Thrills, Spills And Chills

Sunday 6th October, 2013

October already!  It will be Christmas before we know it. This morning was the start of daylight savings, a scourge for many country dwellers but us city folk love it.  The extra daylight will be much appreciated for the next 6 months.

This weekend has been a long weekend here in South Australia.....Labour Day weekend.  Tony got a nice surprise last Thursday at work.....he was told that he could also have Friday off.  Apparently the company takes the Friday off before a long weekend giving their employees an extra long weekend.

Due to the strong winds that we had last week Friday was spent cleaning up the garden and the patio.  Tony also managed to get a shrub cut down before the greens bin collector came around.  The shrub had spread so much it was hard to open the car door whenever a car was parked on the driveway.

Saturday morning we finished cleaning up out the back and washed down the outdoor table and chairs.  In the afternoon we went off to Ikea (again).  We went back to buy a cabinet that we had seen there last week.  

We noticed that they have just about finished erecting the tents for the season start of "Cavalia".  We along with Robyn and Bob are going to see this show next Sunday.

Today we decided to go to Marrabel to the Rodeo.  This is the first time we have ever attended a rodeo.  Not knowing what to expect we were pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the afternoon.  My hat goes off to those cowboys and girls with their riding skills, especially the guys who ride those bucking horses and bulls.  Some of those bulls looked real mean.

The requirement for a rider is to stay on top of the animal for at least 8 seconds while it is bucking.  Not too many managed to achieve this.  8 seconds doesn't sound very long, but it would feel like an eternity when you are being tossed, twisted, turned and thrown.  

One rider was concussed after being thrown off his bull. Thank goodness for the St John Ambulance and the paramedics that were on hand to tend to him.

When the rodeo finished we decided to take the long way home.....across to  Saddleworth, Auburn, Balaclava, Port Wakefield and then home.  It made for a nice drive through some great farming country.

It has always been a desire of mine to see a snake in the wild so that I could get a photo.  In all of my 62 years I may have seen one 3-4 times while driving in the country but back then digital cameras were unheard of and so you only ever had a camera on you in special circumstances.  You never carried a camera around with you like you do today.

While driving along this afternoon Tony spied a snake on the side of road.  We were about 200 metres down the road when I got him to turn around.  We go back to where the snake was and there it is curled up on the ground.  Tony drives up to it, gets me to put down the window so that I could get a photo.  I froze.  No way was I going to stick my head out of the window or open the door.  My biggest fear is snakes.

I get him to reverse back so that I could photo it through the front windscreen but I couldn't see it.  I think I was shaking too much.  He then manoeuvres the car so that the snake is on his side.  At this stage we don't know if it was dead or alive.  

Tony puts down his window, grabs the camera and takes a photo.  By this time I am in panic mode.  I just wanted to get out of the car and run but I knew I couldn't.  I had visions of this snake rearing up trying to get him or slithering up the car to get inside.

Cars are driving along the road and I am thinking the noise of the cars will startle the snake and because we are on the other side of it, it will feel trapped and attack us.  I am pleading for Tony to go.  Finally we take off and I ask him where the snake is.  He says it's still there on the side of the road.

After about 2 kilometres down the road I get him to turn around so that I could see for myself that the snake was still there.  It has been said that snakes can whip themselves up and get under the car, some have even been found in cars' engines. 

Yep, the snake was still there.  We decided that it must be dead for it not to have moved.  Even knowing that it may be dead was of no comfort to me.  I have a photo now and so any other snake that we may see while on our travels won't be of any interest.  It still gives me chills while typing this.   

No more snakes were spotted, thank goodness, but we did see lots of lizards on the road.  They had been run over by cars.  Tony even hit one, he swerved to miss it but it must have moved and under the wheel it went.  The warm weather brings them out and they love to sit on the roads soaking up the heat from the bitumen.

Once we got to Port Wakefield we decided to have a bite to eat for dinner.  It was busier than we thought it would be but the place will be really buzzing tomorrow night when people make their way home from the weekend.

Tomorrow Tony and I have no plans.  Hopefully it will be a lazy day just enjoying this great weather we are having at the moment.  Rain is being forecast again by Thursday.