Tag Archives: hoop snake

Guest post: Chris does Australia

Dear Katie’s Adoring Fans,

My name is Chris. You may have seen me (if you looked closely) in such photos as The Koala Family or Chris shares with his new friend. I am accompanying Katie on her journey to the other hemisphere, mostly playing as her comic relief.

While my better half has been taking in the sights of Brisbane, I’ve had some learning to do. My employer had me going through a general orientation course for my new position out at a tradesperson training centre in the suburb (I guess?) of Salisbury. Though a little dry at times, it afforded me a number of useful pieces of knowledge, my favourites being how to perform first aid on a) a redback/black widow bite and b) snake bites. I got the distinct feeling that everyone else in the room (they were all Aussies) had learned this before; in this case, I was OK being the slow one for the day.

Small talk amongst the students was always enlightening and yielded my first Dropbear and Hoop Snake mentions as well as the perfectly stereotypical exchange of, Me: “Holy shit, everything in Australian can kill me”, Them: “Ya, but Canada’s got bears to worry about”. Additionally, I’ve been picking up on the small differences in speech they seem to have around here such as asking “How you going?” (How you doing?) or the expected “No worries” (thanks). I enjoy the small things.

The time Katie and I have had to wander Brisbane together has been fantastic and it’s going to be hard to leave in a couple of weeks. Every local we’ve asked has gently informed us that Mackay is dreadful but, in my experience, dreadfulness is a highly subjective attribute.

For now, we’re here and loving it. At this very moment, I’m off to bed because I’m an old man. Expect to see me making a cameo again at some completely unscheduled time in the future.

Chris