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Snakes at last!
An obscure trail from a dirt road leading to the top of Mount Mangana,
the highest point on Bruny Island. From which, I might add, there
is no view to speak of. But the trail is spectacular, fun, scenic,
and included two snakes -- one of them quite a fat Tiger.
This is very like the spot where we saw them: a sudden opening with
sunlight on rocks. Hardly surprising. The Tiger was perhaps only four
feet long but fairly big around, about the size of a man's wrist. The
other was considerably smaller and seems to match up to the White-lipped
Snake. The smaller hid near a log while the larger fled the scene.
We saw them again on the way back down at exactly the same place. Again
both followed the same tactic. I attempted to track the Tiger to get a
photo, but it headed into the bush and I lost it. I had taken the point
since originally spotting the snakes; Akkana had not seen the smaller
one and was dubious of her ability to pick out any subsequent visitors.
The Tiger was a clever devil, though, and circled around to emerge
behind her, causing something of a stir.
But no worries mate. Quite the little adventure! The Tiger is about
as venomous as it gets ... but it has been decades since anyone died
of a bite. Mostly they just slither away.
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