[normhead]

Sometimes I wonder why settlers didn't give up on Australia - "Nope, it's too much. Everything is out to kill you. All the time. And they're everywhere. Lets just walk away and write "here be monsters" on all the maps so no-one goes back".

( I should add that I've never been, I've just heard stories and seen videos.)

Should we reflect about the part where the first one's were convicts? Giving up wasn't an option.

Airport Australian custom officer.
"Have you ever been convicted of a serious crime."

Passenger
"Is that still necessary?"

Back on topic, despite probably 1,000 bag nights in the bush (nights spent in a tent and sleeping bag) nothing has ever invaded one of my camera bags.

Some of my clients who took food on a hike and left food in their packs weren't so lucky. You tell them, don't leave food in anything but the food barrels, but do they listen?

Everyone thinks a few granola bars in the day pack left outside the tent will be fine. Critters have chewed packs apart to get them. On well used campsites the critters associate the smell of the wrapper with what's inside it. I've left granola bars in a camera bag on occasion, so far I've been lucky.

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Last edited by normhead; 02-12-2021 at 12:38 PM.

[Viking42]

Sometimes I wonder why settlers didn't give up on Australia - "Nope, it's too much. Everything is out to kill you. All the time. And they're everywhere. Lets just walk away and write "here be monsters" on all the maps so no-one goes back".

( I should add that I've never been, I've just heard stories and seen videos.)

That's my impression of Australia too -- a terrifying place where something would kill me within 5 minutes of stepping off the airplane. Then I recall how many Europeans I've met who think there's a ravenous grizzly bear behind every tree in Canada, even in the middle of a metropolis of 3 miliion people. So Australia can't be that deadly, can it?

[normhead]

Then I recall how many Europeans I've met who think there's a ravenous grizzly bear behind every tree in Canada, even in the middle of a metropolis of 3 miliion people.

Or how many who ask me if I know their cousin in Vancouver.

My favourite line for Canada was "There are thousands of different types insect in Canada, and they all suck your blood." I'm sure I've had a few back flies and mosquies in my camera bag, but they were squashed to resemble bits of dirt.

[RICHARD L.]

While taking pictures in Southern California, a %@*&%# light-colored spider (it must have been green but I am totally blind to the color green, so I'm not sure) got into the ventilation registers of my Dodge Grand Caravan (I call my van my "survival unit" when I visit the deserts of the American Southwest). I started seeing it now and then while driving and it kept growing until it couldn't get out of the air registers anymore (thank God !). Air conditioning just cools air to 60 degrees F (15 deg C), not cold enough to kill this bug.

When I was back in Canada, my Chrysler dealer changed my cabin air filter and found the corpse of this unwanted, uninvited "companion".

Regards

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Last edited by RICHARD L.; 02-12-2021 at 12:34 PM.

[UncleVanya]

I’m in the camp of folks where our unpleasant discovery is generally something left at home not something added.

The snake story reminds me of our son’s pet python removing my wife’s glasses when she fell asleep. Then he went inside her shirt for warmth. She woke up later very confused. Lol.

[Viking42]

My favourite line for Canada was "There are thousands of different types insect in Canada, and they all suck your blood." I'm sure I've had a few back flies and psoquies in my camera bag, but they were squashed to resemble bits of dirt.

There are mosquitos as big as sparrows where I grew up in Winnipeg. Do you have those in your area too?

---------- Post added 12th Feb 2021 at 14:33 ----------

The snake story reminds me of our son’s pet python removing my wife’s glasses when she fell asleep. Then he went inside her shirt for warmth. She woke up later very confused. Lol.

Was it wearing her glasses when she woke up? Maybe it was farsighted and had a good book it wanted to read.

[normhead]

There are mosquitos as big as sparrows where I grew up in Winnipeg. Do you have those in your area too?

We have sixty types of mosquitos here. Some of them are pretty big. But they are often slow moving and easier to kill.

Some of the big ones are always flying up out of the drain in the bathroom in the winter... what's with that?

[UncleVanya]

Was it wearing her glasses when she woke up? Maybe it was farsighted and had a good book it wanted to read.

Lol. No it just pulled them off her face. I’ve seen it happen, he wraps around them then undulates elsewhere bringing them along then he lets go.

[Viking42]

We have sixty types of mosquitos here. Some of them are pretty big. But they are often slow moving and easier to kill.

A shotgun works well for the bigger ones

---------- Post added 12th Feb 2021 at 15:21 ----------

Lol. No it just pulled them off her face. I’ve seen it happen, he wraps around them then undulates elsewhere bringing them along then he lets go.

I don't think I'd be capable of falling asleep with a python roaming around the house. At least not without some kind of neck armour. Jeepers!

[kiwi_jono]

Back in my film days, I had a camera bag in the back of the car when we were driving on a remote gravel (dirt) road for several hours. Found that the boot (trunk for some) was not quite closed and it was filled with dust. Another surprise came when I found the camera bag also wasn't well closed and was full of dust too! Not great for my lenses! For some reason it took me ages to get rid of all the dust (basically washed it out multiple times) but I still have the bag and use it when I need to carry more gear.

[JMvS]

One day, several days or weeks after some family hiking, I discovered my wife had packed children's clothes and snacks in one compartment. Luckily the food was in a sealed box.

[11GTCS]

Nothing too crazy like that, but I did open my bag once after arriving at a shoot location in Colorado only to discover all 4(!) spare batteries I had in the bag needed to be charged and the one in camera was flashing red. I then dropped the camera onto a rock and got an aperture blade stuck. Bad day!

[Gerbermiester]

Most unpleasant discovery for me had been seeing water pooling in the bottom of my bag after a long day's hike through a thunderstorm in one of BC's coastal rainforests. (The Rain cover for my bag is the elastic pull over type and it collected the water running down my back as of it were an overfull diaper).

The water was pooling inside my bag right where all my gear was stored. Weather sealed gear saves the day again.

[Digitalis]

I'll take the bag of dog poo over the venomous snake.

I'll take the bag of dog crap, you take the glitter. At least the bag of dog crap has the functional purpose of being able to be left ablaze on an irritating neighbors doorstep.

Not great for my lenses!

I can say that Glitter didn't do my lenses any favors either. Dust is bad, but glitter is worse particularly when you factor in that it can be electrically conductive. I feel sorry for the technician whose job it was to clean all that glittery gunk out, that paycheck was well earned.

Thankfully, Glitter was banned from the Sydney mardi-gras in 2019.The Ban was put in place over environmental concerns. Apparently the organizers would use about 3.8 tonnes of glitter* every year - Personally, I think that is a rather low estimate.

* I'll admit I'm having difficulty imagining the volume such an amount of glitter would occupy.

[normhead]

I'll take the bag of dog crap, you take the glitter. At least the bag of dog crap has the functional purpose of being able to be left ablaze on an irritating neighbors doorstep.

And here I thought the morons I grew up with were the only ones who did that. There was girl who lived near me growing up, Sandra Sparks, and we pulled that at her house numerous times, to the point where her father kept a fire extinguisher beside the door.