We rendevouzed at Desley's cabin and before making our way to the woodlands we were given training by Alistair on how to use some of equipment in particular, a 2 way radio in case we became separated from the team or if there was an emergency. In addition we learnt how to use a GPS - Global Positioning Satellite - as we would use the GPS to mark trees of where Koala's were located and give the Koala a number for identification purposes. The GPS would also allow us to input where our accommodation at Bimbi park was in the case that we became lost. With all training under our belt our team set off the the days work.
We headed out to where our field work was to be based at which was approx. a 5 minute walk from our accommodation. Once we had reached our site we made a base camp where we would leave our equipment, backpacks etc whilst we commenced our tracking. The area we were to work in was comprised of Manna Gum Trees and our ojective today was to cover approx. 1 hectare of ground looking for Koala's. This required to stop at each manna gum looking for Koala's.
We separated into 3 groups and once we located a Koala in a tree we tied a piece of blue tape around the tree, we wrote the number of each of the koala's we had located on the blue tape. We used the GPS to Register/Mark the Koala's satellite position ie K1 Sat No. K1 and the satellite location of the tree that the Koala was in - transalation Koala number 1 satellite positon number 1 followed by satellite location.
Whilst tracking for the koala's we noticed that some of the Koala's had previously been ear tagged. A coloured tag in the right ear would identify a female Koala and a coloured tag in the left ear would identify a male Koala. At times depending on where the Koala was in the tree it was difficult to see whether or not the Koala had an ear tag so we would use our binoculars to validate this.
We stopped for morning tea and lunch and we were feeling quite tired from all the walking that was required in an environment that was thickly vegetated (esspecially bracken) made walking difficult. We needed to make sure that we were kept hydrated which meant carrying water with us at all times.
Some of the insects that we were exposed to were the common bush tick, stinging ants, centipedes, bees, wasps and mosquitoes. Off all the insects the mosquitoes were the worst of all. They were everywhere and we needed a very had a strong repellent to keep them away. They saw us as fresh meat and at every opportunity they would try to bite us, I have never seen so many at any one time in one place.
By the end of the day we had located and logged approx. 18 Koala's and we called it a day. We went back to our cabin for some rest and relaxation after a long a exhausting day. We cooked Taco's for dinner which was great and we all listened with enthusiasm the discussion with both Desley and Alistair about what the following day would involve and what equipment we would require. The next day was going to be really hands on and would be very challenging.
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