Close Encounters

On this adventure, we have had some spectacular experiences, from snakes to spiders, crocodile’s and wallabies. Australia also has some of the most dangerous animals in the world. Here are some of the “close encounters” I had with Australian wildlife.

Snakes

Attack of the golden tree snake

It all started with my dad in the backyard. He was reading in our tree shaded backyard (perfect for a tree snake) when all the sudden, he heard a croaking noise coming from behind him. He looked back and did not see anything, but when his eyes focused, he saw a snake wrapped around the fence!

When he got a closer look, the snakes head was in a crevasse, and it looked like it was trying to get into the house! After we called the snake catchers we found out that it was a golden tree snake, and he had chased a frog up the hole. We suddenly thought of McRibbit and were very sad, because there was blood dripping down from the hole. But to our surprise, a couple nights later, we found McRibbit, damaged but alive! I was really happy knowing that.

Below is another golden tree snake that we encountered at a swimming hole. Before getting in, my dad made a joke about looking for snakes, and I did. All the sudden, a snake was slithering right at me! It was just another golden tree snake, but a lot smaller. He went down to the second pool eventually and we got to see him wait for a frog, then rocket down the hill at full speed and try to catch it, but fail. He did this twice, and we assumed that he must have been a baby snake, and was learning how to hunt.

Snakes of the deadly variety

We driving though Kakadu when suddenly there was a thump. We had run over a snake! And not just any snake, but an Western brown snake, one of Australia’s most deadly snakes! We did not mean to, and I was very sad, but the Australians we have talked to almost thanked us! The snake was not dead, but he was a little squished and very angry. Hopefully he’s ok.

Thankfully we didn’t encounter the deadliest snake of Australia in the wild, the Inland Taipan (below). We met this one safely behind glass in a reptile exhibit. Australia has lots of snakes. Most of them, thankfully, are not dangerous. I got to hold a few of them. Below I’m holding a children’s python and a giant olive python named Mrs Squeeze.

Monster spiders

Aside from deadly snakes, Australia is known for its deadly spiders and we’ve met a few of them. One day, hiking in Kakadu we were so busy looking for snakes that we didn’t notice that in the middle of the path, there was a red back spiderweb, one of Australia’s most dangerous arachnids! I was too short and didn’t see it, but my mom and dad walked straight into it. My mom suddenly screamed and my dad bolted and started doing what looked like the chicken dance. We learned a valuable lesson. Never go hiking in the morning before everyone else. Let others walk through the spider webs first! We didn’t get a photo of the red-back, but below are some creepy webs and a golden-orb spider, which we encountered a lot.

Another terrifying spider is the Australian huntsman. We’ve seen two of them. One in our backyard (see below) and one on a trail as were walking back from a swimming hole in the dark. We had just taken a second swim in the swimming hole in Umbrawara gorge (see below). It was in the evening, and we had decided to leave, or else we would be walking back in the dark. We must have underestimated the Oz sunset, so we ended up in the dark anyways.

The giant huntsman spider we found in our backyard

The trail was enclosed by trees, and every time you stepped, a low branch would rustle against your feet, making you think it was a creepy crawler. We came to a rock that jetted out into our trail and my mum jumped! Somehow in the darkness, she had seen a giant spider in the path! Now, we have had experiences with huntsman spiders before, so we knew how to identify them, but being in the dark is different. My dad poked it with my pool noodle, hoping it would get out of the way, but instead, it crawled up onto the big rock, right in the middle of the path.

My dad ran first across, after the spider would not budge, and successfully made it. I was next. I just bolted across, before people told me so, because I was not going to wait. Then my mom ran, and did bunny hop right over him. As we brushed past the bushes and branches, they all trembled and to be honest, so did we. We were relieved to get back to camp.

Bats (flying foxes)

The flying fox numbers in the Darwin are quite impressive, considering that it’s in the city. We have seen about 2000 now, give or take, and we know what trees they eat in. The feeling of standing in the grass and looking for bats while you hear them squabbling is quite exiting feeling. We have managed to get some pretty good looks at them with headlamps, and how the crawl around in trees like monkeys. It is very funny.

Bat Night!

Bat night is an event that happens every year here so that the public can learn about their local bats. We got see baby bats, black fruit bats, red fruit bats and bent wing micro-bats. The fruit bats use eyesight, but the micro-bats use echolocation, which means sending out a sound signal and waiting for it to bounce of the insect and back towards them. In Darwin, there are only 5 bat carers, (people who keep bats as pets, and rehabilitate them) and they are trying to recruit more bat carers. My mom says we would definitely be bat carers if we lived here in Australia.

The bats are in big trouble, with climate change causing heatwaves, that kill of thousands of them. One heatwave in Queensland (a part of Australia) killed off one third of the entire population of bats. Barbed wire is also dangerous for fruit bats (which use eyesight) because they don’t see it in the dark and get punctured wings or lose an eye. We saw one last night that had only one eye because of barbed wire. The good news is that the bat caring committee puts electrical tap on the wire, which reflects the moonlight, and bats can see it. They did a study at an airport, and the tape reduces bat catching by 95%. The bats like eating grapes and mangoes and are some of the only mammals that can drink full fat cow milk. When the babies get older they start drinking banana milkshakes, which I think is hilarious.

‘Sleeping’ Bats

So bats are nocturnal, which means they sleep during the day, well sort of. When we were in Litchfield national park, we stopped in a place called Bachelor. The park was very nice, and overhead in the trees, in the middle of the day, were a bunch of screeching flying foxes (video below)! They were very loud and could be heard for quite a distance. We found out at bat night that they are so loud because it is mating season. They squabble in the trees over space and talk a lot to each other. I don’t know how anyone could sleep through that racket!

Killer Crocs

Crocodiles are notorious in the Top End for eating tourists and locals. They can feel anything that touches the water from a long was away, because of their special sixth cense. If you notice, on a crocodile, they have little black dots. They are little sensors, that help them know when an unlucky person moves in the water. To keep people safe they set up croc traps in places where people swim. The traps are about the length of a car. They bait the traps with chicken, and when the crocodiles come in the cage, the door snaps shut. Don’t worry, they don’t kill the crocs because they are protected.

While we were here, we visited Crocosaurus Cove, which is where crocodiles captured in traps get taken so they don’t eat people. One croc is a a very famous one named Burt. Burt was the crocodile in “Crocodile Dundee” (below). They also had a cage of death, which was a little plastic room that people go into and get lowered into the water, when the crocs are eating. I really wanted to do it, but you have to be 15 years old! We watched the giant crocs get fed and I got to feed some baby crocs with a fishing stick and a piece of meat!

In our most resent trip, we got to ride camels ayers rock! (see below) I got to ride a camel named Maddigan. My dad got to ride am camel named Norseman, which I thought was an interesting name! It was really high, being up there, but it was really fun!

Camels and friends

At the camel farm there was also a little petting farm. I had brought some seed over to feed the emu, but he wasn’t very hungry. But when the other animals saw the food, they went crazy! The water buffalo, the goats, the baby camel, the donkey and the ducks all wanted the grain desperately, so I spent quite a bit of time feeding them. I also got to pet the kangaroos! they are as soft as down!

A sneaky emu steals my food bag!

We went to Kathrine gorge at the end of the trip, and we got to cruise around looking for freshwater crocodiles and cave art. The guide even said that there are several famous movies that were filmed there, one of which we had seen! It is called Top End Wedding. A great movie to watch if you want to get a good sense of the Northern Territory. Just before turning in our rental camper, we made a stop at the Territory Wildlife Park and see all of the national animals, like different types of wallabies, echidnas, tree rats, snakes, monitors, turtles, and tons of different types of birds! I really like the freshwater whip-tail rays. When the park guide feeds them, they are like puppies pawing at their feet. I also got to feed archer fish by holding out a small worm. The fish squirts water at your hand from up to 5 meters away. This is how they knock insects off tree branches and into the water.

Another spooky encounter 🙂

On our most recent road trip we came across a town famous for it’s alien encounters, the U.F.O capital of Australia! The gas station was decorated like an alien theme park and there were newspaper articles on the walls talking about all of the past encounters. Apparently they even have conferences about aliens there.