It wasn’t the sort of wail that would worry me so much back in the UK, but in Australia hearing my daughter utter the words: “Mummy, there’s something scary in my room and it’s moving!” was enough to get me into her bedroom ‘faster than a rat up a drainpipe!’
Living in Canberra, the “Bush Capital” of Australia, my mind immediately thought the worst – snake or spider. And they could be DEADLY.
Moments later, contemplating the higgledy-piggledy mess of our darling preschooler’s bedroom floor. My thoughts were as follows:
Was it a shadow from a flung toy that had caused the scare? Or could it be a snake or spider? My money was on snake that had slithered under the bed.
“It was scary and moving, it was jumping!”
Or maybe spider then.
Rootling around past the books and toys and rug I decided that perhaps it was just a shadow that had frightened her after all.
Then BOING!
It was a cricket. No dramas.
A glass, some paper, some ferreting around and capturing it, then a few moments later, the wildlife was safely deposited outside the front door.
This wasn’t the first Australian wildlife encounter we’ve had since moving here. Just to remind us that we are actually living in Australia we have had the pleasure of a few random Aussie wildlife encounters, including:
- A gecko in our bed.
- A bee in the bathroom.
- Ants in the toilet.
- A huntsman spider in the porch.
- A panick-stricken kangaroo bouncing in front of the bus.
- Bluebottles on the beach. Luckily we did not step on one or encounter them in the water…
- Baby huntsman on the laundry on the washing line.
This is ‘Straya, Mate’!