Sunday, March 9, 2008

Reptiles and a ferry ride.

Feb 25th

Dirt roads on road tyres are always eventful. Makes it more so when on the way to catch a ferry and dodging traffic. Just before we hit those dirt roads, Anthony and I ran into some uncommon roadkill - well, mostly killed, and on it’s way to all killed. It was a snake, and in a land that holds the top ten deadliest snakes, the prudent assumption is that this is one of them. However, its was pretty clear that with the unhealthy-looking flat spot a few inches behind his head, he was not going to do any biting anytime soon. Not that we planned on getting that close so as to test it. The reason I said "mostly killed" was that the last two and a half feet of him flicked and twitched with disturbing regularity. Like the dead wedgetail eagle, it was the kind of thing that boys just have to stare at for a bit. So we stared. It was just about the coolest thing ever.

About 100 meters later and perhaps a few notches up the reptile IQ ladder sat an 18 inch bearded dragon, just off the road as opposed to on it. While I would not chose that spot to sun myself, I was delighted that he/she did because it meant Anthony and I could do our best Steve Irwin impression. You can take it from both of us, he/she was a beut. It also didn’t like how close we were getting, and to our great delight postured up displaying its namesake brilliant spiky throat.

It was a stressful ride to Lucky Bay, but we managed to avoid any mishaps making it with just minutes to spare. Lucky Bay is nothing but a ferry terminal, and even this is glorifying it. Right now, it’s little more than a breakwater for the twin hulled cat that makes the run 2 to 3 times daily. I expect Lucky Bay will change a great deal in the next few years.

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