On Thu, 7 Sep 2017 13:55:43 +1000, James
wrote:

On 06/09/17 16:17, John B. wrote:
On Wed, 6 Sep 2017 07:58:29 +1000, James
wrote:

Yesterday I rode 67km out to a dam and back (33.5km each way).

Descending the range near home, I passed a blue tongue lizard that
appeared to be attempting a road crossing.

There were numerous dead wallabies on the side of the road, and a dead
fox on the road.

A magpie swooped me several times but didn't make contact, unlike the
one on Friday.

A wallaby darted off the road ahead of me, and a goanna just under a
metre long ran across the road just ahead of me as well.

No snakes this time, but goannas have been known to mistake a person for
a tree and climb up. With razor sharp claws and venom in their bite,
they are not to be trifled with!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/201...ia_a_21627361/


And a some goannas grow pretty big. I read some are as much as eight
feet long.... longer, even, then a mountain lion.

But more important I read that "An international research team led by
Dr Bryan Fry, of the Australian Venom Research Unit at the University
of Melbourne, and colleagues at Monash University", published a paper
in 2005 titled Aussie Lizard Bites Can Really Hurt".

As I can find no reference to anyone publishing anything about the
pain of mountain lion bites it must be that the Australian Lizard is a
much more dangerious creature.


Oh yes. Terribly dangerous. It's a wonder I made it home in one piece!

I passed a dead snake on the side of the road today, as well as numerous
bearded dragon lizards squashed on the road. The snake was probably a
python by the looks of it. Relatively harmless.

I watched a pair of magpies in hot pursuit of what I suspect was a young
sea eagle. Had their attention not been taken, I would likely have come
under attack instead. Such is life in Australia. Everything is out to
get you - even some drivers!

Somebody said, was it you, that they were actually attacked by Magpies
while riding.

The scariest thing that I've seen from a bicycle, was a dead king
cobra that reached completely across a two lane country road. O.K. not
a wide country road but I'd reckon it was more than 10 or 12 feet
long.

--
Cheers,

John B.