Share the story of a time you felt unsafe …
In 1980 my former husband and I took up an opportunity to work in a remote Indigenous community in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. I was twenty-six at the time with two sons – one was four years old and the other was only six-months old. It was a big adventure for us all.
At first I was even scared of the local Indigenous people but I later learned that I was experiencing culture shock. Everything was unfamiliar to me and communication was difficult. In time, my children helped me overcome that barrier as children tend to do.
There were deadly snakes to be afraid of too – Death (Deaf?) Adders and other venomous species. It wasn’t unusual to find snakes in our yard. Once I found one in my pantry cupboard!
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- A wild buffallo in the bushes
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- Northern Territory
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- Swimming in the billabong
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- One of the streets
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- The town’s water supply
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- Little girl and dead crocodile
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- Barge Northern Territory
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- The only way in or out
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- Numbulwar from the air.
Probably the scariest experience was a trip out bush to a billabong. It was a sandy track only suitable for four-wheel drive vehicles. We were in an open cabin Land Rover. Some way into the journey we found ourselves confronted by a wild, male buffalo.
It was snorting and stamping its feet while it considered what to do with us. We sat still (apart from the shaking!) for several minutes. It was very angry and showing it! Each of us said lots of prayers that we would get out of this alive and the buffalo would get bored with us. I am pleased to say it eventually found something more interesting to frighten and left us alone. Phew!
We were only a minute’s walk from the beach too but the fear of crocodiles meant we didn’t go there often 🙂
Great memories!
cheers
Lorraine
You are very lucky.
Thanks Ranu! It was very scary at the time 🙂
Nature nurtures . . . but wild beasts are scary! 😯
Yes they ARE scary – especially when they are big and strong! 🙂
Sheesh! That is a scary story. I’m deathly afraid of snakes. I’ve read that Australia has the greatest number of poisonous snakes on the globe. Yikes!
Yep! We had a tiger snake in our yard last summer and I am keeping a careful watch again this year 🙂
D’oh! Never heard of a “tiger snake” before. That combo of words is nasty.
I’ve heard those Australian crocodiles are extremely dangerous! A good reason to stay away from the beach! Sounds like there was good reason to be cautious and afraid!
Thanks Cathy. I live a lot further south now but just this week someone was taken by a Great White shark. I don’t go into the water further than my ankles!
I can certainly understand why! How tragic! I’m a scuba diver and I often have people ask whether I’ve ever dived on the Great Barrier Reef. My answer is that while I would love to go and see the life there, there are some creatures that are scary – like Great Whites and also those deadly box jelly fish that live there. Yikes! But I would love to come and see your lovely country/continent some time.
Hi Cathy, I hope you do get the opportunity to visit Australia. 🙂