Nature

The patio has large cobwebs with big old Daddy Long Legs spiders in them. Some simply have a fat spider. There are also snails. One left a giant goober trail across the patio on our first night here. Welcome to the neighborhood.

We went to a place that had an exhibit about the “most deadly (fill in the blank)” which showed the top five most deadly snakes of the world (all from Australia), deadly wild things you find at the beach that can make you feel ill, as well as several deadly spiders. Apparently the Daddy Long Legs has a bite but he has a hard time biting humans (small jaws?). The fat spiders, on the other hand, can bite humans and will cause you to feel nauseous. They recommended seeking medical attention if bitten. Oh.

We had seen some odd birds flying around at night--John thought they were birds because of they were the size of a healthy seagull. We saw them flying around The Corso mall one Saturday night and got a good enough look to see that they were bats. One day we were in the Royal Botanic Gardens and we could see them sleeping in the trees like so much large hanging fruit. There were hundreds of them. They’re fruit-eaters, not vampire bats so we don’t worry about getting attacked. Actually they are Flying Foxes not bats, but that’s not as exciting.

The Royal Botanic Gardens are full of all sorts of exotic plants from places like Brazil and Africa. With the quarantine restrictions in place now there is no way if they were starting from scratch that the Botanic Gardens could develop the collection they have. These are plants that are growing outdoors and they can produce seeds and fruit at any time!

Apparently cane toads are in Sydney and this is a problem. I learned that they are slightly poisonous but other than that (!) I’m not sure why people are trying to get rid of them. On that note, one morning I heard a frog croaking outside my window and it sounded just like the classic “ribbit ribbit ribbit.”

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Last revised: October 2003