There is a(nother) three day holiday weekend coming up here in Australia.  On April 25, the country will be observing ANZAC day, a national holiday similar to Memorial Day in the States.

Gina and I decided the other night that we need to get out of the city for the holiday weekend, explore some territory outside of the concrete and rail lines we’ve been working the past three weeks.  Where to go on limited time?  The Blue Mountains – a two hour train ride from Sydney.  So we booked ourselves a budget room in Katoomba and started our planning, which included asking Neighbor Cynthia about the best bushwalking tracks in the area.

Neighbor Cynthia referred me to Coworker Nicole, who recently bushwalked the mountains over the Easter holiday.  Grateful for some local information, I was thrilled when Nicole sought me out at the office to tell me about her recent weekend there.  It all sounded great – the beautiful scenery, the excellent tracks, the cooler weather – until she got to the part about the snake (Mom – you might want to stop here).

Now we all know that every poisonous snake in the world calls Australia home.  One of our goals while here is to never share an address with one.  I don’t need to see one in any context – not in a magazine, not on the Sydney nightly news, not in the zoo, and certainly not by the side of the road where I’m walking.  But that’s what happened to Coworker Nicole while on holiday in the Blue Mountains.  A 2 meter (6 ft!) brown snake of the poisonous variety, and just to make me feel better, she added that it was THE largest snake she’d ever seen.

To make matters worse, and downright tragic, one of Nicole’s dogs found the snake to be way too interesting, and his provocations resulted in her other dog getting bit.  A little terrier, she was no match for the big brown snake and its load of venom.

Now how this story is good advertising for the Blue Mountains, I’m not quite sure.  The look on Gina’s face when I relayed it, along with the Hell No muttered under her breath, suggests our weekend plans may be at risk.  But then again, we are humans who would choose to leave the snake alone, not terriers who would decide to wrangle with it.

Neighbor Cynthia suggested that if we ever see a snake on the track (trail) in front of us, we should throw a rock or two at it to move it out of the way.  I’m of the mindset that should we ever see one on the track in front of us, our shrieks of terror might accomplish the same thing.  I’m also of the mindset that hightailing it back the way came would be a reasonable and shameless solution.