I haven’t written in my journal in two weeks! How can that be? I think I can sum up that time with one simple phrase…car troubles. After deciding that none of the local mechanics can be trusted, I had the RACQ jump my van and I drove it to Brisbane where for a 12 pack and about $90 for parts, the L300 was purring like a kitten thanks to the Richards’ youngest son, Alex. That was last weekend. This weekend I thought I was up for a repeat performance when Friday morning the van decided we’d have a long weekend. I had no problem calling in sick from the zoo since I’m essentially paying a lot of money to work for them. RACQ came out again, and this time had good news. One of the connections to a spark plug had wiggled its way loose. He tightened it up and it’s running great again! Not only that but he (like all the other mechanics in town) said he knows the van and it’s previous owner, and the engine looks “100 times better” than it did in the past. As the RACQ man was taking a look at the engine, and I was peaking over his shoulder, something substantial in size crash-landed on my foot. I looked down to discover a 4 inch long locust perched there looking back up at me! What happened next probably was quite scary from the locust’s standpoint, and most likely a little weird from the mechanic’s. At one moment I was chatting away about the van’s new parts, and the next I was hopping around the gravel car park cupping my hands over the ground, even at one time cupping my hands over the mechanic’s foot to try to capture the jittery jumper! After eventually chasing the thing into a nearby bush, I snapped back into reality, where the mechanic had finished up and was waiting for me to sign some paperwork. Now I’m not one to give up, especially when there are really big insects involved. When the mechanic had driven just out of site I jumped into the bushes, practically ripping vegitation out of the ground, and emerged with my locust forcefully kicking his powerful, spiky hind legs into my fingers.
Besides the van troubles, everything else has been going pretty well. The zoo is hard work, but worth it! One day this week the Prime Minister of Australia (John Howard), the Dixie Chicks and the All Blacks under 18 team came to visit the zoo. With all the celebrity around, Steve Irwin himself actually fed the crocodiles during the croc demo! Yah know, they make the volunteers go to two croc demos a day, but let me tell you there’s nothing like seeing Steve do a demo himself. It just so happened to be pouring rain that day too, so the rain, Steve taking the Dixie Chicks into the croc enclosure, & the hordes of people trying to get a good look, really livened things up!
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