I remember pushing myself to appreciate the little things I had been doing so many times for the past three months, just knowing that I will never live this experience again. I would be walking across the study area, just like I had been doing on a daily basis for hours on end. But it still somewhat managed to feel special. I was looking at kangaroos differently during those last two weeks, appreciating them almost as much as when I saw them for the first time. They do look like deer, when you squint your eyes and turn your head sideways a little! They are so special. What did evolution do to them? Why was this species so strange, yet so adapted to its environment? Sometimes, I would stand in awe before the many unique features that kangaroos and their relative marsupials display. Nature will never stop amazing me, that is for sure!
On the last couple of days before driving back to Canberra, a friend of mine visited the study area. That gave me an excuse to do everything one last time. From a night outing, to taking one last capture of a young subadult, as well as visiting different meadows outside the study area where other kangaroos are found at times-- I was taking it all in before my time in Australia ended!
I am always so happy to show and talk about my work, so these couple of days could not have been better to close the field season. It felt so special to finish this amazing experience, in which I learned so much, by teaching my friends all about it.
Driving back to our field station where all of our stuff was, I did not realize it was the very last time I would be driving towards Tidal River. This drive along the coast of the Bass Strait has several elevated points from which you can recognize the Great Glennie Island in the horizon.
