The old skins

Walking through the forest of gum trees you can be sure, dont walk off the path.  If you really really need to, you will have to look around as carefully as you can and find a place with the least amount of leaves on the ground.
You cant find moss growing in the forests here, too dry for it, I guess. It is dry twigs, leaves and some grasy bits and you never know what hides under it. And those nasties know how to camouflage.

I havent seen too many dangerous living things in the forests. Rarely on some footpaths I find signs of their presence. The most comon sign of all is an old skin, they are dry and light and its nice to pick them up, if you are sure that the owner is not too close. On footpaths you can often see some lizards, but they will not run at you. One of the very fast copper-heads can be soon in this picture. 

Its not very nice to find signs of some more deadly creature. Just recently near the Samsonvale lake we noticed a skin in the long grass. That belonged to the deadly brown snake and it made us freeze immediately. The skin can be still hanging off the owner and that means we are in trouble. Just as well the skin had just been changed and the owner is nearby or the skin is left at its owner's favourite spot and that all means we are in trouble.
We found a stick and used it to check the long grass. Luckily it turned out to be an old and dried skin and none of the scary creatures were close.

The same evening we were walking in the forest, beating the ground with sticks - snakes don't like vibrations and will move away from the path if not in the hunting mood. You have to bea careful, but it's not too bad. Of course its always better to make sure it's safe, and walk around heavily stumping feet on the ground, although a close look on the path would also be encouraged.