The brownscaled viperlizard has long been the bane of the Brisbane suburbs, over the last three decades claiming hundreds of hands and feet of unwary tourists who got too close. (Nah, not really.)
We walked down to the first park near us, Boorabbin Picnic Ground (some pics of the park here) then on to the bikeway, passing through Broadwater Park, then Cresthaven Park. At Cresthaven (as we call it), there were three teens playing basketball. Just sort of chucking the ball close to the basket. Mostly not close to the basket.
We then stuck to the road which cleaves the bikeway/bushland from the residences (near where I lived as a teen) and down to the end of the bikeway area on to Wecker Road.
Wecker Road is an incredibly busy but not interesting road, serving only as a conduit between the Creek Road/Cavendish Road intersection and the suburb of Mansfield and COC (Christian Outreach Centre, a local private school). On one side of it sits decrepit housing which never gets renovated, as though their owners fear any beautification would be swallowed up by the otherwise industrial, utilitarian tone set by the low-rise light-industrial estates which are tucked back on the other side.
Mrs Speech found the vines quite interesting. I gave her grief, with my chuckling.
We wound through the suburb of Mansfield, up and down the many tortuous hills - and there are many, seeking solace in the nearest bench whenever we climbed another leviathan.
We dragged ourselves home, arriving after dusk had disappeared and night had enveloped our weary bodies. I dislike arriving home after dark; I don't know why. I think I just like the idea of leaving during the light and returning during twilight, with the night stretched out before us to relax.
