Trail Log 1995-1997 - Lamar at Colorado State University

Eucalyptus trees here are often dead or dying in the open fields, and there is a mysterious
Eucalyptus dieback, not well understood. Some say a pesticide affects bird eggs and the birds
don't eat the insects that damage the trees. Others say the dieback is natural and cyclic.
The University of New England has 4,000 "internal" students and as many "external" students
(correspondence students) who come in for two weeks when the internal students are on holiday.
July 22, Monday. Breakfast at the B&B. Drove to the University of New England, on edge of town.
Phoned Canberra from a phone booth out in the cold. Brief visit to the library.
Seminar at 11.00 a.m. Drew Khlentzos, the main host, very cordial. Tony Lynch, young, recent
Ph.D., now teaching environmental ethics here, since Robert Elliot and William Gray have left. The
Dean of Natural Sciences was at the seminar. Others from ecosystem science. Lunch afterward.
Fred D'Agostino at lunch. He is a U.S. Citizen, has been here 25 years. He wrote "Transcendence
and Conversation: Two Conceptions of Objectivity," American Philosophical Quarterly, April 1993,
on hand. The Chair is P. Forrest, whom I did not meet.
We left about 2.15, drove to Uralla, then Tamworth (bought gas), then Gunnedah (groceries for
supper), leaving there about 5.00 and driving south into the dark. One wallaby jumping across the
road. Rosellas. Galahs. We were uncertain about what kind of motel we might find, but we found
a very decent one at Coolah.
July 23, Tuesday. Left at 6.00 a.m., still dark, heading South. Frosty car, but, fortunately, the motel
keeper had covered the windshield. Roosters were crowing in the dark morning, a not uncommon
sound in these towns. We drove south to Gulgong. Two kangaroos in a field, running, in the early
morning light. Later, between Gulgong and Wellington, three rabbits in open brush and trees, like
cottontails. Then 21 kangaroos on a hillside. We watched them in the early morning sun quite a
while. I made them out to be Eastern Grey Kangaroos. They were various sizes, but the largest
were quite good sized, 1 ½ meters head and body, with 1 meter tail or more. They are a lighter
color than the wallabies. Nice sight.
Gas in Canowindra. One more kangaroo in a field. Many sheep, and now the fields can be quite
green with barley, or something that looks like a turnip. The sheep in these fields are in some
contrast to the sheep seen earlier in dry brown fields in the Armidale region.
Galahs in a park/golf course area in Cowra, perhaps a hundred of them, first on the ground (took
picture) and later up in trees (more pictures). Magpies. Parrots, some all green color. A falcon,
like a kestrel.
Lunch in Boorowa, in a café, and visited a men's store with curved counters, of which they were
quite proud. On to Canberra, reaching there about 3.30 p.m. Checked into University House,
Australian National University.
July 24, Wednesday. Spent day in Canberra. Jane did wash in the morning. We walked to the
bookstore at ANU. Lunch in University House in the room.
In the afternoon, we visited Parliament House. A magpie stole the diplomat's lunch on the patio!
Later, visited the Botanical Gardens, with a reconstructed rainforest. Rock gardens. Wattles nicely
in bloom. Scribbley gum. We had an excellent and enthusiastic volunteer guide, who had been
with CSIRO for his career, now retired.