a right to life too and who are we to kill them (honest to Pete the one time I was quick enough to slap one dead/new technique=not killing flies in certain company) besides they teach us persistence (new observation).  So thank you Pete, and Oprah and Jim, for a magical and educational conclusion to the second leg of camper cruising around Victoria.