Monday 23 November 2015

My date with a Taipan - The world's most venmous land snake...

Disclaimer: I have forgotten how to spell.

So after years of hard work I finally fulfilled my goal and made it Down Under (NB. Australians do not refer to the UK as 'Up Above' - I have asked). So I have been meaning to blog in the just over three weeks I have been here but I lacked inspiration, that is until my date with a Taipan - the most venomous land snake in the world. Yes that is right, sky diving, bunjee jumping, scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef and many more adventerous activties failed to inspire me.

So before I venture into the details of my date I feel it nesseccery to inform you all of my current location - this of course is to make you all well jel. So on this standard Tuesday in November, I am currently sun bathing (in Australia they call it baking) by the pool in my hostel on Magnetic Island, QLD. It is super hot, so hot in fact, that I am dripping sweat. This is odd because in November you are meant to be wet from rain not sweat. Never have I ever felt more sexy. So scene set, let's get back to my date.

One who has travelled the East Coast knows one gets a Premier or Greyhound hop on - hop off bus pass. Not me though, I got a Loka hop on - hop off bus pass. They don't take you directly from A to B. They take you A to B via C. On Sunday I made my first Loka journey, Cairns to Magnetic Island via a night at an indgenious camp in Tully Gorge National Park.

The camp was fun, we went for a walk through the rainforst, swam in a lovely creek (though not as good as the creek in the middle of the Daintree Rainforst were I sat alone for hours reading), learnt about indgenious food and plants, ate dinner wrapped in wild ginger leaves and went to sleep. It all seemed pretty calm and collected.

But... at 1am I awoke really needing a wee. So off I head to the loo (a long drop) with nothing but my phone for light. I make it half way to the loo when I see something slither, and before I know it I am face to face with a Taipan - the world's most venomous land snake. Normally I don't mind a good snake. But one bite from a Taipan  and you are dead in 20 minutes. We were 40 minutes away from the nearest hospital. So of course I do what is only natural and leg it back to the tent. I could have given Usain Bolt a run for his money. Having got back to the tent and tried going back to sleep, but couldn't because I really needed a wee. So I had to face my fears (not that I am scared of snakes) and I ran like the wind to the loo and back. Luckily, no more snakes were seen.

However, all the fun and games did not end there. 2 hours later, around 3am everyone has awoken by an unaccepted noise and the tents collapsing. As it turned out, it had rained so much the tents had collapsed under the weight of rain water. Only took about half an hour  or so to put them up again and make sure the rain was kept out. It is all fun and games in the rainforst.

Our train was also delayed for an hour due to Bush fire, but it was all good because we could watch Pitch Perfect 2 on the train.

So, I think I will leave it there for now and go have a nice cold glass of over priced coke. All I can say is, those planning on doing the East Coast, travel with Loka.

Until Next Time

XOXO
Aussie Snake Girl