A surfing legend has shared his nailbiting brush with a monster, metres-long brown snake near his home on Queensland’s sunny Gold Coast.
Joel Parkinson shared video to Instagram on Thursday of his encounter with the large snake on a mountain bike track in nearby Tweed Valley across the border in NSW.
The former pro was with Api Robbin, husband of comedian Celeste Barber, when the pair spotted the reptile on the Uki Mountain Bike Park.
“Look at the size of that thing … that’s a man-eater, man,” Parkinson said in the video, as the snake slithered across the pair’s path.
“Mate, it wanted to have a go at me. It reared up, I almost ran over it.
“Holy f**k you should see it on the track, I came flying ‘round the corner.”
Out of breath, Parkinson added: “Holy f**k. It looks like a f****n taipan, I mean a cobra.”
The video is captioned, “had a really close call with this guy today on a ride”, with Mr Robbin – whose account is “hot husband” – also tagged.
The pair revealed in the video it was their first go on the track, which was only recently completed by the NSW Tweed Shire Council.
The track stretches for 8km through the fertile northern NSW hills, with trails and pump tracks rated for different skill levels.
Fortunately, in a photo later shared by both accounts, it was revealed the biking duo were able to return from their bike journey unscathed.