70's, 80's, 90's, page-37

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RedCedar

17,853 Posts.

14

13/11/19

21:28

Post #: 41410353
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Originally posted by kengaroo: ↑

Wow Red, nice one.

Many years in North Queensland towns. Cairns, Townsville, Ingham and Proserpine.

As a forest Officer for the then D.P.I Forest Service working in the Rainforest's of the North, stinging nettle, Mulberry Leaf Stinger, Gympie Gympie and Paper Wasps were my greatest enemy.

Your memories resonate with me.

In my early years I did two years of cutting plant cane by hand and planting in Ingham.

The north is a different country. A life time away.

Cheers mate

Oops... The humour forum

The Marks to Prove it.
By K. Engaroo

I was tree marking for thinning in a forest one day.

In order to walk many miles on my own, without having to return to my vehicle, I would put an extra spray can in my back pocket of my strides.

As I am very colour blind, I had to use flouro orange spray paint.

I had been walking and marking for about two hours, when I walked up to a tree, I marked the tree and then froze.

In the corner of my eye, there was movement on the ground between my feet....

I looked down and right there between my feet was a VERY large King Brown Snake.

In pure instinct, I lept backwards about 2 metres.

As it was the dry season, the snake was not that alert.

Slowly this giant slithering reptile moved away without a hint of care...

Well.. I was pooping myself!

So, as a devout smoker, back in that day, I was in desperate need of a cigarette.

A "Durry".

I squated down against a tree as I lit my smoke.

There was an almighty hiss..

I jumped once again with my heart in my mouth..

I turned around, looking for my fearsome predator.

There was nothing to be seen.

BUT

As I turned my body, there on the back of my pants was a massive bright fluro orange stripe...

As I had squated to have my Durry, I had compressed the nozzle on the extra can of paint in my back pocket and had a paint mark right down my legs..

Bloody snake... and the marks to prove it!!

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Our world can suddenly change as seen in Queensland when our cat encountered a young Taipan. Both fought without giving ground,instinctively knowing to lose territory meant death.

The more powerful cat killed the snake, but died a few minutes later, and shocked I came to see how quickly a life can end.

When fishing at a rock pool that featured crystal clear waters we could see hungry fishes of all sizes circling in search of food. Once a fish took the bait there was a frenzied life and death battle to free itself and I came to appreciate the visceral instinct for survival at a fairly a fairly young age.

Last edited by RedCedar: 13/11/19
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