Jamie, Robbie and I went to RFS training on Sunday. We out to Martin's Lookout and did some trail cutting along the tracks there. Lots of hard yakka going down the hill clearing leaves and stones off the paths. Robbie was in my team, Jamie went in the opposite direction with his team. Robbie had fun wielding the brush hook, hacking away at the undergrowth. We were acting out a scenario in which a fire was making its way up the hill and we were clearing a break round the edge in preparation for lighting a backburn. Then they told us the wind had picked up and the fire was racing up the hill and we had to head for safety down in the creek at the foot of the gully. Down, down, down we went. Tramping along the bottom, me in front, I suddenly spied a snake, green, facing my way, in strike pose. I've rarely run so fast. I let out an expletive and raced back up a rock!
It was identified by one of the team as a green tree snake, one of only two tree snakes found in Australia. Agile and slender, this non-venomous snake can grow up to 2m but is usually a little over 1m. Its colour ranges from green to yellowish-green, brownish-green, black - even blue in a rare form. Under threat, the snake raises itself, revealing splashes of blue between its scales.
At a clearing at the bottom we met up with Jamie's team and had a bit of a rest before heading out - up, up, up, up, up , up, up , up, up , up, up , up, up and more , up, up - it was quite arduous. What with that and the snake I am considering joining one of the plains RFS teams way out in Dubbo or somewhere!!
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