Mostly I go to Port Hedland but I have recently returned from my first landing at Ginbata, the airport servicing the Roy Hill mine site. I was there a year ago when the area was still being cleared to make the runway.

It’s no luxury airport, no bar or café but PH is hardly posh either. The new accommodation camp however is just superb for all the staff and contractors with a gym, pool and great food.

Flying direct to Ginbata from Perth saves a 115km drive from Newman or 277km from Port Hedland.

Just west of Bali in Java where we tourists lounge on beaches with a cold beer, is a snake abattoir and processing centre.

You take your snake whack it on the head, shove a hose into its mouth to make it swell up. Then tie it up so the water doesn’t escape (some countries use compressed air instead of water) nail it to a post then rip off the now inflated skin. At this stage the snake is probably still alive!!

The skin is then coiled and dried, the remains that go off to market for food may be still writhing.

Please Ark newsletter subscribers, don’t buy snake meat or snake skin products. I know people have got to make a living but really leave those snakes alone. It takes 12 snakes to make one bag – handbags never suited me anyway.

Historically, nobody would go to snake temple areas except to leave offerings of flowers, milk or food. Occasionally in order to harvest rare Ayurvedic herbs (traditional medicine) they would enter and leave as quickly as possible and in daylight only. So the snakes and a whole ecosystem were effectively protected by these beliefs.

Times have changed however and demand for housing has meant that many such temples and protected lands have been cleared. Apparently a Hindu would never knowingly build on such protected lands so usually the land was sold to Muslims, Christians or others.

It was an Olive Python Liasis olivaceus very well camouflaged in this habitat. It struggled whilst trying to lift the kangaroo up onto the ledge for over an hour before giving up and letting its meal go.

Despite the pythons head being small it would have been able to eat such a large meal without much trouble.

A colleague snake catcher Niall has been using them daily for months, we think they are safer, more secure and more durable than cloth ties.

All our new bags and all new training courses will feature them. They cost less than $2.

We get them from Bunnings. Cable Clamp Model CCM0601 if you want to use them.