It was with an air of confidence and a strangely undeserved sense of belonging and homeliness that I stepped off the plane at Sydney airport after an uneventful flight from Bangkok. I was back! The familiarity of Sydney was comforting as I made my way through this city I had only briefly lived in. I had been waiting for twelve months to come back to Australia and finally I had made it, and despite the year’s memories and a dozen new flags on my bag from places I had visited since I was last here, it felt like I had never left.
I’ve been asked many times why I like Australia so much and why I want to live here, and I struggle to put it in to words every time. The country holds so many attractions to me, the mystery of the vast expanse that I have yet to explore, the friendliness of the people I have met at every town I have visited, the honest and forthright attitude of the society, the fact that it isn’t Britain – there are truly too many reasons to possibly mention.
And now I was back in the country I had been missing I had to decide where to spend those first few weeks. It wasn’t really a decision I had much of a part in – my heart led me straight back to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains where I had spent so many happy weeks throughout my previous year here. It was easy to settle back into life at The Flying Fox Backpackers, chopping wood for the evening fires, chatting to the people visiting from all sorts of places, and exploring the surrounding countryside. There is no other time I feel more content than when walking through the bush, and the Blue Mountains has some exquisite national parks in which to seek out Australian nature.
The area around Katoomba is a great place to get a taste the New South Wales bushland, as the walks are accessible, and the wildlife easy to spot. Around Echo Point there are sulphur crested and black cockatoos, rosellas, and the hugely vocal lyre birds, beautiful rock formations, there were waterfalls after the recent rain, and plenty of skinks, bearded dragons and other lizards basking on the hot rocks.
One day I was exploring a national park further down the mountain at Springwood. I had been walking down a path for a while when I saw a sign indicating the location of a pool someway off over the rocks – so away I scrambled. It may not have been entirely the correct route I was taking, or if it was this certainly wasn’t the path for the unadventurous. I made my way under, round, and through the trees covering the track; hopped from rock to rock, and edged closer to a rock wall I presumed must have held the pool. I was close before too long, and saw a huge lizard on a rock in front of me, so slowly squatting down I levelled the camera and made to take the photo. Then I saw something bright moving in the branches to me left – a snake!
I had seen snakes in Australia before, but never an unidentified one quite so close to my face. It was definitely within striking distance if it was so inclined to have a nip at me. Not so big that it would try and have me for dinner, but in a nation where a spider the size of a pea will still try and have a go at bringing you down – and potentially succeed – I didn’t want to take any chances.
So I froze.
There was not a lot more I could do! But he didn’t seem to be bothered by me, so as I felt more comfortable I started to enjoy his company. I took some photos, I must admit I even chatted to it for a while, and then when he began to slide off into the leaves I also made my decision to move on and resume my search for the pool.
I felt good that the snake was behind me, however pleased I was that I had actually seen it, and quickly put a few more meters between us and climbed over the rock wall. My heart still pumping from the adrenaline, I bounded across a few big boulders and was soon at the pool’s edge looking for yabbies and other small critters. I got close to the surface of the water and started peering in, trying to get glimpses under the rocks at the edge where the pretty little creatures like to hide, and in seconds realised I had moved my face within inches of another snake half hidden in the water! It was the same as the last one, but now I knew they were not only fond of lurking at head-height in trees but also were semi-aquatic hunters as well. His head was high out of the water and his gaze was locked with mine. I slowly backed away and sat atop the boulder I had clambered over, knowing that there was at least one snake behind me and one in front.
I gradually relaxed again, and took the time to take some photos of my new friend and enjoyed the sun and the serenity of the pool for a while. I had been sitting still for so long the wildlife was starting to come out all around me. The crimson rosellas and currawongs were close by in the trees around the pool, there were several skinks sunning themselves on the rocks, and I saw a water dragon scuttle over a boulder next to me and perch across the top. But I wasn’t the only one to spot him. At once I saw a flicker of yellow and green and a third snake dropped out of the tree above me, practically on top of me and sprung for the little water dragon. My heart was in my mouth! I hadn’t seen or heard this one approach, and suddenly it was in my lap and on the hunt! I felt claustrophobic despite the vastness of the area I was sitting in, convinced that every rock concealed a potentially dangerous critter, and knowing I was alone and far from the track. That it when I decided to leave, and ever so cautiously, inspecting every branch several times to ensure it wasn’t an animal before moving underneath them or pushing them aside I made my way back to the trail.
With renewed vigour and a rediscovered feeling of security I continued along the track for a few more hours, chasing yellow-tailed black cockatoos, huge lizards, dragon flies, and all sorts of birds – but at least partly to my relief I didn’t see any more snakes that day.
When I returned to the hostel I spoke to my herpetologist friend who helped me identify the snakes I had spent the majority of the afternoon with; A harmless tree snake that probably couldn’t even puncture my skin if it tried. I can’t wait to see them again, and next time I hope I won’t wet myself!
Pictures from those first few weeks, including plenty of the snakes are in my Blue Mountains gallery
Tags: animals, Australia, birds, Blue Mountains, Katoomba, lizards, snakes, Travel