and then i saw a tiger snake.

i'm back! and man is it good to be home. there's only so much fly swatting and eel dodging a girl can do. i am pleased to say that our little camping trip away was a huge success. we had bagged a Ray's Tent City voucher from ben's wonderful parents for christmas and spent boxing day loading the car with new buys that would get us through our bush experience.

our destination? glenelg river on the south australian/victoria border. this river flows through several sleepy towns before gushing out into the open arms of the sea. it's waters are full of platypus, eels, brim and other nasties i tried not to think about. getting a camp spot there is no easy feat. you need to put your name and suburb into a ballot and they pluck at random lucky, lucky people. tim (bens good mate) had his name in the lottery. we didn't get it. but, with persistence, tim befriended the entire glenelg council organisation and they 'squeezed us in'. (yeah timmy!)

there was about 14 of us. four boats. no pets and plenty o beer. the group was a good mix. couples, singles, even a father and son combination. we spent the days either fishing, reading or swimming in the river. bar opened at about 12pm every day and there was more than one afternoon siesta let me tell you! at night we shared the chore of cooking for the group. considering that we were so remote I would say we ate very well. chicken curry, pork casserole, spaghetti bolognese, roast (three meats) on the campfire and chili con carne. not bad huh?

it was not until the final moment of our stay there, after ben and I had packed the car and had our final swim that i heard a 'rustle' in the bushes that caught my attention. as you do...i turned my head to see what exactly was doing the electric bugaloo in the dense native bush. all i happened to take in was the orange and black stripes on a somewhat slippery skin. it was in that sheer moment that i cottoned-on to the fact I was looking at the tiger snake. with a quick 'oh jesus it's a snake' (said in a irish accent for some reason. perhaps when i get scarred i revert back automatically to my childhood accent and crave the protective arms of my parents. either way i know this time it wasn't the Guinness making me all 'potatoes, potatoes, potatoes'. nope, it was the fear of being jabbed on the leg by a snake no bigger than my arm and the fact that i might actually have to revisit my first aid training and haul ass to the nearest hospital - which wouldn't actually be near) i shut my eyes and walked briskly up the path blocking out Ben's comments of 'wow, its beautiful' 'hows about that' 'em, have another look' and jumped into the car so quickly you'd think I'd just robbed a bank. *sigh* i was alive. thank god. here to tell the tale....and of course, show you some pictures.....



maggie was clearly unimpressed that we were shoving fishing lines into the back of the car and not her. (she stayed with her uncle george for 6 days - thanks georgie!)



our home away from home. sleeps six and completely water proof (dont really wanna test that one though!)