Robb Scott wrote:

Many years ago I was walking in the Lederderg Gorge in Victoria and I sat
on a rock and had a smoke while I was resting. My Labrador also had a rest
and sat beside me. After I put out my cigarette and started to stand up I
viewed an enormous brown snake lying on the rock behind us.

I gently grabbed the Labrador by the collar and guided her away and from a
distance I viewed the snake still there and apparently unperturbed by our
visit. Had we been bitten we were probably 4 hours away from medical
support.

Geez! You did well to have the presence of mind to walk quietly away!
Most people would've jumped up and run away like a madman.

I had a sort of similiar experience at, of all places, a Pony Club
jamboree. My then-fiancé and I had gone for a romantic walk along the
(almost dry) riverbank. I was birdwatching with binoculars glued to my
eyes and the fiancé was patiently listening to my monologue as we walked
along.

I stopped at one point to observe that I was suddenly alone with nothing
but a small puff of dust beside me to indicate where the White Knight
had abruptly disappeared from! Across the river bed, not twenty feet
away, a pair of very long brown snakes was heavily involved in - ah -
coitus! Rather than pausing to watch the amazing display, White Knight
(who is a snake-o-phobe of the first water) nicked off to leave me to my
fate! So I got to look on in awe as Mr and Mrs Snake did It. Wow!

I realised somewhat later that we had walked on the path not eighteen
inches away from the snakes on our way up the river!

As an end-note, later that weekend, a kid from one of the Zone Pony
Clubs was actually bitten by a black snake as he watered his pony along
the creek. The rescue helicopter was sent for and (LOLOLOLOL! It's not
funny! I know I shouldn't laugh!) no one thought to empty the centre
ring of ponies and their riders. Can you imagine the fracas as a
*helicopter* descended in the midst of three hundred ponies? It was
mayhem! No accidents, fortunately, but the snake-bitten kid was very
lucky to get medical treatment in time. He was a pretty sick little bloke!

--
Trish Brown {|:-}

Newcastle, NSW, Australia