weekend walks: manly dam
This weekend’s walk comes with more than just photos but also a story:
Our tally for the day was one red-bellied black snake, one brown snake and one goanna. A record considering we have seen NONE before in the wild. The two snakes is on the list for Australia’s deadliest snakes so you can imagine our reaction when we came across two in the span of about 20 minutes!
We panicked and our adrenaline kicked in – for those few seconds, we couldn’t think and pretty much froze. Kind of wish now that we had thought to take a photo. The red-bellied snake just slithered right across our path – possibly sun-baking until interrupted by the vibration of us approaching. As we watched it exit, it seemed to be moving in slow motion, with its bright red belly pressed against the ground. On the other hand, the brown snake seemed petrified of us when we crunched innocently through some dried leaves as we approached a billabong. The brown snake took off alongside a log and honestly, to witness its speed as it propelled its body was sensational. More sensational that it was heading AWAY from us. We had never seen anything like it other than on TV.
The goanna also had us stopped in our tracks. He paused on the path for about 2-3 minutes, long enough for us to take a photo from a distance, before scurrying off into the bushes!
What a surreal day! And as you would have it, we had forgotten to pack our first-aid kit. So there we were, hoping we could get to the end of the walk without any snake attacks!
Hope you enjoy the photos from this weekend’s walk.
Manly Dam circuit walk is about 7.3 km which took us about 3 hours as the terrain varies quite significantly. Manly is approximately 17 km north of Sydney. There are plenty of picnic areas, areas for swimming, bike and walking tracks.
wise monkeys abroad 
May 5, 2014 at 9:37 pm
[…] Walking back to where our car was parked, there was a snake presentation on. It was extremely educational and we really wished we had heard this talk before we encountered snakes on our walk at Manly Dam […]
March 2, 2014 at 6:12 pm
[…] chose a coastal walk this time because after last week’s encounters with the reptiles, we opted to stay out of any bush areas. We saw lots of different birds […]
February 25, 2014 at 2:41 pm
Beautiful photos but very scary story! 🙂
February 25, 2014 at 7:24 pm
Thanks!! Yes – coming across snakes is definitely not fun!
February 25, 2014 at 2:01 am
You walked for 73Km? What a Manly walk!
February 25, 2014 at 5:55 am
No 🙂 – it was 7.3 km & the area is called Manly 🙂
February 26, 2014 at 10:11 pm
Yeah it was just a pun.. the manly thing 😛
Oh only 7.3Km, that’s manageable then!
February 24, 2014 at 8:01 am
It is good to know that most snakes will not attack unless cornered!
February 24, 2014 at 9:00 am
Yes – phew for that!! Comforting to know but frightening to encounter… 🙂
Thanks for reading!
February 23, 2014 at 6:33 pm
Beautiful photos! Australia is such a magical place, except for those brown snakes ofcourse lol.
February 23, 2014 at 9:36 pm
Thank you so much for visiting and for your comment. Yes those snakes are pretty scary – but obviously they are scared of us, thank goodness! -)
February 23, 2014 at 9:37 pm
Yes that is a relief that’s for sure.