I haven't had my Liberty long enough for anything more exciting than some leaves to end up in the scoop, but I used to drive Government fleet cars quite a lot out in western Qld. Spiders were pretty common, and a few snakes using the shade under the car and in the wheel arches in summer wasn't unheard of either. But I had two more interesting cases...
First one was a V6 Commodore. It was the middle of winter and the car had been parked for a number of hours while I was working. I got in it and turned the key, it cranked for a moment then stopped, and wouldn't crank any further. Oh great, stuck in bloody woop woop in the freezing cold. Popped the bonnet, and as I lifted it I crapped myself. There was a taipan wrapped around the drive belts and pulleys and whatnot, obviously in there absorbing the heat from the engine. As I had cranked the engine, the snake was caught in the belts on the front of the motor and by cranking it over it had been stretched tight and couldn't move. It was well and truly stuck so taking a hit from it wasn't a danger, but getting it out of there wasn't easy! I didn't want to kill it but I didn't have much choice
The other was in a Magna wagon. I was on one of the highways, I think I was just on the other side of Goondiwindi, and there was a huuuuge group of galahs on the road. As I approached the group it took to the air, but there were a few that were just too slow. I managed to avoid most of them but copped one square in the front of the car. I pulled over to check it out, and there was no sign of it whatsoever. After a few days there was a pretty rancid smell in the car and I couldn't find where it was coming from... I looked everywhere. I rang Qfleet and told them the car needed a service, the beauty of fleet cars, haha! Apparently the bird had ended up right near where the air for the interior air vents comes in, and had been partially cooked from engine bay heat and was full of maggots. I'm fairly sure the apprentice scored that job.
