I Have Ranidaphobia

Flashback Friday

By minsmash on January 10, 2013 • ( 14 Comments )

I mentioned on my home-about page that I do not like toads and in fact my exact words were “I cannot stand toads (there is a whole blog post story there)!”

Well guess what?  Here’s the blog story that will explain!  I never have liked toads.  I mean YUK!  But I did not use to have such an extreme phobia as I do now.  It is to the point that at night in summer I do not like going outdoors in places where it is highly likely toads might be!

Most phobia’s have a name that make them sound like an ominous condition..so I googled to see if a toad phobia had a name.  It has been linked to a frog phobia and they both have the same name.  So stupid.  I like frogs!  I hate toads!  Nevertheless, Wikipedia tells me that my phobia goes by two names….”frog phobia” (doesn’t sound very serious does it?) and “ranidaphobia“.   Aha – now we’re talking!  That sounds more ominous!!

So back in the days before kids (we can’t remember what year but late 80’s anywhere up to 1990 we think) my hubby and I went on a road trip.  We drove along the coast from Brisbane as far north as Daintree, stopping in at lots of places along the way.  We usually stayed at caravan parks.  Sometimes we got a cabin and on the rare occasion we stayed at a motel.

One of the places we stayed at was Kurramine Beach.  Kurramine Beach is about 1.5 hours drive south of Cairns, 2.5 hours north of Townsville and quite close to Mission Beach (we also stayed at all those places).

We were very excited to get accommodation at a lovely caravan park and to score a nice cabin with a verandah!  I dug through some old photo’s and here it is!

I even took some photo’s of the inside of the cabin.

All looks quite dated now doesn’t it!!  At the time I thought it was lovely!  See that red esky.  We still have it!

We only stayed one night (THANK GOODNESS!!).  You’ll know why I say thank goodness in just a moment.

On the night we were there, I’m guessing we had some dinner and maybe watched a little television.  I then announced that I was going to the shower block to have a shower.  It was summer and hot and I felt icky.  I slipped my feet into a pair of thongs, grabbed a towel and toiletries and headed off.  As I left our cabin and was walking towards the shower block it was quite dark so it took my eyes a while to adjust.  It felt like the ground was muddy or sloshy.  As I got closer to the shower block there were more lights.  When I saw what I was surrounded by and what I had been walking on, I let out a piercing scream that brought some permanent residents out to see what was wrong.  “Didn’t they tell you at the office when you checked in love?”.  NOoooo!!  They said nothing!!

I was surrounded in a sea of toads.  I had been walking on toads.  I was trapped and surrounded by toads.  I had no choice but to run back over the toads to the cabin – repulsed and screaming all the way.  I arrived breathless and tried to find the right words to express the situation outside to my hubby.  I think I said something like “OMG, OMG – there are toads everywhere!!  I was walking on toads!  There is a sea of toads!!”.  Dear hubby did not believe me.  He thought I was over exaggerating.

I desperately wanted a shower.  My skin was covered in a film of sweat and I had just walked over toads.  No way could I go to bed until I was clean.  Hubby, on my advice, grabbed a broom.  He soon found out that I was indeed telling him the truth!  In complete disbelief, he swept a pathway through the toads so that I could get to the shower block.

Earlier that day, we had wondered why there were security doors on the shower/toilet blocks.  Now we knew why.  They keep the toads out.  Hubby stood guard outside the shower block with the broom while I showered and then swept a path back to the cabin for me.

There was no sign of toads the next day.  In fact it was a lovely caravan park.  However, we did not stay a second night!

So THAT is why I cannot stand toads and have developed RANIDAPHOBIA! 😉

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Categories: Flashback Friday, General Mish Mash

Tagged as: #australia, #cabin, #caravanpark, #kurraminebeach, #northqueensland, #queensland, #ranidaphobia, #toad, #toads