Out the Back of the Hand: Are You Sure?

Ever heard the song "Are You Sure?" by Willie Nelson? It goes a little something like this:

Oh, look around you
Look down the bar from you
The lonely faces that you see
Are you sure that this is where you want to be?
These are your friends
But are they real friends
Do they love you the same as me
Are you sure that this is where you want to be?

It just about sums up where I was at a few days ago. At the Tav the previous Friday afternoon I just wasn't feeling happy. Even at Cindy's party I just wasn't there. I was going through the motions, not really enjoying life, and not sure as to which direction I was headed. Was Environmental Biology really for me?... I was stupid to question it!

On Tuesday night the students of Vertebrate Animals 202 (me included) went out to Harry Waring Marsupial Reserve, just south of Perth, to study some of the native wildlife. It was ten and a half hours of searching for reptiles, catching birds, and trapping, tagging and releasing marsupials. For me, it was ten and a half hours of pure enjoyment.

It was probably about 12am and five degrees when it happened. I was walking though thick bushland with my close mate Kenny, having just captured, tagged and released a female bandicoot carrying two tiny pink babies in it's pouch. I had been out in the wilderness for nine and a half hours, yet I didn't feel tired, nor cold. I felt so at home, so comfortable doing what I was doing. It was at that moment when I realised that this was what I wanted to be doing for the rest of my life. This was exactly where I wanted to be.