9.11.2011

Oh, the joys of doing laundry in Australia. As I have told many of you, using dryers here is not very common. Many people do not even own a dryer, and if they do, it is rarely used. The washing is pretty much always hung outside on the line to dry. If it is raining, the washing is either left for a sunnier day or hung inside on small clothes racks. Seriously, even those who own dryers do not usually use them when it is raining! I mean, I know that hanging the washing out to dry is much more environmentally friendly than using the dryer, but the dryer is oh-so convenient and I miss it. Clothes just don't feel and/or fit the same when they are hung out to dry instead of dried in the dryer..... jeans get stretched out, towels feel a bit scratchy..... you see where I am going with this?

Well, over the weekend, I developed a new reason why I am not really keen on hanging the washing out to dry. See the pictures I posted? Well, I was literally about 10 centimetres away from stepping on this fellow while hanging out the washing. I nearly had a heart attack. This type of lizard is called a Blue Tongue (yes, it is called that because it does have a blue tongue) and is very common here. They are not dangerous, but can certainly give you a fright if they sneak up on you. He was obviously much more terrified than I was, as he stayed still long enough for me to dash into the house, grab my camera and snap these shots. The house where I am staying, which I will refer to as Dryandra (the street name), has a large back garden full of creatures. There are beautiful birds, lizards, snakes, and possums. And yes, I have seen all of these in the past several weeks. Oh, and to give you an idea of the size of today's featured lizard, he was about as long my arm (from nose to tail end) and the widest part of his body was about the same size as a can of soda. He looks like a snake with legs, don't you think?

Anyways, I will conclude by saying: Be happy you don't have to deal with this anytime you may want to do some laundry!