Will Reid's All Aussie Adventures

 Jewel Bug (Scutiphora pedicellata)

Happy Australia Day folks! No, I don't know what it's all about either. On the one hand you've got the media treating us like morons and desperately trying to convince the masses that we live in a Utopian multi-cultural society here in Australia. On the other hand you've got the reality of drunken racist louts wrapped in the national flag, you've got indigenous Australians marking "Invasion Day" and every other ethnic group staying well away from each other too. Yes, Australia is multi-cultural but those cultures never meet. It's an absolute shocker! The best thing you can do on Australia Day is get away from it all and that means only one thing - head up to the mountains again.

When we were up there at New Year, my brother-in-law Will took us out in his ute to a part of the Blue Mountains that I'm pretty unfamiliar with. Over on the west side of things is the Newnes Plateau which contains such great attractions as a rock that looks like a tortoise and glow worms in an old railway tunnel.

Rock looking like a tortoise

The day we were out there was warm and so the bird-life was pretty quiet but the heat does bring out the snakes and on this occasion it was a big Tiger Snake that crossed the road in front of the car. Instead of bolting, the snake turned and, flattening it's neck like a cobra, reared up and proceeded to take on the car! Terrifying and potentially deadly if you weren't safe inside. Sadly my camera took an age to switch on and by the time I'd fumbled around and got it working the snake had decided to move on. Absolutely gutted! It would have been an amazing image to share with you.

Glow worm tunnel