Our Spring weather has finally arrived and soon we will be back on the sparkling Southern Ocean waters. We managed to get the kayaks launched a number of times over the Winter period, however, there were no truly memorable paddles and few perfect photo opportunities, so we kept ourselves busy, including some Mountain Bike touring in Northern Australia (see our photos here).

As Spring weather arrives so does one truly Australian dilemma. What do you do when your tearing down a mountain bike trail and find your self face to face with a highly venomous Eastern Brown Snake.

Heads or Tails, Heads or Tails. Aim for the Head and they’re less likely to be able to rear up and strike. Aim for the Tail and you might just get around the back of him/her. Some try to “bunny hop” the snake, some grab all brakes and spear off the track.

Of course that’s fine if your going downhill, but our luckless rider was going up an exhausting 5 km. dirt track climb and wasn’t exactly carrying much speed. Head down, pounding away on the pedals Robyn finds her front wheel is just 50 cm. from a big fat 2 metre Brown Snake. GO TAILS AND HEAD OFF TRACK. She wins as the snake scurries across the track, looking back at her as she picks up the bike and heads off.

Now what’s the rule for Kayaks and Great White Sharks ?. Sit quietly and hope they don’t notice you or paddle to shore at lightning speed. Hope I don’t have to find out which one works best.