After a good night sleep and a good breakfast Potato, John Thumb, Siobhan, Jess and I set off from Corrina to Savage River, its not a long walk and we had intended to walk further but the weather was against us. Within minutes we had rain, hailstones and hot sun.
John Thumb was lead as we meandered through a damp and steaming rainforest. Some areas were so steep a rope was needed to get both up and down. Willow was very fierce about us staying on the track and not making chicken tracks as she called them. This put me in mind of the short story, A Sound Of Thunder by Ray Bradbury which was read to me at school.
We were nattering quietly then, quite suddenly John stepped back with “Snake!”
I cautiously stepped ahead to see a black snake about 18 inches long moving towards me. I backed up as smoothly as I could my heart hammering. I did get a picture of its back end.
After much discussion later with Willow we decided it was probably a tiger snake (because I could see some pattern) and its highly venomous. What was most alarming was the fact it looked very much like the wet roots along the trail so I was a bit jumpy for the rest of the walk. Of the other animals we saw Pademelons along the route, they are a mouse faced wallaby type animal about knee high. We also saw crayfish chimneys far in land which really surprised me as in the summer it dries out.
We also saw the weirdest giant fungi.
It started to rain and my day pack is not waterproof so after faffing about with a bin liner, Potato told me to put the bag over my head!
We had a small stream to cross, I decided I would not attempt the jump as fall would be about 5 foot onto rocks and I have form for misjudging my abilities and breaking things (mostly body parts). I shimmied across a branch.
We lunched at the Savage River, which is so calm and languid I wondered how two logging ships had capsized here years ago. bits of hull sticking out of the water.
As I looked at the river and the forest which comes right down to the water I could see in my minds eye the river Fowey in Cornwall. Each type of tree though very different would have its equivalent in England. The biggest difference was there was very little sound here, the birds are very secretive.
We had a further walk and then back to camp where we we greeted by a gang of fairy wrens, OMG they are so sweet. Later we had a pademelon come into camp attracted by out food. All it got were rushes (which is it’s natural diet).
The Travelling Bee 