Always Look Down

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We've been told by a few Australians that you should always look where you walk anytime you're in the bush. In Canada, most of the things to look out for on a hike would be at eye level somewhere on the horizon. Things like bears, elk, squirrels, low branches ...

We went for a bushwalk with Nick from work and his wife Mariana this morning and were reminded why Australians always look where they step: snakes!

Mariana and Clo almost stepped on this snake.

From the look of the raised scales on it, I'd say it's a harmless keelback snake, but some Aussies have said it's a King brown (venomous). Then there's the Rough-scaled snake that kinda looks like a keelback but IS venomous!We didn't exactly piss it off on purpose to find out ...

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When we got back, I saw this moth on the wall above the BBQ (where the geckos usually hang out). It was pretty big, I'd say12-14cm (5") wide. Pretty cool pattern too, classic "fake eyes" looking back at you.

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Leech walk

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This weekend, we went for a hike in the sunshine coast hinterland. It's a very nice place to walk, typical Australian rainforest: lush and beautiful.

Except it's been raining for the last week up there, so it was a little swampy. And no swampy trail would be complete without leeches. No, the leeches here aren't venomous or anything, just annoying. They grab on to you as you brush up against leaves or just climb up your shoes if you stop. No one got bit, though they did make for a funny (paranoid) walking pace for everyone.

Little guy: No one was willing to let the big ones crawl around them for a picture!

Fun fact: Leeches are closely related to earthworms... except leeches have razor-sharp teeth, *growl* hehe

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