Commuting in Darwin

I had one of those classic Darwin experiences tonight. I was biking home from uni just after dark. I came to a dark part of the bike path, along the mangroves that border the campus. I saw something laying across the path, and thought it was one of the many palm fronds that drop on the paths around here. As I was going over it, it registered that it was a bit darker, and curvy. Too late to stop myself, I realized that it was a water python, crossing the path. Thump, thump. I stopped and turned around to see if it was okay, and we stood there looking at each other for a couple of minutes. It seemed fine, just mildly disturbed that I'd had the gall to roll over it. I touched it to see if it was moving okay, and it moved off back into the mangroves, looking like nothing had happened. These things never happened when I was in Wisconsin...