a short garden excursion

......out the back door and up a couple of steps to the top pathway.  We'll turn around to the left there and that pathway networks right around, down to the garage and finally back down around the house again on the lower level.  There are a few other pathways leading off these too.... but I'm only going to take you with me for a short walk to show you something.  Ready?

 

Remember it's springtime here and the days are getting warmer, and deciduous shrubs, like the crepe-myrtles, are starting to show lovely new green leaves.  

I'd been walking back and forth topping up a couple containers with potting mix, and heard a little rustle in the dried leaves.  There's often little skinks racing through and they'll scuttle after basking in the sun as you walk past.

As I'd walked past this point a couple times I thought to myself that the rustle sounded a little loud for just a tiny skink and so I stood for a moment and bent over to look for it.  

I came face to face with ...

 

Well first thought was to have some ID to be sure what kind it was, so I'd gone to get my camera.  This is my fourth encounter with ...  a Yellow-faced Whip Snake. 

Reading on Wildlife Qld, I'm alerted that it is 'potentially dangerous' i.e. venemous, and that its diet is "swift, fast-moving lizards such as skinks"  One good reason to be in a garden that has plenty of hidey-holes in retainer walls, and plenty of skinks!

Watching from a distance then, from the garden room at the other end of the pathway, and it decided to quickly race across the pathway and over to a garden opposite, and I expect from there slithered through the chain-mesh fencing and out across the grass, and into the bush corridor beyond.  If only they'd stay out there....