Carter's Column

Whenever we go out and decide to take something up, we do it with a view to being the best we can at it. We aspire to be like someone. Learning the guitar I'd want to be as good as Justin Hawkins, Slash, Brian May, Eddie Van Halen and many more. With cricket, I want to be coached by professional players and be around the best coaches and players I can. So it was by luck rather than judgement that I came to be in the presence of 3 of the top snake handlers in the whole of Australia. Death Adder Through previous blog entries, my Facebook page and me talking about it constantly you will be aware that I have been a volunteer at the Australian Reptile Park and love every minute of it. Before I made the permanent move to Sydney I had a growing interest in reptiles, snakes in particular. As this interest grew I wanted to learn how to deal with venomous snakes, especially those found in Australia. It's common knowledge that there are dangerous animals everywhere in this country,...

September already? I am just two weeks away from having lived in Australia for 6 months and it's fair to say that more has happened since I have been here than would have happened had I stayed in England. I would never have got my hands on a range of snakes, alligators, lizards and other reptiles in Devon. We don't have them in the UK and we're not expected to have any understanding of them but Australians? They are... At this time of year when things are warming up in Australia snakes tend to come out of hibernation, Humpback Whales are part-way through the Great Migration to the Antarctic and the beaches are gradually filling up with people bringing them closer to marine life. So I find it somewhat dismaying to hear of people over here that are seemingly so unaware of the nature around them that their answer is to kill an animal that happens to cross their path. When I was a kid I was petrified of sharks, snakes, crocodiles, alligators and any other dangerous animal. ...

Yet again, it's been a while since I last blogged. That must mean I've been busy? Well... Yes I have. I mentioned before that I had submitted an application to be a volunteer at the Australian Reptile Park, and unexpectedly I was successful. After being invited to a group interview at the park, I walked out with a shirt Elvis the Crocodile and a name-tag so I figured it had gone well! The initial idea was to give it a go until cricket season came along and then make a decision, but in the 3 weekends I have been there I have enjoyed handling a range of different snakes including Burmese Pythons, Diamond Pythons, Black-Headed Python, Corn Snakes, Olive Pythons and more. At one stage I was lucky enough to be in the show-pit with Ranger Mick while he performed the Venom Show with a Cane Toad, Death Adder and Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. As volunteers, we are not allowed to touch anything venomous so my role was to stand there holding the bag with the Cane Toad in, and the ...

Since my last entry, I've had a birthday, met a hero, started a full time job, had more animal encounters, entered a volunteer application for a Reptile Park, been to an Air Show and seen a partial solar eclipse. Like you do... All new territory and a lot of happiness, but there has been the occasional low too which as I've come to learn is a regular part of this illness. Ironically the person whose book made me understand the condition so much better, Former England cricketer and Somerset Captain Marcus Trescothick, played recently for Somerset against Bovey Tracey CC. My first season away from Bovey and I could have met another hero. Royal Australian Air Force "Roulettes" What I've learnt is that it can hit at any time, in any place, and that any slight negative can trigger it. What is less easy to understand is how to make it go away. The obvious answer would be to do things that make me happy but unfortunately that doesn't always happen. I'v...

"Allagai" Copacabana, NSW The mere fact I've been to Australia on 4 occasions before 2013 means that it already felt like a home from home. Everything is familiar, driving is easy enough, the same mates are here to socialise with, my cricket club still exists, I have family in Victoria that I have spoken to, and there's the future In-Laws family who are so good to me it's unbelievable. So surely that means settling in would be easy, right? Not necessarily. You can take the man out of England but you can't take England out of the man. It's not called "Soccer", alright?! Copacabana Beach But that doesn't mean for a second that I'd want to be anywhere else. Australia is now my home. I don't feel "homesick" for Devon at all really, I just wish certain people from there were here instead, my family being the big ones. As a location you can really want for nothing here. An hour west you have the Blue Mountains, some ...

Sydney Harbour It's been almost 3 years of planning, waiting, hoping and wishing, but as of Tuesday 19th March 2013 I live in Australia. If you'd have asked me when I first came here in 2006 if I could have seen myself living in Australia in future I'd have said no way. I loved Devon too much. Yet here we are. Amazing how the right person can shape your future in ways you never would have dreamed. Oh, yes... Come On You Spurs! The last couple of weeks have been absolutely jam packed and have really flown by when I think about it. A trip to Tottenham for one last game to see Spurs beat Arsenal 2-1 was a definite highlight, finishing the day job, another trip to London to see The Darkness with Matt, a last trip to Cheshire to see the family and the final throes of packing before the big day. How can I begin to describe the rollercoaster of emotions? And now I see things with a bit more clarity than before. I see who my true friends are, and I realised a few other t...

If you don't tell people what you're thinking, how are they supposed to know? If you don't want to tell people what you're thinking, how are they supposed to do the right thing? The number of times I've had friends tell me they're annoyed with their partners or their bosses or their friends about something is staggering, but if I ask "Well have you said anything to them about it?" the answer always seems to come back as "No". So basically both sides are sweeping their frustration at each other under the metaphorical carpet without actually letting it out and coming to a solution. What exactly does that achieve? It might hide the situation temporarily but the issue will still be there next time you lift that carpet. Only, it will have grown substantially, and will keep doing so until you actually deal with it properly. I can't do that. If I have an argument with anyone I want it all out there, deal with the issue and resolve it. It'...

12th September 2005... 24th August 2009... 27th December 2010... 7th January 2011... 29th April 2012. Some of the best days of my life for various reasons. Now I can add Monday 11th February 2013 to that list. I cannot believe I am sitting here writing this, but I have been granted my Provisional Partner Visa. I am now legally able to live and work in Australia, and more importantly it means I can begin my life with my beautiful Fiancée properly. Since the visa grant letter came through last Monday I have been in a bit of a daze. I've not known where to start, what to do or where to go and indeed on Tuesday I had some kind of stomach upset and was forced to take the day off work. I spent the rest of the day in bed and actually slept which is most unlike me. When I got out of bed again at 5:20pm I felt very weak on my feet, very drained and very light headed. Could it have been nerves? Could it have been a result of one can of lager the previous evening having not touched alcohol ...

I find myself asking if metaphorically and meteorologically I have dealt with the last of the icy coldness. You all know about my dislike of the cold weather but even I have to say that the snow in our part of the country has had a beauty to it and has made the scenery look stunning. Winter usually leaves our countryside looking so bleak and dull that when a short period of whiteness covers the landscape the only thing we can think of is how stunningly beautiful it looks. I'd be less than truthful if I said I would like to experience another English winter, because in all honesty I can't wait to be in a hot country. Metaphorically speaking, the coldness relates to certain individuals and my encounters with them in the last week have finally made me believe that I am getting over them and their lies, and the effect just seeing them had on me. Usually when I see these people a surge of anger and hatred flows through my veins and my heart rate increases drastically. On Tuesday ...

So while Australia fights off the bushfires and the record high temperatures, England gets snow, ice and a public transport system that still can't deal with it despite having it for the last 3 winters in a row, and pretty much every year in history. People continue to be stupid when snow appears, people continue to try to drive where they shouldn't and they get stuck. Doing it once? Forgiveable. Doing it multiple times? You're an idiot. Learn from your mistakes. I mentioned before that a way of helping time pass is to have things to look forward to, breaking the time down. This is a technique that Jess has taught me. I've added another event to that... I am going to see Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal on 3rd March. It's the biggest game you could possibly go to as a Spurs fan and let's face it, I'm not going to get that chance again so I planned to go with a couple of mates. Unfortunately Spurs have a policy where for the first week members like me can only b...

Seeing out 2012 in a fantastic location Christmas is out of the way! New Year is done! And it has been busy enough although I found Christmas to be something of an anti-climax without Jess. It didn't feel special given that it was possibly the last one I'd spend in England. It all seemed to be out of the way very quickly and after it was over, on the spur of the moment I went to Cheshire to surprise my Grandparents. They were surprised, and they reacted well which made it worthwhile for me. I stayed with Dad's brother (who came down to Devon for Christmas with my Aunt) and he took me Clay-Pigeon shooting. The first time I'd ever picked up a gun, I hit 49 out of 100 so I'm happy with that and I did enjoy it. It took me a while to get used to firing the gun and because I wasn't holding it correctly to begin with I ended up with a huge bruise around my shoulder and forearm! I hope to get one more visit to Cheshire in before the visa is granted. Daylight hi...