In the morning, Tamar and Lilach went to the local water park, while Daniel and I enjoyed exploring the site’s laundry facilities. The girls returned from the pool excited, and informed us that it is home to a large family of water dragons. We all went to the pool, and picked one of the large males for close examination.
We took full advantage of the late checkout option we were given, leaving the park at 4pm. We drove to Byron Bay, hoping to look for whales and dolphins from the lighthouse. Finding the way to the lighthouse closed to caravans, we decided to skip the resupply stop we intended to make in Byron Bay and save half a day by heading directly to Bundjalung National Park – our next destination. We made our way to the Black Rocks campsite, where we had made an online reservation, and when we were 15 minutes from the destination, according to Google maps, our road was blocked with a sign “Bomb range”. We switched to Waze, and got the same route suggestion… Luckily, this point was at the outskirts of some town, so we found a local resident and asked him if that was the way to Black Rocks. He said it had been, once, but now it was blocked even for pedestrian access, and directed us to return to the highway (which, in this area was no more than a rural road) and drive around the park to the southern entrance. We retraced the last 30 minutes of the way and proceeded to the south entrance as suggested. Inside the park, the road changed from bitumen to unsealed gravel, then to a rather bumpy dirt road. At one point there was a fork and it wasn’t clear which we should take. We tried the left side first, which quickly led to another “Bomb range” sign and closure, so we had to retrace again.
At some point, a rope shape on the dirt road turned out to be a run-over brown snake. Glancing at it from the driver seat, I wasn’t sure if it was the Eastern Brown Snake or the Mulga Snake (a.k.a. “King Brown Snake”) – the choice was between extremely venomous and highly venomous… For the first time in my life I saw a dead snake and had to admit to myself that my initial feeling – strangely and irrationally – was relief that we did not meet it alive. In reality, both these snake species, belonging to the Elapidae like the Cobras, Kraits and Taipans, were hardly a threat if met along the road. Although these large snakes possess a very strong venom (measured microgram for microgram, the venom of the Brown Snake is about the most potent in the world, second only to the Inland Taipan – another Australian species), and can be quite aggressive if cornered, their reaction upon encounter would normally be to quickly escape and seek cover. By that time it was already past sunset, so when the headlights revealed another lump on the road it took me a couple of seconds to register it as another snake. I stopped the vehicle, grabbed a flashlight and ran back the 30 meters or so to see what it was. This time it was a Death Adder, and a nice one – very much alive. This small and robust elapid’s reaction to encounter was very different from the one expected from a Brown Snake . Namely, it stayed still right where it was. The Death Adder is an ambush predator – it wiggles the creamy tip of its tail in imitation of a worm, and strikes any unwitting victim that is attracted to it. Despite its small size it has very large venom glands, and though the venom is not as strong as that of the Brown Snake per microgram, the quantity more than makes up for it. The mortality statistics from its bite therefore stand at an astounding 60% if untreated by antivenom, compared with “mere” 40% for the Brown Snake.
We all watched the beautiful snake from a safe distance for a couple of minutes before continuing to the campsite near the beach. While we were driving around the camp, trying to find the site number we reserved, we saw the silhouette of an animal crossing the dirt road some 50 meters ahead of us. At the speed we were driving, given the road condition, the hour and the proximity of other campers, it was already in the bush beside the road by the time we got to it, and we were left wondering what it was. After eliminating wombats, which seem not to be found in this area, we were left with our original assumption, that it was a koala. One of the main reasons we chose to come to Bundjalung was that it’s considered a very good place to spot koalas. Furthermore, in October, at the height of the breading season, they do wander on the ground during the night quite a lot.
When we found our campsite, it was occupied by a nice older couple in a small camper van, who were preparing dinner. We told them we reserved the site, and they explained that they intended to register online after seeing the sites, but discovered they didn’t have cellular reception, so they picked a free site and intended to deal with the registration the following day. They asked for a few minutes to finish cooking whatever it was they had on their stove, then moved out of the site and we moved in. We lit a campfire, but ate dinner inside the caravan, since after the venomous snake encounters Daniel was (justifiably) afraid to eat outside. After dinner we did sit by the campfire, having reassured Daniel that we were safe from snakes there, and at Tamar’s demand spent some time telling some tall and scary tales.
Family Trips 