I Have a New Guest

I wasn't really sure how I would react to snakes in Australia.  Spiders I knew I wouldn't like because I don't even like the small ones at home.  During the summer months, I used to have tons and tons of spiders spinning webs outside of my apartment door.  At night, they would come out and hang in front of it, so it was always a challenge to sneak into my apartment.

Actual Python near my tent

Snakes, however, I didn't encounter very often.  To be honest, I don't even remember the last time I saw one back home.  When I was younger, my brother used to find Garter snakes all of the time in our yard, since my parents lived out in the country.  They weren't venomous snakes, though occasionally my brother would get bitten.  The 'wound' was really only like a paper cut.

Now I'm in a country with loads of snakes, both venomous and not.  I think if I saw an Eastern Brown snake, I would have a heart attack because I really don't want to die or even be sick in the hospital because of a bite from one of them.

This weekend, I actually saw a Python near my tent.  Growing up, some families kept Pythons as pets.  On rare occasions, I remember seeing massive snakes wrapped around people's necks and shoulders like a fashion accessory.  A pet like that, however, you don't really expect to see out in the wild.

It was a bit of a shock at first, but after knowing it was a Python (which are nonvenomous snakes), I wasn't really bothered by it at all.  It was coiled up like a garden hose , but I really would've liked to see it slithering through the grass or wrapping itself around a tree.  I posted the photo on Facebook and, of course, my friends and family back home were horrified.

No one at the AFL was really the least bit afraid.  A few people, including myself, came to gawk at the animal, but aside from that no one was even the least bit alarmed. I thought it was a Python right away, but another backpacker confirmed my suspicions when one of my friends asked what it was. 

I think that because there are so many things that can kill you here, a nonvenomous snake is the least of my worries.  It even eats rodents, so really, it's a pest-remover.   Now I just need to be able to see Huntsman spiders in the same light. 

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

When I first got to Australia, I had a nasty cough.  I would imagine it was from my poor diet and drinking habits from before I left the States.  I celebrated a bit too hard during my going away party, which seemed to last for about two weeks straight.  And I wasn't eating very much.  When I was eating, it was terrible food.

So I got sick.  Luckily, I got over my sickness relatively quickly.  I was able to run, go hiking, swim, surf, whatever.  I woke up every morning quite early and went for a walk into town.  

Then everyone at work and the hostel seemed to be getting sick.  I figured that I would be fine since I had just gotten over being sick.  I wasn't that lucky.

I started getting the sniffles and was sneezing all the time.  Then the cough came.  It kept me up at night so then of course I was tired all the time.  One morning I even woke up with an irritated eye.  I was just useless all around.

I haven't stopped smoking yet either, which is something I desperately need to do, both for my health and my wallet.  Combine my smoking with staying up late and occasionally partying, and you have the recipe for a poor immune system.

I'm getting so sick and tired of being sick and tired. I want to just be healthy, ready to wake up early each morning and attack the day, as cheesy as that sounds.  What I really need to do is stop complaining and talking about what I am going to do, and just do it.

Eight-Legged and Eerie

Saltwater crocodiles, snakes, spiders, box jellyfish, sharks, blue-ring octopus, and centipedes all have two things in common: they live in Australia and can kill you.  I haven't even seen any of the creatures above except one, and they lurk around my tent at night: spiders.

I'm aware that many of them are harmless,  but they aren't the most cuddly looking animals either.  Some of the Huntsman spiders can grow to be larger than human hands.  True, they help keep mosquitoes and other pests away, but I still don't think I want to stare at 8 furry legs connected to a fat, black body lingering above my bed.

One of my friends lives out in The Jungle, and recently gained a new roommate: a Huntsman.  She was laying in bed and could see the spider in between her tent and its top waterproof layer.  I'm not envious of her in the least.

I laughed at my friend until I went into my tent one night to go to bed.  I went to zip the front of my tent and a spider moved from between my tent and one of the tent poles.  I shrieked like a girl, grabbed my flip flop, and turned the spider into a stain.

I felt relieved that it was dead, until I shined my cell phone light along the inner wall of the tent.  I ended up seeing two more spiders inside my tent, neither of which I successfully killed.  I only ended up knocking them off the tent wall, probably sending them right into my bed, under my covers.

I think in time I will get used to seeing spiders more often.  I typically am not afraid of them unless they surprise me, or are just massive.  That being said, I dislike that they are so small and can do so much damage if you tangle with the wrong one.  If I were to die from a deadly creature in Australia, I'd rather have it be from a shark or crocodile at least.