Snake or what?

What a welcome home surprise!

We’ve been away for a month-long vacation. I missed the house so right after we’ve settled down from the long flight, I immediately went for a quick check on the garage, the laundry area, and the backyard. As expected, grasses grew tall in our backyard lawn. Dried leaves are scattered all over the pavement and spider webs are everywhere in the fences. This calls for a major ‘cleanup’.

While I was planning how to start with this massive backyard overhaul, I saw what looks like an animal head in the mulch. It quickly hid itself when I saw it so I really didn’t get a good look. I immediately called my husband and tried to describe what I saw. I said the head was as big as the head of a bullfrog or a snake. So he decided to have a closer look himself. He used the rake and a long stick to poke gently into the mulch hoping the creature will come out. After several attempts, he rakes the mulch out and an opening appeared. There it was. This time, he saw only the body. ”It seems like a snake. It looked like a snake.” But still, we are unsure of it. Trying to be cautions, we made an assumption that it was a snake and therefore decided to call the authority who handles snakes. I tried not to lose sight of the creature. Then after sometime, it gently crawled out towards our neighbor’s backyard. To my surprise I shouted “It’s not a snake! It’s not a snake! It has legs.” It turned out to be a Blue Tongue Lizard after checking in the internet. They are very common and widespread in New South Wales. They are safe and harmless. Others even adopt them as a pet. What an encounter! At least now we are sure that our backyard is still safe place for our children to play.