Ballina Information Blog

The glorious weather we’ve been experiencing means beaches, barbecues — and snakes.

This brown snake was photographed on the walkway-cycleway on Lighthouse Hill near the old surf club site today by Northern Star and Ballina Shire Advocate photographer Doug Eaton.

Doug was taking photos of professional fishermen netting pilchards on Lighthouse Beach at East Ballina.

He walked up the path to get a better shot of the fishermen when the brown snake startled him.

Doug, who says he likes snakes, said the snake wasn’t aggressive towards him.

However, it’s a bit of a worry when you consider how many people use the path, so it might pay to be a bit wary when you’re in that area.

Surf lifesavers based at the nearby lifesaving operations centre building told Ballina.Info that the snake had been sighted several times over the past few days.

It’s not the first time I’ve heard of snakes in the area. Many years ago, a female friend was sunbathing on the beach near the rocks just below the path.

She had her eyes closed and felt something on her legs. When she opened her eyes and looked down, there was a brown snake slithering across her legs.

Needless to say, she got the fright of her life — but she was smart enough to let the snake go on its way before she moved.

So it’s wise to follow the long-held advice: Leave them alone, and they’ll leave you alone.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 6:15 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.