Short and sweet this week – some photos from the Booderee National Park Botanic Gardens –
I love Botanic Gardens in general but this particular one is the spookiest one I have ever been to.
I took my Chinese Cousins here when they visited nearly a year ago and the whole time, I was freaked out by skittering noises in the leaf litter.
So I said to The Other Half, I would like to go back with him and see if I found it less spooky.
For 95% of the time we were there, I did not find it very spooky, but then..
I encountered my first ever snake in the wild, after 40.5 years of living in Australia. It was a red bellied black snake which was lying across the path we were walking on.
That whole stand still when you see a snake thing has been so drummed into me, my body acted without me needing to do anything. I was actually half jogging up a hill, and I stopped as soon as I saw it. I had to call out to the other half, who had turned to look at me when I stopped.
The little snake – it wasn’t very old I think, probably 6 months to a year – saw us and looked at us. Then it turned around and moved on top of a nearby rock. It sat there taking a good look at us, probably for a minute or so. Then, it quickly disappeared into a crevice.
I had my camera in my hand the whole time but not the mental capacity to take a photo. It was part shock, part awe, part wow. I remember seeing the eyes, and I remember how red the underneath of this snake was. It was a truly gorgeous snake.
The gardens were *extremely* spooky after that event, for both of us!
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Snakes do give you a start. I think they are beautiful but I prefer it if they keep out of my house yard. They can roam the rest of my property at their leisure. Those gardens look lovely and I’m a botanic garden fan too.
EEEK! Is a red bellied black snake one of your dangerous snakes? I learned to deal with my racing snakes mostly because Wyoming had only one type of poisonous snake and that was not it. I don’t freak out over pictures of snakes but I really don’t like them in person. They’re sneaky!
The gardens do look lovely, though.
So beautiful there with the tee ferns and sunlight. When you mentioned skittering I thought lizards and there probably are some in there, along with small birds foraging under leaves etc, but how lovely to see a red-bellied black snake. I’ve never seen one. I’ve seen plenty of brown snakes which are quite deadly, I give them a wide berth, but I’m not scared of snakes.
I love the dappled light in your photos. I am bit like you are about spiders when it comes to snakes but I don’t mind terrorising myself by looking at them when there is glass between us. My sister is worse. She won’t look at them.
Ha! So much for taking the spookiness out of your garden experience! We came across a baby rattlesnake on one of our walks through a state park in Southern California. We stood and stared at it, just inches away, thinking it was so cute having no idea that it’s bite could be awful, too. Since then, I’ve backed away from gopher snakes!
Love your botanic gardens. I have swum with a red-bellied black. I came up for air and it was effortlessly keeping pace with me. I sank to the bottom and waited for it to swim past.
Enjoy your break.
My husband hates snakes so I’d better not show this! We have a few little snakes in the UK but nothing like what you get in Australia. It does look like a beautiful garden though.
Wow what amazing pictures. I am kinda glad we don’t have snakes like you have there. Beautiful x
Scary! I have yet to encounter a snake in the wild in CA, although I’ve been told they’re technically anywhere near the bushes/scrubs. I can do without that encounter though ;)