Toilet Frog

In keeping with the Official Australian Carpet Snake, I will be referring to the following creature as Toilet Frog. The dark green, hand-sized amphibian was discovered by me (with much fanfare, I might add) one evening during a school meeting. He was head down towards the pipe with legs sticking up, alive and not particularly stressed, a predicament he apparently got into after my friend used the toilet before me without noticing him and flushed. I was informed that he is a tree frog and that he lives under the toilet seat, coming and going as he pleases. For the life of me I cannot figure out why a frog that normally lives in trees would prefer to live in such a wet, high risk environment. I checked in later that evening and sure enough all I could see were two Toilet Frog toes curled around the top of the toilet seat from underneath. One has a choice of two toilets in this part of the school; Frog Toilet and Mosquito Toilet. Frankly, I would rather take my chances and wee in the bush....

Carpet Snake

For those of you of non-Australian origin, I know what you are saying "Carpet snake? What the ____ is a carpet snake?" I am still trying to figure that one out. I think it is just a friendly name for a 6 foot python that has just crawled into your house. Or in our case, the kindergarten playground, which I guess would make it a "playground Snake". That said, I am deeply relieved that it was a "carpet snake" and not one of the many poisonous snakes that crawl about in this area. A beautiful 6 foot grey python was removed by one of the dads and sent away back into the bush. Having spoken to one of the moms about the incedent, she said, "oh, they are good! they scare the other snakes away." Now I want to bring it back back. Next time, when you are in Australia and there is a carpet / playground / tile (there is a lot of tile here) or whatever pythony snake around - KEEP IT!

White Cedar Moth Caterpillars

Driving up to the lighthouse in Bryon Bay, my husband pulled over to check out a line of grubs marching up the bike path. A small crowd had stopped and gathered to observe the procession. These White Cedar Moth caterpillars eat and defoliate trees then march nose to bum in long processional lines in search of more food. It seems to be unusual that we were able to see them during the day. Information that I have read about them indicates that they come out at night. Interestingly, people were trying to protect them and keep them from marching into the traffic, even though they can be quite destructive. And, like most insects here in Aus, people let me know not to touch them as they may be poisonous.