SUNDAY MAIL (Brisbane, Australia) 09 February 03 Windscreen viper (Kristy Sexton)

We all know what it's like to have our car windscreens pelted with bugs while driving – but what do you do when it's a snake?

The Afflick family of Bundaberg were faced with this dilemma when a green tree snake came slithering up their windscreen while they were driving home from Brisbane.

They were cruising along at 100km/h when 13-year-old Megan Afflick let out an almighty scream as the snake emerged from the car bonnet about two hours into their trip along the Bruce Highway.

As the serpent made its way up towards the windscreen, mum Helen, who was driving, had to go into damage control.

"We were driving back from a softball carnival in Brisbane and suddenly Megan yells, 'Look Mum, there's a snake'," Mrs Afflick said.

"I was looking to both sides of the road and I couldn't see anything and that's when she pointed to the bonnet with a snake coming up from it.

"Megan kept screaming and I told her to calm down because there was no way it could get in the car."

The determined critter continued to crawl up the bonnet and on to the windscreen, where it stayed, swinging precariously from side-to-side for about five minutes.

Meanwhile, Megan grabbed the family camera for proof of their unusual hitchhiker.

With a semi-trailer following closely, Mrs Afflick could not stop – so she used her windscreen wipers to flick the snake into bushes by the side of the road.

At last sighting, the snake was said to be well, if a little shaken, and on the move.

Mrs Afflick said she might have picked up their unwelcome guest while parked in a paddock near her mother-in-law's home in Brisbane.

"I told my husband when I got home and he said it could only happen to us," she said.





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Windscreen viper

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• OZ Press: Windscreen viper - W von Papineäu, Sun Feb 9 21:24:24 2003