Our Friendly Neighbours

A few weeks ago, a teenager was bitten by a shark while surfing just past dawn with his father at North Avalon Beach, on Sydney’s northern beaches. In the past two months, there have been two other shark attacks in the Sydney area- one at the famed Bondi Beach and another in the Harbour. Needless to say, people have been a tad unnerved. They even cancelled the swimming portion of an annual swimming and canoeing race across the Harbour because of the shark risks.

I have to admit that I haven’t worried too much about sharks in our time here. We are not big ocean swimmers, and are not out swimming and surfing at the beach at dawn and dusk—the times that people are warned not to be in the water because sharks are feeding. I even found it fairly amusing to watch people immediately clear the water when a shark warning was broadcast over loudspeakers when I was at one of the City’s crowded beaches two years ago. But this latest attack is just a few miles south of a beach that we have been to several times, and that gave me pause. When we went to the beach two weeks ago, I was somewhat relieved to see helicopters swooping over the water, and the iconic Aussie life savers in their brightly-coloured caps zipping around the water in their boats.

It’s gotten me to thinking about all of the deadly creatures that surround my vulnerable family in our very own neighbourhood.

Two deadly spiders can be found all around the Sydney suburbs- the red-back and the funnel-web. While I haven’t seen the funnel-web, I have seen the red-back- it makes very sticky webs that are low to the ground around our bushes, potted plants, etc. Our neighbour likes to save the ones he finds in glass jars to show off to the kids, and one time even set down a jar in the middle of the table during a lovely afternoon tea that his wife was serving on the veranda. He enjoys telling stories of how his son used to trap them when he was young by putting ants in their webs and then waiting to pounce when the spider came for lunch. I guess you need to develop a somewhat cavalier attitude towards these creatures if you live amongst them.

The other lethal creatures that we live amongst are snakes. As my Animal Planet-obsessed father-in-law likes to always remind us, Australia has the highest percentage of deadly snakes of anywhere in the world. Although some have names that make it pretty obvious that one should steer clear (the common death adder comes to mind), some have innocuous, almost friendly-sounding names, like the common brown snake, the second most venomous snake in the world, one of which was recently reported to have bitten a dog in the neighbourhood.

The other day, when Erin was riding her bike home from school, she was stopped in her tracks by a snake slithering across the road. When she got home, I took down our Australian Geographic “Venomous Snakes of Australia” chart tucked away in the back of a kitchen cabinet and found that it was a venomous red-bellied black snake. Later that afternoon, I discovered that Rick had blu-tacked the poster-sized snake chart to the study wall so that we could all “get to know” these lethal creatures. I vetoed that and immediately returned them to their hiding spot. While we have chosen to live amongst them, and are bound to occasionally come into contact with them, I cannot live with them peering over my shoulder as I work in my own home!

For the benefit of my dear friend Lynn, who thus far has refused to tackle her life-long fear of snakes so that she can have the adventure of a lifetime and come visit me, it is important to note that perhaps the reason that Australians have a more cavalier attitude towards these deadly animals is because bites from the spiders and snakes are rare. And deaths from these bites are exceptionally rare, given that emergency medical providers are well-stocked with anti-venom.

So, c’mon Lynn, the guest room is waiting!

Erin's friend, the red-bellied black snake

Anne