Even Indiana Jones is afraid of snakes

Even Indiana Jones is afraid of snakes-

Let me first give the disclaimer that I absolutely loved the trek. For the sake of a journal (blog) its easier to verbalise experiences rather than emotions. I don’t have enough adjectives in my vocabulary to convey the beauty and peaceful serenity I was surrounded by during my 5 days on the trail… Plus it’s only so interesting hearing about the good stuff and definitely more fun for the reader to hear about the bad. Because of this my Overland Track blog entry will sound more like a horror story than the love letter it should…

Pre trip the big debate was gaiters vs no gaiters (the things that go over your shoes and prevent things from getting inside). They are recommended for the track for mud and to protect against snake bite. Not too worried about the mud my only reason for getting them was if they could REALLY stop a snake bite which I didn’t see how they would unless made of rawhide. I asked around and got mixed opinions. At an outdoor store the 2-2 tie was broke by a woman who said they would NOT stop a snake bite, and my best defence against snakes is just to stay attentive and I’ll be fine, “just make some noise when you are walking along, shuffle your feet every so often and they’ll get out of your way” As I was leaving she says- “Hey, be sure you have some salt on you for when you get a leech”… WHEN!?!… What do you mean WHEN I get a leech?… “Yeah they are very common on the trail, just through a pinch of salt on them and they freak out and jump off”. On my lunch stop I loaded my pockets with about 8 packets of salt. As far as the snakes, I figured I’ll just keep an eye out and if one comes for my leg I’ll just give it a little “wax on wax off” swat with my trekking pole and show him who’s boss.

From the beginning of the trail there were big, buzzing and bitting flies. At any given time while walking you had the company of 2 or 3 of the little fellas. The problem came when you wanted to rest. Within 15 seconds of stopping you had about 10 join in on the fun. 3 minutes in you were surrounded by 20-30 buzzing and swarming all around you like a baby in Ethiopia. They were absolutely relentless. Even at the top of the Cradle Mountain summit side trip it made more sense to keep moving then take some time at the peak to enjoy my accomplishment. Down from Cradle Mountain where I left my pack it was lunch time… Nope! At the base of the trailhead was the bitting fly rendezvous point and my relaxing lunch turned into eating a granola bar on the move because it wasn’t worth stopping to chill. In the hut on the first night I studied the map and realized I can power through and finish the track in time to catch some more sights of Tasmania, which I hadn’t originally planned on. I needed to skip a hut so packed my bag for a quick departure, woke up early and was on the trail by 6:15am.

It’s an awesome feeling being first out of the campground and first on the track, stating out your day walking in the twilight of dawn. Here comes the other side of that coin- being the trailblazer I had the very unfortunate responsibility of clearing the booty traps (that’s what I said booty traps) set by the spiders overnight. After catching a few in the mouth I developed a technique. With my hands pulled close to my shoulders I swung my trekking poles up and down from shin to overhead like 2 probing alien antennae in attempt to catch a spider web before my face did. It seemed to be working, though more than a few definitely got through my forcefield. In the afternoon the flies started waking up again. There were some places worse than others, but by 1pm my sitting down to take a 10 minute break again became leaning over on my trekking poles for 30 seconds. After walking a few hours through an exposed terrain (Buttongrass Moorland) I was exhausted and coming up on a forested area (Myrtle Beech Rainforest). Before reaching it I was trying to find ANYWHERE away from the flies to put my pack down and relax for a while, but no luck. I tell myself maybe once I get to the trees the flies will ease up a bit and I can do lunch. Because I was tired I wasn’t in my normal power walk stride, but kinda the lumbering, feeling sorry for myself, I’d give anything for a neck massage, pace. If I HAD been in power stride I likely would have stepped directly on a massive tiger snake…

Just as the sunny exposed moorland turned into shadowy tree covered forrest I got the scare of a lifetime. The ultra venomous tiger snake, about the width of the barrel of a baseball bat and 5 feet long saw me before I saw him, but apparently he was just as surprized. He DARTED and was 20 yards away to the nearest downed tree in no longer than 2 seconds. It was the fastest and most powerful thing I’ve ever seen on land. I was paralysed with terror and quickly realized my “sand the floor” karate technique I had planned wasn’t going to do shit if one of them wanted to get at me. Once I found the courage to get my feet moving again I could not be bothered by any flies, bees, spider webs, leeches, aching back or fatigue. From that point on I looked like an autistic drummer, pounding the floor with my poles and stomping the ground with my boots to make as much noise as humanly possible. I didn’t stop again to rest for another few hours. Initially thinking I would be (un)lucky to see even 1 snake it didn’t stop there… Not 3, not 4, not 5, but “7”… SEVEN snakes I ended up encountering on my hike!!

Snakes 2, 3, 5 and 7 I had already gotten past and were all slowly slithering away into the grass with the sound of my shuffling feet. Snakes numbers 4 and 6 were how I originally imaged seeing a snake would be, but the hardest to overcome- Smack dab in the middle of the hiking trail about 15-20 feet up the way. After they finally slid into the surrounding bush it was then up to me to either turn and walk back 3-4 days or cross the point on the trail where I last saw them… Inching slowly a few steps STOMP STOMP STOMP… A few more steps STOMP STOMP… Bend down to try to see where they went, bang the poles a few times, inch STOMP, inch STOMP STOMP inch, bend down again to look, place both poles down to the outside of my leg on the side they snuck away to, hold my breath, say a little prayer and walk past… Exhausting

All said and done it was still the first snake I nearly stepped on that was most terrifying. I managed to take my snake encounters in stride (or inch depending on which number it was). At the very end of the trail while waiting for the ferry to take us across the lake an over enthusiastic and uninitiated fellow hiker yells out- “ooh I see one, I see one, there’s a snake guys”… He and a few others gleefully bounce over with cameras in hands to catch a shot… I quietly sat on the porch and thought to myself- yeah, you guys have fun with that.

Bob

P.S. Since you made it all the way to this long post there is a trivia question- There are 3 eighties movies referenced here. First person to name which actor appeared in 2 of them gets dinner on me next time I see you.