Koalas, Finally

On Tuesday, we visited Kuranda, a small mountain village about 25 km outside of Cairns in the Rainforest. We took a SkyLine cable car to reach the village. While there, we visited Koala Gardens, a place where you can actually hold a Koala. Harmony got her picture taken with one -- they are such cute animals. We also saw some Kangaroos, Wallabys, a few snakes, and some lizards. After visiting the village, we took the scenic railway down the mountain. It was a nice day in the rainforest.

Australia's Tropical Rainforest

On Monday, we took a tour of the tropical Rainforest in the Atherton Tablelands outside Cairns. Wait-a-While was the tour operator. Our guide, Clayton, picked us up at 2 PM, and we drove for about an hour and a half until we reached Lake Barrine, one of the Crater Lakes in the Tablelands. As we drove from Cairns, Clayton explained the difference between the "bush" and the rainforest. When we reached the rainforest, you could visibly tell tell the difference. We had tea and scones at the Lake and then took a short walk. We drove around the Tablelands, saw a huge Weeping Fig tree, and made our way to the other Crater Lake, Eacham. During the daytime, we saw many Wallaby and over 30 different species of birds. We had a nice dinner and then the real animal spotting began, at night with spotlights. We saw 5 different types of possum, a small Kangaroo, and even a "duck billed" platypus.

This is a Cathedral Fig Tree.
Ben's dad took these pictures during the night portion of the tour.

The Great Barrier Reef - Day 1

On Sunday, I went SCUBA diving with Ben and his brother Pete. Harmony and Ben's mom and dad came along and snorkeled. We went with Tusa Dive Compay. They picked us up at 7AM at our resort, Kewarra, and took us to the docks at Cairns. We boarded a boat with about 20+ other people and proceeded about 90 minutes off the coast of Cairns to Briggs' Reef, on the Outer Great Barrier Reef. During the trip, we saw several Humpback Whales blowing air in the distance. I never actually saw one jump out of the water, but some people who saw them earlier than I did said one jumped several meters in the air. During the first dive, I was a little nervous since it has been over a year and a half since I last dove. After I calmed down and relaxed a bit, I remembered why I enjoy diving so much. The visibility was amazing, the coral was beautiful, and we saw many different types of fish. There was a large wall of coral that dropped about 60 feet. We spent some time along this wall, but the current was a little strong so we moved to shallower waters. During this first dive, the only larger thing we saw was a Green Sea Turtle. After the first dive, we had a nice lunch and moved the boat to a different side of this reef. The second dive was awesome. We saw 2 Whitetip Reef Sharks and the head of a large Octupus that was hiding in some rocks. We must have watched the reef sharks for a good 5 minutes. They were about 4-5 feet long and were just swimming around in circles. Both dives only lasted about 30-35 minutes as I managed to suck down all my air rather quickly. I am hopeful that I can control that better in the coming days. On the ride back, we came pretty close to another Humpback Whale. He did not jump out of the water but did show more of his body than the previous whales. The weather was wonderful -- we could not have asked for better. All in all, it was a great day! I'll try to post some pictures of this dive when I get the chance.

IAS Conference Presentation in Sydney

I presented an analysis entitled "Simple assessments of adherence to antiretorviral therapy predict virologic failure in HIV+ patients in Lusaka, Zambia" this afternoon at the 4th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention. You can see the actual presentation via this link to the webcast. Here are a few pictures...

Safari Time

Monday and Tuesday were Zambian Holidays (Heroes Day and Unity Day), so Ben, Harmony, Hayden, and I took a trip to South Luangwa National Park for a safari. We stayed at Nsolo, an all-inclusive bushcamp run by Norman Carr Safaris. The bushcamp was located about 30 km inside the park next to a riverbed in the shade of a large grove of trees. We were in the middle of nowhere, and it was a very relaxing.
Here we are on the last day. From left to right, our guide, Simon, yours truly, Hayden, Ben and Harmony.
On the morning of the second day, we spotted 4 female lions tracking prey. We watched them for at least 45 minutes. During this time, they went after 2 warthogs but were unable to catch them. It was exciting nonetheless.
More of the lions.A giraffe.
On the evening of the second day, we did a game walk. You can't really tell from this picture, but there are Zebra, Impala, Warthogs, Cape Buffalo, and even a few Elephants in the background.
Here are some of the Zebra from the walking safari.
This is our chalet on the bank of the riverbed as we return from the walking safari around dusk.
When we got back, a family of 4 elephants were feeding just outside of the chalet. We watched them for a good 45 minutes. You can't tell from this picture, but one was a baby less than a year old. It was an amazing watching them from the deck of the chalet.
I love Kudu. Actually, I have only ever seen one other live male Kudu, and I saw it from a long distance away. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the antlers of a Kudu are beautiful. They spiral out from the base and are fairly long.
Lastly, we saw many Hippo. I'm not a huge fan of the Hippo, but other people seem to like them, so I'm posting this picture. We also saw Crocodiles, Owls, Elephant Shrew, Scrub Hares, a Mongoose, Buzzards, a Fish Eagle, Impala, Puku, and many more. Sadly, we did not spot a Leopard.

I'll post more pictures when Ben develops his film.

Happy Independence Day!

Here are a few of Ben's pictures taken with his fancy camera.