April 22, 2010

6:30 a.m.
The toilet has stopped working again. F**king frogs.

I also need to figure out what is wrong with my breakfasts. They are barely being touched, and Lee (the boss) hasn’t eaten any since the first day. I could have sworn he said he was a big breakfast eater, too.

I slipped coming down the ramp from the kitchen this morning and all the muffins wound up on the ground. Brushed them off as best I could, but it was dark and I couldn’t see much. I’d say some people will be eating dirt for lunch today.

They came home at around noon yesterday, much to my surprise and dismay. Jet says I am the perfect cook -- that most people whine about being alone in camp all day.
I am not in a good mood.

7:00 am
Just went to the toilet, and it flushed. Looks like it was a false alarm earlier… The frogs must have moved on.

3:14 pm
The crew came home for lunch today. Tomorrow I’m told they’ll be back for coffee breaks or ‘smoko’ as well. Just as the first of the crew -- a likable ’bloke’ known as Lucky -- had arrived I spotted a snake down by the area where I wash my dishes. I went and got Lucky, but by the time we returned, the snake was gone. Lucky asked me to describe it -- brownish, and about three feet long -- and assured me that it was probably harmless.

Half an hour later, I was standing by the kitchen talking to Jet when the same snake or its close relative came slithering up. I am informed that it was not a harmless snake after all, but rather a brown snake, which is quite poisonous. While it will not be bothering us again, I have been informed it quite possibly had a nest somewhere nearby.

There are two facts I learned about snakes during my first week in Australia:
1) the only snake is a dead snake
2) it is illegal to kill snakes

Here is another fact that I learned about snakes while on a hike in the Grampians in Victoria, Australia. While mature snakes are more poisonous, baby snakes have more venomous bites as they release all their venom in one bite rather than striking several times as their adult counterpart does. Jet says he has never heard that fact, and since he has never heard it, it must be bullsh*t because he knows everything.

Time to go check on my pot roast.