"There's a snake crawling out of our room," I announced as the green and red creature slowly slithered out of the tin shack we'd been asigned. We were spending the night in an outback sheep station as part of an organised tour travelling up the West coast of Australia. "It's head's thinner than it's body. I bet it's poisonous," I continued, repeating information I'd heard that day but still not really believing we'd see a dangerous snake, which is why I was only standing a couple of feet away from the thing.
A minute later, a small circle of people from our tour had gathered behind me, watching the snake. Then our guide came over and told us to run. We didn't. We just took a couple of steps back and kept watching, reaching for our cameras before he grabbed a rock and a stick and beat the beast to death. Which took some doing.
Our guide (a top bloke from Red Earth Safari who grew up in the outback and was only happy when we were stuck in the middle of nowhere) told us it was a Mulga snake. Pretty, yet highly venomous with "the largest recorded venom output of any snake," according to this website. There wasn't a house - let alone a hospital - around for miles and had it bitten one of us, we'd have been screwed. It was an excellent start to the evening.
During dinner we were joined by a huntsman spider, which is also (of course) highly lethal, but thankfully it's fangs aren't sharp enough to penetrate adult human skin. Why such small creatures pack enough venom to kill a horse when they only eat insects is beyond me.
After a few songs around the campfire we decided to sleep in the open air. With no light for miles around, the stars were brighter than I'd ever seen before.
Thursday, 27 January 2005
Wednesday, 19 January 2005
A quokka bit me!
It was 10 or so days back and Amy and I were trying hard to befriend one of the fat-arsed marsupials that live on Rottnest island (here's a cute, close-up photo of one). When a Dutch explorer discovered the island in 1696, he mistook the quokkas as king-sized rats, thus it's name, in English, 'rats nest'. So for us it was essential to track some down and coax them out for photographs.
It was all going fine until the little bugger bit my finger. No blood was drawn, but for a moment I thought that the 120 quid I shelled out for rabies jabs might have been worth it.
Where are we? We're currently staying in Coral Bay and settled here after a six-day tour up the west coast with an excellent local company called Red Earth Safaris. Coral Bay is small, with one hostel, a few shops, two cafes, a pub and a couple of restaurants. Today was the first day that it's been cool enough to lay in the sun on the beach - it's unbelievably hot here and reached 46C yesterday.
Yesterday we got up early to see reef sharks and sand sharks from the shore, before wading out to get close to them. It's perfectly safe, Mum - they're very timid and scatter at the slightest movement.
We haven't seen many computers, which is why the blog has become neglected, but we'll try and upload a few photos and write some more before we leave on Friday. Otherwise, just take it that we're having a good time and are too busy to write.
Watch out for the fangs!It was all going fine until the little bugger bit my finger. No blood was drawn, but for a moment I thought that the 120 quid I shelled out for rabies jabs might have been worth it.
Where are we? We're currently staying in Coral Bay and settled here after a six-day tour up the west coast with an excellent local company called Red Earth Safaris. Coral Bay is small, with one hostel, a few shops, two cafes, a pub and a couple of restaurants. Today was the first day that it's been cool enough to lay in the sun on the beach - it's unbelievably hot here and reached 46C yesterday.
Yesterday we got up early to see reef sharks and sand sharks from the shore, before wading out to get close to them. It's perfectly safe, Mum - they're very timid and scatter at the slightest movement.
We haven't seen many computers, which is why the blog has become neglected, but we'll try and upload a few photos and write some more before we leave on Friday. Otherwise, just take it that we're having a good time and are too busy to write.
