Yellow Fever

Well I do not have yellow fever nor do I want it. So with the upcoming possibility of a short term assignment in West Africa I need with Wanna to get down to Bangkok for the necessary jabs.

Can you believe given Thailand geographical location it is necessary to go to Bangkok for the jab and Certificate.  Apparently you can get the jab locally but the certificate not so. Strange but TIT.

So we flew down for the day.  Train into town and visited  the Red Cross Society where they have inoculations for everything you can imagine and some you never knew about.

Of course the main thing in this regard in Thailand is snakes and dealing with snake bites.  Seem to be a lot of nasty guys around as well. So the Red Cross is fully equipped and has an in house snake farm  or snakeatorium  whatever it s called so they can extract venom to make vaccines..  Actually I do not like snakes but it was fascinating going round and seeing them from a safe distance..... i.e through thick glass or mesh.

The place was very education. That does not sound exciting does it....  I added a copy of the video.  Bit boring but it will serve as a memory in time.

So some photos  snakes including a skeleton of a python.  Ugh !!!!!!!!

Busy day with a little drama.

Started off nice and relaxed this morning. Bit of a late start.  Had just settled into my second morning cup of coffee,as one does.  Very relaxed.  "Don't forget to fix the water pump electrics. Seems to have a short."

OK OK I'll get to it.  Actually good job I did. Plug completely melded away.

So what to go and do as follow up.  Obvious. After such hard work I went off to the music studio to play some blues with my mate Dante. Even there no rest.  Someone outside the studio came round to show us the new local resident..He was just leaving by way of being chucked over a a large wall at
the rear of the compound..... Thank God.  They give a nasty bit........and more.

Lazy Day

Spent the day clearing up the house and then a few of Wanna's nephews and nieces came round to paint our concrete fish tank. Its really a piece of concrete pipe which needed a major 'fix up' to make it anywhere near presentable. I think they did a good job of it.

Then later while messing around in our pond 'Jip' caught a snake.  Ugh.. I might add it was dead on arrival, i.e. by the time i got there....

House Construction.... more

Well today was exciting. The whole roof line is now clearly defined. Bob the builder was going for gold. He was up on the edges nailing in facer boarding and seemed glued to each piece of wood that he  touched. Good thing for him as it is a 6 meter drop.
I went to the other side of our pond to get the usual position for a progress photo. It was today that I realized it is a big extension. Bob and his mate spent all day doing the house and Wanna and I did some work round the garden, including burning some rubbish and sorting out the wood which had been attacked by termintes. Yes, only been on the ground about a month and already several bits are now useless. So spend an hour sorting and shifting that lot out. Of course saw a snake about 2 foot long brown thing, which disappeared into the undergrowth. No chance of a photo. It did slow me down a bit wondering what was under the next piece of wood. And sure enough, it happened a small scorpion appeared but did not get the chance like the snake to run away. It has since gone to meet his maker.....

More updates to follow.

Sunday ... Snakes and Bar B Q

What started off as a quiet morning ended up being somewhat adventurous. There we were sitting outside having a quiet coffee and suddenly Wanna exclaims “Snake”.



Sure enough on the steps up to the higher garden area was an enormous snake. Well it was about 5 foot long. Brown thing with yellow underbelly. For me a nasty thing as I have never been used to snakes. In UK we grew up with only small adders which were not really dangerous in the ‘real’ sense. My reaction was to grab the camera. .Wanna’s was to get rid of it. Back in Thailand we could easily ring someone up to come and get rid of it but here we were not sure just who to call. I do remember in Thailand Owen telling me he had a snake crawl up the underside of his car... ugh!!!!
Away after a few photos by myself from a safe distance, Wanna proceeded by spraying it with the garden hose pipe. It finally decided to get away by going back up the steps. Interestingly the magpies were suddenly all over the place and very; keen to peck away at it. Quite extraordinary. Of course after all this our coffee was cold. Made a new one and could feel the caffeine working! Good start to SundayThe afternoon saw us going out to Calliope for a Bar B Q. The ‘camping crew’ for want of a better description invited Wanna and I to a sort of fair well Bar B Q in view of our planned departure from Gladstone. Great afternoon and good fun was had by all.

Garden Snakes

Well never expected to see a snake in my garden. I know everyone says they are common around etc but even so.  In my garden.  Its walled in and not so big. Kept clean and the grass cut every few weeks so...

Anyway there it was. Wanna shooed it away with the end of the broom stick while I got the camera... I’ve had it identified.  It is a Black Whip snake. Potentially dangerous to humans but it left us along....

Want to know more about eh little chap.  www.wildlifeqld.com.au/Lesser_Black_Whip_snake.html