For Glenbrook teenager Sebastian Boucher, it was shaping up to be a long school holidays after his iPad was stolen from his schoolbag.
Sebastian had left his bag on the front verandah after being bitten by a snake in their garden, immediately after returning home from school on December 11.
“I was in disbelief. I thought maybe it was a lizard, but then I thought no,” the 14-year-old said. “I ran up to the neighbours and they called the ambulance.”
Sebastian’s mum, Kaaren Boucher, was impressed by her son’s quick thinking. “He rang me calmly in the ambulance and passed me on to paramedics,” she said.
Sebastian was treated at Nepean Hospital and released the following day, where it was suspected he had been bitten by a red-belly black snake.
In the couple of hours between being bitten and his dad returning home, Sebastian’s iPad was stolen.
But in a lucky twist, the iPad was returned three days later to the front verandah.
“We are so grateful that it has been returned,” Mrs Boucher said.