Miles was more comfortable at the Uluru colony than most people would be. As a jackrabbit, he was more adapted to the desert, particularly with his ears radiating away excess heat. But the Uluru colony was only one half of Animalia's presence in Australia. Now it was time for Miles to visit the other half: Northland.
Fortunately, there was plenty enough flat land around Uluru for a bush pilot to land and take off and soon Miles was heading north. They flew northeast up into Queensland before heading further north. The Northland colony was settled on the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula, The town was built to be as less intrusive in the mostly pristine land as possible. Though a few farmers complained about having less grazing land for their cattle, it was never anything serious.
The climate in Northland couldn't be less different from the one in Uluru. Being next to the ocean and in an area where there were tropical rainforests, humidity was very high, though not unbearably so. The tradeoff was that the soil around Northland is rather poor and of no real use for raising crops, hence why the peninsula was so sparsely settled and used more for raising cattle. Still, there was always the option for trading for food.
Miles looked at the coastal town and said, "Well, I can certainly see why the non-desert-dwelling Animalians would want to live here. Though I don't know why Tik-Tok wouldn't want to move here."
"Cause he's a bachelor, mate," said Larry, who had accompanied Miles back, "All his friends live down south and he's comfortable enough with them to not wanna roam. But sooner or later, I think he'll meet the right sheila to settle down with and they'll probably move up to where it's better for salties. Or his instincts will eventually make him wanna move. Whichever comes first."
"And what about you?" asked Miles, "Are you looking for a mate?"
"Eh, been a bit busy with getting this colony set up," said Larry, "It gets hard to work during the monsoon season."
"They have monsoons?" asked Miles.
"From November to April," said Larry, "You're lucky enough to be here during one of the dry spells."
"Huh, too bad you can't take some of this rain into the interior of Australia," said Miles.
"Well, that'd be the mountains' faults, making most of the rain fall on the coast instead of further in. But life still goes on," said Larry.
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While Northland is mostly a residential area, there is still some space reserved for a Horizon Labs site. The lab wasn't just there to study the uplifted versions of Australia's unique fauna, but to prepare for even stranger creatures. Ben and Tyree were quite happy to fill Miles in on that.
"So you're not focused on creating more thylacines right now," said Miles.
"Well, not by converting people. At least for right now," said Ben.
"Maybe when the kids are a little older," said Tyree, "But if other couples want to become Tasmanian tigers, that's their own business."
"By the way, congratulations on your joeys? Kits? Pups?" Miles wasn't sure what the right term was.
"Just 'kids' will be fine," said Tyree.
"Well, Animalia Ambassadoria would have done a segment on them years ago, but-" stared Miles.
"We know, other colonies had higher priorities. Also, the pandemic kept people from traveling," said Ben.
"Ok, so besides thylacines, what else were you planning on doing here?" asked Miles.
"We're looking at animals that went extinct far longer ago than the thylacine," said Tyree.
"Are we talking dinosaurs or ice age creatures?" asked Miles.
"Both, actually," said Ben, "Australia had some unique species even way back in the Pleistocene and the Mesazoic eras."
"Could we have a few examples?" asked Miles.
"Well, there are Diprotodon, a gigantic relative of the wombat and koala which might have inspired the bunyip legend and Thylacoleo, the marsupial lion which might have inspired the drop bear legend," said Ben.
"I thought the drop bears were invented to scare tourists," said Miles.
"People didn't know how accurate they were," said Tyree with a shrug.
"Then there are the birds and reptiles," said Ben, "Like the thunder bird and the megalania."
"And what about dinosaurs?" asked Miles.
"That's still a work in progress," said Ben, "They probably won't unveiled until that new Dinosaur City is built in Colorado."
"Well, there will be plenty of time for that," said Miles, "Though the Pleistocene Animalians would probably gain a lot of attention themselves."