Thursday, January 29, 2015

Night commuting

Note to self...

Commuting by bicycle from Darwin to Palmerston at dusk is divine, the flowing water, the frogs, egrets, bright green spear grass, cool showers of rain, all lovely! Riding home through the wetlands at night... Not so great!

12 km of this path is through unlit wetlands... Lots of reptiles and amphibians


Returning along the bike path raised only centimeters above water level of flooded wetlands in the dark of night might sound romantic, but a discerning cyclist should be aware that what appears cute in the day can become hazardous by nightfall!

One of many Cane Toads enjoying the wet bitumen (apologies for poor quality image)

Tonight I narrowly missed squashing several frogs and some pretty hefty looking Cane Toads on the path... Unfortunately I was moving too fast to avoid running over one snake! I think it was a Keel Back or a Slaty Grey, poor bugger.


2 comments:

GreenComotion said...

David,
I have run over spiders and have felt bad about that, but I didn't stop to examine what happened, especially if it was the night time. Bad on me perhaps, but can't win'em all, ya know?
Happy Trails mate!
Peace :)

David J said...

I rarely hit any creatures while riding my bike but at night in the rain, even when using lights it's hard to avoid all the wildlife.