My First Snake

Wandering down to Diggers Beach this afternoon, I was stopped by an elderly neighbour on his way home from his daily stroll. "Want to see a beautiful bit of local wildlife?" he asked. I said I did, reasoning that it was bound to be something exotic or deadly, or possibly both. He directed me to the rubbish bins at the far end of the car park where he told me I'd find a carpet snake. "Don't hurt him," he called after me. "He won't hurt you."

And there he was, elegantly draped over the stainless steel post between the two bins, about five feet long and brown, with yellow and black markings. His tail was hidden under several coils on top of the post, most of his body hanging down before making a sharp u-turn so his neck and slender head were pointing upward. He was completely motionless, perhaps because the afternoon had turned cool. They're a kind of python and therefore harmless unless you happen to be a small rodent or bird, I suppose.