they cant all be gems...

so the survey continued...

i spent the remainder of my time in the field surveying. it was HOT! we hit over 103° F pretty much every day. remember how i was ranting about not wanting to get the pilbara tan? well, i got it. it looks like i have black gloves on and light brown sleeves. thank god my boyfriend lives on another continent and cant see how silly i look. such a spaz lol.

so the traditional owners are jokesters, and they asked me one afternoon if we have tomato sauce in america. i told them we do, but its called ketchup. i have no idea why, but they fell over laughing. ketchup was somehow funny. i attributed it to the heat. yeah, the next morning i see the fellas and holler over a "good morning!" and my response is "mornin ketchup!". i was called ketchup for four days. it might be the most odd nickname ive ever been given.

i kept asking them questions about the tracks i was seeing in the dirt and this is what i was taught:

• the thin narrow swiggly line with tiny feet marks is a goanna

• the thick straight line with feet marks that look like hooves is a kangaroo

• these circles are where the roo's sleep 

i was highly entertained. once you know what youre looking for, you can see tracks and signs of animal life EVERYWHERE! safe to say i geeked out for most of the day. the area we were surveying had lots of short low trees that were close together and i guess those are ideal conditions for giant freak-pie killer spiders of death. their webs stretch from tree to tree and if you arent looking up from the ground every other step, you run the risk of walking straight through a web. which i almost did. i seriously almost SHAT myself when i saw this spider about four inches in front of my face!

although now that i posted this photo, it really doesnt look all that impressive. but believe you me, it WAS! lol

we also encountered a few angry bulls. apparently they dont like it when you walk into their territory, disturb their children and beep at them with car horns. weird. but yeah, seeing a squillion pound bull make death curdling noises while stomping its front hoof into the ground while heavily snorting is a bit scary. the fellas kept teasing me, "hey ketchup, dem cheeky bulls they lika yellow and red tings". i was wearing a yellow shirt and had a red backpack. the look on my face mustve been pretty good, cause they the burst into laughter again. clifford told me, "nah dem got betta tings to do than git you ketchup. but if he do come over maybe run up dat tree". lol so there you have it...when in a situation where you could potentially get charged by a bull, best chance for safety = run up a tree (just make sure there isnt a killer spider in it lol)

there are some neat artifacts in the pilbara as well. this is a grinding stone (how'd you like to prep your dinner on this bad boy?)

this is a tula adze. they are made from the top portion of a broken lithic flake. they are used in wood working (think scraping wood for spears....)

and this is a blade. it might be my favorite type of artifact out here. besides being rad as hell, think of all the cool stuff that you could cut and stab with it!

we wrapped up the field session with a trip to the camp's wet mess. if you just read "wet mess" and thought i was talking about something dirty, i wasnt. its what they call the on-site pub. and let me tell you, pretty much nobody goes to the actual mess hall where eating happens, they go the wet mess where drinking happens. we got in on the action before things got rowdy. and i have to say, that first beer after working 10 days straight in the middle of the desert is DELICIOUS!

made it home safe and sound. currently loving my big bed and enjoying the freedom to waste time watching mindless rubbish on tv. big bang theory, its ridiculous but i love it.

everyday is one day closer till i come home to visit! miss everyone so much <3

29 days and counting....