Red Belly Blacksnakes are quite cool.
50 years ago on the 9th October, 1965, I was a Trooper in the CMF, driving driving 6 x 6 Studebaker trucks on POL missions to supply Centurion Tanks with fuel on the Puckapunyal Army Range in Victoria.
I celebrated my 21st birthday whilst on at a remote camp on the range. I was sitting in my tent that afternoon when the Provos came down, arrested me and marched me up to the C.O.'s tent where I was officially charged with "Not notifying the Commanding Officer of attaining the age of manhood." The Commander sentenced me to drink a can of beer from every member of the Regiment. The Regiment consisted of over 100 personnel so I was pretty pissed by the time they carried me off the parade ground where I had sat for quite a few hours under a military guard, scoffing down numerous cans of
VB.
They laid me on my stretcher in the tent and I slept well that night. Next morning, we had to clear camp and move to another location. When we lifted the floor boards of my tent, I discovered the biggest red belly black snake imaginable, coiled up, asleep under the exact spot where I had slept all night. It was about 15 feet long and as thick as a man's thigh. The diameter of the snake's coil was about 4 feet. ****'s were trumps.
We recently returned from a holiday in Europe and found a red belly swimming around in our outdoor spa. Not long ago, I found a funnel web spider, which will kill you quicker that a major Cobra rollover, floating around in my skimmer box. He was possibly there for a week at least and was still quite alive.
Don't you just love Australia. These deadly creatures are what keep us unique and isolated from all the horrible dramas which are occurring in the rest of the world. They are what keeps the undesirables from coming here.
Spread the word. Platypus and Koalas have poisonous spurs, Box Jelly fish will kill you in seconds, Great Whites love eating tourists and Kangaroos will rip your guts out.
Other than that, what a great country we have. I played golf today in the middle of Winter. The temperature was around 20 degrees C or in your language, in the mid 70's. Not bad for the middle of Winter. American's can't do that. I think I forgot to say that I had 35 points and won a nearest to the pin also. You can't do that in the snow.
Come if your game, but watch out when you're crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. That giant Bilby will pick up your rent-a -car up and heave it over the rails into Sydney Harbour. There you will be eaten by one of our Great Whites. What a fabulous holiday. You won't get this any where else in the world.
Yes we do have fun over hear. Get your mates together Stormbringer and come across. You won't regret it. Oh.. You will survive. Believe me. You will have the best time of your life and you won't have to drink that Bud crap. Our beer is amongst the world's best.
Baz