Death adder

 "I really don't like the thought of bumping into anything with a name that starts with death", wrote my English sister, when I sent her this photo of a death adder (Acanthophis antarcticus).

Neither should I. But I just love these things, and so far they've always been too sleepy to be very offended when I've invaded their personal space.

We encountered this one fast asleep in the middle of the Engineers Track on the lower Grose River. Our fearless leader stepped right over him without noticing. I was second in line, and pulled up sharply. The lady behind me made everyone in the valley very aware of its presence with her loud screams!

Never poke a sleeping snake with a stick, is a well-known rule of bushwalking. Well, fearless leader did exactly that. No problem, we lived to tell the tale, and we did wake the thing up, and hopefully he slithered off into a better hiding place.