Snakes!

Yesterday I did the snake handlers course run by Brian Bush. He's a bit of a legend in WA, and even has a monitor lizard named after him.

We started slowly, with general chat and myth debunking and things. Just to let the adrenaline subside.
Then moved on to the lizards...

And the legless lizards...

Then the nasties!

Death adder.

Some brown snake or other.

Shockingly fast Whip Snake

Out came the Pythons, for an up close and personal look and feel of snakes. These ones were definitely pythons and hence non venomous (but can still bite, I do believe, just do less harm) but a lot of snakes look the same, especially from a distance. So always assume a wild snake is venomous. If you're in Australia the chances are it could kill you, so why risk the odds!

Then we were put into the hot seat, learning how to capture and remove snakes from environments where they are causing a threat. Like in my swag or if one gets into our caravan and refuses to budge:

I now feel much more confident around snakes. Not to a stupid degree, but at least now I'm less likely to freeze up or do some thing stupid if I ever do run into one. Its only a matter of time really. I've been here 18 months and have only seen 1, and that was out of the car window... We generally scare them away, but one day there will be one who would rather stand his ground, and now I'm much more prepared for that fact. 

I'm even tempted to get my licence from the government to be a suburban snake remover. But I think that might be a step too far!

And Brian Bush is an amazing character. And that laugh! If you ever get the chance to meet him, especially if he's teaching about lizards and snakes, take it! You won't regret it (unless you're easily offended!)

Hitting the Streets

I figured instead of a true time-line I'd just group my thoughts on Melbourne together by activity.
Today being the general sights.

First thing that struck me was how uninspiring the skyline is. Maybe just because I'm so attached to Perth... I just expected more...

Then there are the trams. Remember to keep an eye out, they're not all as striking as the tourist ones! The tourist one was a good idea... free to jump on and off, bit of a commentry to let you know where you are and whats around. Its on the quiet side though, presumably to least annoy the regular people, but that menat if you were going over bumps or the traffic was bad the speach was lost beneather the rest of the noise.

I loved all the little alleyways and arcades. Some lovely architecture still hanging around, and some crazy shopping. Will definately go back without the boy in tow and really hit the shops. I just snuck in some early mornings and late afternoons around our plans.

I was really looking forward to the QV Markets, but I was underwelmed. The meat looked really good, and the deli section too. I bought some sausages (cornish, and mango!) for us to have for breakfast, and some bread and cheeses and fruit for lunch on the day trip, but otherwise was quite restrained.
The rest of the markets we just tat though. Not what I was expecting at all. The sunday markets at the Arts Centre and out at St Kilda were heaps better. Spent lots of money there, on pressed flower art and jewelry, wood stuff and the like.

I did like the old Baths just up the road though. Very cool brick work. 

And the old factory in the shopping centre. Very cool!

Federation Square was also funky. I like the patterns and the tickers built into the walls (in our case warning people that while most things were still open the storms had caused some damage so watch out). Its good having an open area with good facilities and transport links that can be used for events. The modern Village Green!

 

 Oh, and the fire show outside of the Crown Casino! We'd been told it existed, but didnt know much about it. From the way I'd been told I expected fire jugglers and things, not massive flame throwers! We were sitting having a drink in Federation Square when the sky lit up. So obviously we had to go search out teh source. The Boy loved it. I swear I felt the heat on the opposite side of the river, I dread to think what it would be like underneath!

We went into the Casino while waiting for more fire. My money started to burn a hole in my purse. I've never done more than played on the Pokies, so decided that I would get $10 (big spender!) worth of chips and play on the Roulette. Cards aren't my thing, but randomly putting chips on a table seemed easy enough.

There were a nice couple already on the table, so we joined with them. I put the chips in the wrong spot to start with... I don't know what the couple made of us! So I looked at the boy, he said "half 21/28" so I did. And it was 21. So 17 to 1 on our first chip. $2.50 x 17 = a good return! I took out my original $10 and we played a couple more chips, but then cashed it in because we wanted to go watch the fire. We ended up about 350% on the house. No complaints from here! I can see how it can become addictive, but we stood and watched two guys lose a lot of money in a couple of minutes... one lost $100 in literally 10 seconds, the other lost $500 in 10 minutes. But then, I guess that makes the highs even higher... I liked all the signs, like "what are you really gambling with?"

Snake handlers course this afternoon.

Scared but excited!