Every day I walk along the river, there are signs everywhere warning of snakes. But I know from experience that if I stay on the walking path I will be fine. Of course the snakes don't read the signs and sometimes they rudely decide to sun themselves plonk in the middle of MY walking path. This is quite an inconvenience as I am then forced to walk around the snake. Remember. I just finished saying that I will be fine so long as I keep to the path. Well...
Quite a few years ago, not one but two snakes decided quite rudely to sun themselves in the middle of MY path. Everyone who was walking along the path at the time had stopped as they could see no way around the snakes. But being younger and more crazy than I am now (if you can believe that), I didn't give a moments thought nor hesitation as I rode off the path and around the snakes, clearing the last one by a good 30 centimetres. I was feeling very pleased with myself as I hadn't missed a pedal push and was keeping up my very comfortable pace.
Just as I was about to gloat to myself as I was almost, but not quite past the second snake... I saw them, the third and fourth snakes, and there was nothing I could do about it. There was nowhere else for me to go. On my left was the path and the two very large tiger snakes sunning themselves and to my right was a dense clump of very tall two metre high reeds on the bank of the river. There was nothing for me to do but to ride my bike right over the top of these two smaller tiger snakes in the unmown grass immediately in front of me.
Letting out an ear piercing scream I ran right over the snakes. Please note that all this happened in an instant. The first one didn't move, I think it was in shock that I had fearlessly had the nerve (stupidity) to ride over it. The second one however, was not as pleasant as the first and was much longer than its friend. As I rode over it, right through it's middle, it reared up over a foot into the air. Now remember, I was on a push bike and I was pedalling like a mad woman.
As the snake reared up, my left foot was pedalling down. My quick thinking and miraculous speed saved me (it was instinct, but don't tell anyone) from its deadly venomous bite. I threw both legs into the air practically above my head, increased the ear piercing scream to a spine tingling horrified roar that is remembered to this day as the scariest thing my husband has ever heard in his life, and watched the snake miss my ankle by millimetres, as I continued on my way.
I didn't look back, I didn't slow down. Nothing anyone yelled to me could get me to stop pedalling that bike. I think I broke the record that day in travelling around that river. I never stopped until I had gotten to a carpark a few kilometres away where I knew I would be safe.
That was my first personal encounter with a snake but it was not to be my last.
A few years later, whilst walking up a mountain trail in Warburton, Victoria (the closest mountain to Melbourne that actually has snow in winter, well just a sprinkling, but it's still snow). I was tired and bored and couldn't (be bothered), walking up yet another mountain just to turn around and walk all the way back down again. We happened to come across a comfy flat rock in a lovely shaded area beside the track and I declared, 'I'm waiting here for you guys to get back, I can't make it to the top today'. After a little grumpiness, it was decided that I would be safe here and the others went on without me.
I had a lovely time sitting there watching all the crazy hikers walk by me. I smiled politely shared a few niceties and got lost in daydreams as I waited for my hiking party to return.
Eventually I could hear them coming but had decided not to jump up but to wait for them to come to me, no point in exerting myself if I didn't have to, I thought to myself, so I waited for them to arrive.
Strangely as they arrived they all stopped talking and smiling and walked right on past me. Now this puzzled me and I was trying to figure out what was happening and was just about to shout out to them when my husband, who stayed back while everyone else continued past me, walked up to me. He said the strangest thing in the strangest voice as he approached me.
'Don't move, stay where you are until I get to you, I am going to take your arm and walk you over to the others, don't say a word and stay calm'. Well I had no idea what he was talking about, what a crazy he is today I was thinking to myself. Sure enough he walked over, grabbed my arm, helped me up and walked me quietly and calmly over to the others who by this time had stopped walking a little further down the track.
I was still confused when we had reached the others and finally blurted out 'what on earth was that about?'. As if on cue, with grim faces, they all pointed back over to the rock I had just been sitting on for the last 30 minutes. I followed their pointing fingers until my gaze fixed itself on that rock. To my horror while I had been sitting there a huge brown snake lay sleeping curled up in a huge coil. I was later told it was an Australian copperhead snake.
It took quite a few minutes to sink in, but once that scene in front of my eyes reached my brain, I let out a small involuntary gasp and ran down that hill so fast that the others couldn't catch me. They were laughing and laughing at me because the danger was past once I had left the rock. But once again, nothing was going to stop me running until I had reached the safety of the carpark.
All this brings me to a few days ago and my trip to Anakie Gorge. Apparently I had been there years ago, but I don't remember, mountains all look the same to me, if you have seen one mountain, you have seen them all. Anyway I did have to get my 'one photo a day photo' so I agreed to claim another boring mountain. Well actually I agree to climb half of the boring mountain (yes I know its a gorge, but anything you have to climb is a mountain to me).
Because of the floods that had swept through the area only a week or so earlier, the little Stony creek had lots of water in it and the whole area was very wet. It was nice enough I guess but I really wasn't in the mood for bush walking, so I barely took a photo. On the way down the gorge though, we stumbled across some excitement.
A man was standing beside something just off the path and appeared to be directing people around the obstacle. As we strained to see what the obstacle was, my husband calls out to me that he is sure it is a snake. I was thinking, gosh if that is a snake, it was a huge one. I didn't take my eyes off that black mass as we walked closer and closer, and I turned my camera on just in case the mass decided to 'run away'.
As we approach we can see that, sure enough, it was a huge red-bellied black snake, i mean humongous red-bellied black snake and to my surprise I was not scared at all. I was fascinated and had my camera poised to snap the perfect photo (or 50).
My husband told me not to get too close if I must take a photo (yes I must), and the man was busy telling the growing crowd of people that this is a red-bellied black snake, it is venomous and it will kill you if you try to pick it up. I stop what I am doing and look at him for the first time to make an involuntary face at him, I mean, yeah right, how many people would be dumb enough to try to pick that thing up. We are taught from childhood never to go near or try to kill a snake, silly man. Then I got back to business, taking photos of the snake. It was wide awake and just laying there in kind of a tangle sunning itself. It was obviously getting lots of food because it was so fat.
People started emerging from everywhere and we both thought better of hanging around as that man was bound to scare that snake at any moment. It was turning into a tourist attraction and I didn't really want to be near it when it started moving, so we walked off back down the track to the bottom of the gorge.
At Anakie Gorge a few days ago
I have seen lots of other snakes fleetingly as I walk along my merry way and we have even had the odd tiger snake slither up from the river along the street outside our house. Snakes are a part of the environment here in Australia and are actually protected for some crazy reason. I don't have to like them but I do have a respect for them. I think of my friends in Europe or Canada who can romp through tall grass or have picnics where ever their hearts desire without having the worry of snakes jumping out to bite them. Or crocodiles for that matter.
I have another amazingly dumb story of setting up a picnic beside a lovely river in Bunderberg Queensland only to be told by someone stopping in a car yelling at us to 'read the bloody sign and get back in your car', but that is another story.
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