This post about Springbrook National Park was originally published in 2008. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content.
While walking through a dense sub-tropical rainforest in Springbrook National Park:
Nora: I wonder how many snakes are in this park.
Kelly: Don’t be silly. It’s winter. They’re all hiding. Hibernating probably.
Nora: Hibernating? Do snakes hibernate?
Kelly: Not sure. But if they don’t hibernate, they certainly hide in holes somewhere.
Nora: You know, Australia is home to the largest number of poisonous and venomous and generally deadly animals by an exponential amount.
Kelly: Yeah, but they are all scared of us. And they’re way off in the Australian bush somewhere, not here in the middle of it all.
Nora: Kel. We are at least 50kms from the nearest real town which is still only home to a few hundred people. And we’re 4kms from the bloody parking lot, which was empty when we came! We’re not exactly in a hub of urban life here. A hub of snakes, perhaps.
Kelly: But it’s winter. The snakes are slow and dopey. They won’t even have the energy to attack. Besides which, they’re not here.
Nora: Why aren’t they here? Snakes like to hang out specifically on paths like these, so they can sun themselves. A startled dopey snake in the middle of our way doesn’t seem like a good thing.
Kelly: Don’t worry. We won’t see any snakes.
(pause)
Kelly: I don’t have much experience with snakes.
Nora: Great. That makes me feel better. How are you supposed to save me if you don’t know what to do?! Gaaaawd. I tell you, if I didn’t – Woah.
(Nora comes to dead halt, Kelly crashes into her)
Kelly: What?
Nora: Snake.
Kelly: Yeah, sure –
Nora: No really. In front of us.
Sure enough, a green snake about one meter in length slithered off the path directly in front of us, eyeing us and sticking its tongue out at us the whole way.
And so began our two days of hikes and camping through Springbrook National Park.
Check out the rest of the story (with lots of pictures) on our World Nomads Ambassador Trip Journal here!