The Hills are Alive.... with the Sound of Frigid Wind & Magpies

Two weeks ago, we headed up to the "Australian Alps". True to the naming scheme I've noticed in the bird guide (e.g. Australian oystercatcher, Australian magpie, Australian white ibis, etc.), it means it's just like the other version, except Australian. Well... sort of. OK, they're a little shorter, and have a little less permanent snow on top, but still! They're mountains, and in Australia... so that's something!

I'm just kidding. In all honesty, the "bogong high plains" were absolutely breathtaking, as you can see by my enthusiastic use of panoramic shots framing this post. We were up there helping out with a long term global nutrient study. Not a shabby place for a field site...

We spent the afternoon making notes about measurements of willow growth, and then stretched out hundreds of meters of neon string to mark the grids we would 'treat' with various cocktails of nutrients. The next day, we spent a chilly and foggy morning sprinkling little whitish pellets evenly over about 500 sq meters of earth. I felt like a tiny elf decorating a giant birthday cake. But as we finished up, the cloud were blown away, and we were treated to a beautiful sunny afternoon. Saw a kestrel seemingly floating on the wind, and watched some pelicans (Australian, mind you) hanging out on the reservoir.

The most beautiful part about the high plains is simply the peacefulness of it all. No large animals venture up into that habitat (and few people outside of ski season). The deer and roos stay further down the mountain in the lusher vegetation of the gullies. The only things flitting about were a few robins and lots of ravens and magpies. Just quiet and space.

Two things I did NOT expect to see:

1) --> Gwen in waist deep snow! OK, well, next to waist deep snow.

2) <-- Daffodils! Strange... we couldn't decide if a few bulbs had rolled out the back of some truck driving past, or if these were the potentially invasive kind that actually seed out. Might have to wait til next spring to find out :/

Regardless, I'm happy I made my way up to the hills. Not a view I'd like too soon forget.

Australian vocab:

schoolie: a recent secondary school graduate, one who is celebrating their freedom (in the US, the equivalent would be 'beach weekers')
toolie: some one who is no longer in school, but feels the need to hang out with recent graduates to steal their fun (a.k.a. creepy douche-bag)
For examples see: this news article or this one, or google it for yourself