Critters

Slowly I am getting used to the local critters. Except for the roos, most animals here are small and deadly. All snakes are poisonous, and most spiders are too. Once evening I was brushing my teeth for bed when I heard some munching sounds coming from my bathroom window. In the window, on the inside, and a few inches from my head was this large Huntsman spider eating a moth for dinner. The Huntsman spider is about the size of a golf ball with lots of fur and long legs. And they are fast. They can dart about like a jackrabbit. They are also poisonous. I found one in my closet when I moved in here back in October. I knew that I would not be able to sleep knowing there was a large Huntsman running about my room that night, so I used the trick Trish taught me and trapped him under a mason jar to transfer him to the garden.

You have to careful when you walk through the bush and grasses in the sand dunes at the beach because of the snakes. There are lots of snakes at the beach. When you ride down the coast bike trail every few meters or so is a sign reminding you to stay out of the vegetation because of snakes. I first though it was a ploy to keep people from trampling the dunes, but no. I've seen the snakes crossing the trails.

Last week I pulled out a pair of shorts from the closet and as I shook them out to put them on, a small black spider dropped out and ran over to the corner of the room. Upon a closer look I saw it was an Australian Redback, the most dangerous of the spiders. Redbacks are like Black Widows in the Americas, except more poisonous. If I had put those shorts on and the Redback had bitten me I would be writing this from the hospital now. So now I shake out all my clothes before putting them on. Redbacks like to hide in dark spots, so here Australia you never stick you hand under anything unless you look first. For example, in the back yard you can see the distinctive Redback spider webs under the pool furniture which means you should never just go pick up a chair with your hand.

There are plenty of wild parrots here. I see flocks on them down by the lake when I bike to work. There is also a type of raven here that is very aggressive and will attack if you walk under its nest. They mean business. They try to dive bomb your head and eyes. Trish feeds them in one corner of the yard, and the leave her and the family alone. It is blackmail and they have learned that the humans here at this house are not a threat.

There are no koala bears in this part of Australia. They are limited to the SE corner of Oz in Victoria State. As I mentioned before, the kangaroos here are not the huge Red Roos native to Queensland in the NE. Here in WA they only get to about 6 feet tall. There are Quokkas out on Rottnest and Wombats in the bush.

Out to sea the fishing is great. You can get lobsters, shrimp, crabs, and even fresh water crabs in the river deltas. In two weeks I'm going crabbing with then Lentz's down south.