Here is the link to the new Indelible Adventures store, where you can book your Toronto Urban Art Photography Tours. As well, I plan to link my eCommerce site to the main Indelible-Adventures website in the next couple of weeks where you'll be able to buy my book and some of my best high resolution photos. Stay tuned!
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Australia is well known for its creepy crawlies and things that
bite. In fact, Australia has more
insects, reptiles and animals that can kill you than any other country in the
world. And although great white sharks
and saltwater crocodiles get a most of the bad press these are only just two of
the many that flourish in Australia.
Growing up in the bush the ones we had to watch out for were
snakes. We had quite a few varieties around our house, and so you had to keep your wits about you all the time
and watch were you put your feet. These weren't just ordinary snakes; nope these were some of the most deadly and
venomous in the world.
Dad had no fear of snakes, after working in the sugar cane fields of
North Queensland for many years – incredibly his first year in bare feet armed
only with a hat, pair of shorts and a cane knife he navigated both the insidiously
sharp cane stumps, and the literally hundreds of snakes which inhabited the
fields all without major mishap. Even
after he could afford boots I’m not sure he was keen on them given the extreme
heat and constant sweat became more of a hindrance than a help.
One of the things that almost every household in Australia had, at
least when I was growing up was a length of twisted fencing wire made into the
shape of a shepherd’s crook which was hung on a nail at the back door. Most of them were about 5 – 6 feet in length
and very sturdy. The intent was to break the snakes back first, to make it immobile before zoning in on its head and killing it.
This became the "go-to" weapon to ward off and kill any snakes in and
around our house. Not surprising we'd get between 2 – 5 snakes per year, mostly around the house or in the backyard and if the shepherd's crook was too far away he have to use a shovel or fencing picket. The most common snake we'd get would be the Tiger snakes, which were relatively large and grew to about 4 - 5 feet in
length. There were two things that
distinguished a Tiger snake from its contemporaries – first the yellow stripes
across its back, but more so its very aggressive nature, they would have no inhibitions about trying to strike you and would rather fight than slink off.
These guys were not to be trifled with under
any circumstances!
Next most common were black snakes, I remember coming home from primary school one
day with my brother (James), I would have been about 10 years old and he 8 and as we rounded
the bend in the road (actually on the hill where we used to race our billy
carts) there was a black snake sunning itself across the road. The scary part was that it
stretched the entire width of the road and must have been close to 10 feet long. Yikes!
We tried throwing stones at the snake to try scare it away, but it remained completely unfazed by the attention and continued to sun itself happily. Our only alternative was to turn around and walk back the half mile to the next road so we could get home via the long route. I think I swore the whole way home!
Another late afternoon I remember walking out the back door and finding a rather
large and noisy snake hissing at me from about 2 feet. Our
house was surrounded by a large rock wall (the house was built into the side of
a hill) and so the snake was sitting at almost eye height…I was frozen with fear! Yeah, this is the part where I let out a
scream from a horror movie. Fortunately
for me dad was close by, immediately saw what was happening and grabbed the snake by the tail. Turning away
from the house he instructed me to hand him the shepherd’s crook which I did with my trembling hand, by
this time the snake was riled up and trying to strike but given his size found
it difficult to get enough leverage to make a go of it. No sooner than I had passed the crook to dad than he had it partly placed the snake on the ground and killed it.
After making doubly sure it was dead dad then proceeded to walk
nonchalantly up the yard toward the barbed wire fence with the dead snake
in tow. He’d always hang the dead snakes
form the fence, as he always invariably said “as a deterrent to other snakes”. Some summers we’d have quite a collection of
snake carcasses hanging along the fence line…and although I didn’t question dad
it didn’t seem like much of a deterrent to the other snakes cos’ if it was how
come we'd always get more?
I think the
“pièce de résistance” to my snake stories is the one about mum and the snake.
Arriving home from secondary school one afternoon about 5:00 pm I
came in the back door and was confronted by a
surreal scene. The kitchen floor was a bloody mess, and there seemed to be something spattered all
over the white kitchen walls, and that's not to mention the pool of blood all
over the floor with something mixed into it...chunks of something?
Mum sat sobbing at the
kitchen table, the bloody shepherd’s crook lying amongst the mess on the kitchen floor. She finally calmed down enough to tell me the story; she had been
pottering around the garden and come into the kitchen to find a Tiger snake sitting in the
middle of kitchen. Apparently, it had made
a hole in the corner of the fly wire screen door and pushed its way into the house. Mum slowly reversed the couple of steps to the back door and grabbing
the shepherd’s crook set about killing the snake.
Not only had mum killed the snake, likely with the first blow or two
but in her heightened state had pulverized it to the point where it had started
to disintegrate into small chunks which were now spattered all over the walls.
Unfortunately this was always going to end badly for the snake! This was one hysterical woman armed with the best snake killing device known to man...yep, it was an ugly scene!
Clearly she was in no state to clean up “said” snake, or what was left
of it so I was the lucky one who got the job.J Although in the finest traditions for which I
was hoping dad would be proud of me, set about hanging the remains or what was
left of the snake on the barbed wire fence with all the others...still not
convinced it was a deterrent…just sayin!
Growing up in the country you get used to lots of things, but for some reason I had, and still have a deep fear of snakes!
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This weeks photos are from earlier this week around my neighbourhood and the beaches area of Toronto. Enjoy!
