People often joke that everything in Australia is trying to kill you. In the case of Leanne Chapman, that might include her Christmas tree.

The British ex-pat discovered a nasty surprise in her outdoor tree on Thursday, when she came home from work to find a three-metre (10-foot) python coiled around the potted evergreen.

“It was a bit of a shock to begin with,” Chapman told 7 News on Friday.

“You don’t really expect to see a snake in your Christmas tree.”

Chapman’s partner stumbled upon the snake on the balcony of their home in Brisbane, after he ventured out there to shoo away some noisy birds.

“As he turned around and stepped back, he didn’t realize he was leaning on the Christmas tree with the snake wrapped around it,” Chapman said.

The couple snapped several photos of the big snake but otherwise left it alone.

“It just stayed there for a good few hours as we watched it through the window,” she said.

They estimated the python’s size when it slithered away around 10:30 p.m.

“It was big,” she said. “Really big.”

Chapman is celebrating her first Christmas as a resident of Australia after moving there from the U.K. earlier this year.

She fell in love with the country during a backpacking trip seven years ago, and Thursday’s snake surprise does not appear to have changed her attitude.

“After the initial shock wore off, it was a really beautiful snake,” she said.

“It was actually quite nice to see it that close up, because I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

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