22. Snakes Alive

In an earlier blog post I mentioned that my daughter Michelle, together with her husband, Herman, my granddaughter Jeanine and her partner Rob, had visited us here in Sandgate in March. While they were here with us the four of them also made side trips to Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Fraser Island, the Sunshine Coast and Hamilton Island.

On their return from Hamilton Island, I was excited to be able to greet them with some amazing news. In their absence a python had taken up residence in a large tree near the pier and had now been there for a couple of days.

Herman has been a very long-term employee with KLM and his position has enabled his family to travel all over the world at affordable prices.  They have made the most of the opportunities which this has provided and at the conclusion of each big trip, they have managed to make up a beautiful photo album of their adventures. We have been the grateful recipients of quite a few of these albums and leafing through an earlier one, I spotted a photo of another big python which had crossed their path, somewhere in Australia during their 2019 visit. Perhaps in Central Australia? I had completely forgotten about that encounter.

Michelle loves Australia. She was born here and still has her Australian passport. When she’s back with us in Sandgate, she likes to join me on my early morning walks and this time I had been eager to show her something really exciting. What better than a huge snake in a tree near the pier?

I had heard the news about this python from Sam, several days earlier. The huge snake had been spotted in one of the big trees near the entrance to the pier and was expected to remain there for a number of days, because it had swallowed a possum (possums live in many of the trees here) and needed to digest it before moving on. Logan, Jules and Dick had also seen it and Dick offered to help me find it. Together with Oscar, who had joined us, we walked to the tree that Logan had pointed out, where we spotted it immediately.

I did take a photo of the beautifully patterned snake but unfortunately, it didn’t turn out very well. So, for this post, I’ve used the photo which Sam had taken.

Dick had been told by the council workers that several pythons were living in the trees nearby but that this one, unusually, had travelled closer to the pier. Unfortunately for Michelle and her family, the snake must have moved on during the night, because when I took them to where I had last seen it, we were unable to find it. Fortunately, for me, I had Sam’s photo to prove that it really had been there.

I suppose it is not surprising that the python, and snakes in general, soon became the sole topic for discussion amongst us all. Four small sharks had been landed earlier that morning and Dan had caught lots of tailor the day before, but none of that could compete with our “monster” in the tree. 

Logan, who is an entertaining storyteller, told us that, in the past, he and Jules had lived on a property close to a river where a huge python had managed to get into their house. It had come in via their dog’s small entrance door and they had been alerted to its presence by their dog, who was barking furiously at something behind the fridge. When they had moved the refrigerator, they discovered their very large visitor.

Logan, who has a farming background and who has seen lots of snakes in his time and knows how to handle them, tried to lift the python away from the fridge, but found that it was very long and heavy. It wrapped itself around his arm and he had to enlist Jules’ help to try to pull it away. Faced with this sudden emergency, Jules, who was far less comfortable with snakes than Logan, had to manage to control her fear and come to Logan’s rescue by unwinding the snake from his arm.

Logan then decided to try to take the snake to the river, however the snake was so strong that he was forced to dump it in the bushes of his neighbour’s house. Pythons are quite common around here and Logan believes that they are beneficial to the environment, reducing the number of rats and mice around properties.

As was to be expected, Logan was not the only one with snake stories. In the covered area, where Jules, Sam and Zoe were sitting, they were offering us more and Will and his dog Ada were part of the attentive audience.

Jules told us that when their children were young, Logan had once picked up a snake and whizzed it around above his head as if it was a whip.  Her kids still remember it – it was a venomous brown snake!

Next, Zoe entertained us with a story about a python which had crept under her neighbour’s car.  The lady who owned the car had begun to scream when she noticed it and all the “tough men” around had come out to help her to deal with it. However, the snake then wrapped itself around one of the tyres and, in conclusion, the following morning, when they tried to look for it, it had disappeared.

Zoe then followed this up with a story about a red bellied black snake which had wrapped itself around a tap. It was, however, only a young one, she thought.

Logan kept the entertainment going with a tale about an Englishman who was scared of snakes.  “They don’t get many out there in England”, said Logan. Anyhow, the poor fellow had come running to Logan to tell him that there was a snake in his toilet. To the great hilarity of all concerned, it had turned out to be a toy snake which the kids had put in there to achieve the expected result.

The python which we saw in the tree is known as a Coastal Carpet Python. It has beautiful markings and belongs to the largest species of snake in this area. It can grow up to 4m. Scrub Pythons, which are found further north, can grow up to 8m. Like other snakes, pythons are most active at night, entering houses in search of small animals, such as rats and mice. However, as Logan said, while they may be good for pest control, perhaps they are not so good for the wellbeing of nervous Englishmen.

As I arrived back at my car today a cyclist rode past, singing “Here comes the Rain”. A bit optimistic, I thought, because all I could see was a blazing sun! It was already 30 degrees at only 7 in the morning!

O.P.

Next Sunday’s post is entitled “Scottish Apple Pie”, one of several amusing stories told by my pier-dwelling friends. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.