So after promising I could come over and see his
extensive reptile collection (and no that’s not a euphemism) our time was
running out. It was the exam period and after cancelling on me earlier in the
week due to being called into work, I was sceptical that our plans would
materialise.
That morning I had an exam. It sucked, as exams usually
do. When it was over, we all came out and were talking about…how much it
sucked, basically. I then saw Jarryd. We said hi and I asked if it was still
good for me to come over today. He said it was fine and that he thought it
would be cool if we went to look for some snakes at this National Park. I of
course was pretty excited and we headed off.
We drove to his house, which was immaculately clean. I
mean, to the point of, you don’t want to touch anything in case you make it
dirty, kind of clean. It was a lovely house though. I got to meet his mum, who
was such a sweetheart. She kept asking me if I wanted anything to drink or eat,
and despite saying I was fine, when she heard we were going hiking, she made me
a packed lunch! I also met his sister who was really nice too.
After Jarryd had an argument with his mum and it was all
quite awkward…especially as they both kept asking me questions and trying to
get my opinions on things, which obviously I was more than reluctant to give…we
went out to his shed. As aforementioned, his mum is quite OCD when it comes to
cleaning, so that’s why Jarryd has his own shed for his reptiles haha!
I must say, his collection didn’t disappoint. He showed
me the various individuals and we got a few out. He really does have quite the
menagerie; with his bearded dragons, tiger snakes, pythons and the newest
addition, who I instantly fell in love with, his baby monitor lizard. It was
just so beautiful and tiny!
When we were done, Jarryd grabbed his snake hook and we
headed to the National Park. Now being the sweetie that he is, he repeatedly
said that he wouldn’t interact with anything we found unless I was okay with it
but I was pretty excited at the thought of getting close to some venomous
snakes! I’d gone nearly 4months without seeing one, and I know it was the
Aussie winter but still, near the end of my time there it had started to get
quite warm. And this day was no exception.
As soon as we got out of the car the heat just hit you.
We grabbed what we needed and you could tell how serious I was considering I
even tied my shoes! Jarryd took this opportunity to try out my camera.
We headed off down a path and just started walking
really. It was really nice getting to spend time with Jarryd. We’d only met maybe
a few weeks prior to this but just hit it off really. We bonded over reptiles
and that was just it. Our conversation covered pretty much everything and we
got to know each other a lot better.
We didn’t have much luck on the snake front, in fact I
think no luck better describes it. We didn’t see a single snake but we came to
the conclusion that it was probably due to it being too hot.
After a while we came to this look out post. We walked up
the steps and took a rest at the top. I found it funny how tired Jarryd was
compared to me, considering he spends a lot of time in the gym and I do
virtually no exercise. I guess it makes sense though considering he does more
weight training than cardio but still, I thought it was pretty funny. Anyway,
the view was pretty amazing; you could see the whole park and beyond.
It also gave us an idea of which way to walk, as we were
pretty much ‘lost’ at this point…well, not lost so much as we weren’t sure
which way we wanted to head. So we kept walking and then all of a sudden, we
both spotted a lizard ahead on the path. Jarryd being the cream-crackered
weight lifter he is lagged behind while I ran up to grab it. It was lucky I did
too as I managed to grab it just as it started to go into some bushes. It was a
blue tongue! And considering I’ve had a soft spot for blue tongues since I was
a kid, I was pretty chuffed we just happened to come across one. It was
surprisingly calm and only had the odd burst of being pissy and opened its
mouth to us. We decided to put it down so we could take some photos of it. It
had clearly had enough though and ran into the bush as soon as it hit the
ground. I started pulling back a bit of the undergrowth so we could take a
couple but it was hissing and mouthing while I did, so I didn’t get to move
very much of it out the way.
When we felt we’d bothered it enough, we decided to make
our way back in the general direction of the car. It took us quite a while to
find our way back but the surroundings were beautiful so I didn’t mind.
We then made the drive back to Burwood and I will never
forget Jarryd singing ‘It Girl’ by Jason Derulo in the car haha!
We may not have seen
any snakes but it was still a really great day! J
