Beware of these things!!!

Irukandji Jellyfish

Ummm.








If you don't hear from me after the holiday it turns out you were right :eek:

or in your porsche engine bay (I got bit by a red back a couple of months ago) - it friggin hurts. :(

Brown snakes - got lots of 'em. You want some?

The browns will defend their ground - a bite first ask questions later type of critter.

More often that not they'll dry bite (no venom) and their fangs are real small. Often it looks like no more than a scratch. You'd be unlucky for them to penetrate a loose pair of jeans.

I know of a guy a couple of years ago who was bit on the foot by a whip snake at his back door. It was night time and he was wearing thongs on his feet (jandals for you Bill). He thought he'd scratched his foot on a stick and thought nothing more of it. Four hours later he was dead.

Geez, you would think by taking all reasonable precautions (wearing Jandals) he would have been OK.

the brown snakes have a habit of rearing up to strike - at crotch height.

The good thing about all the dangerous stuff here is they are generally timid or reclusive so most incidences are from people blundering into them or putting fingers where they don't belong.

We have a distinct lack of wild animals that are able to drag you from your tent and eat you.

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LOL Bill yes you would!

I was bitten by a good size red back spider (think black widow but more venomous) on the foot last year at a BBQ. Quite painful as you say Jeff. Although on the upside I just sat with my foot in the esky all night so a beer was never far away!

The real problem for me though is a type of native wasp local to my area. I've been bitten by them a number of times and although very painful more so than the spider bites I've had didn't think to much of it and kept working in the garden. Fast forward 20 minute and this is me, on the resus table. Doc's said I made it to the ER with 3 or 4 minutes to spare before my throat closed completely...
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Note the shirt that happened to be the first one my wife got for me that day :)
As it happens our local native paper wasps have a cumulative venom that never totally leaves your system. If you've been stung a couple of times in the last year or so it just keeps adding up. Little buggers hey.

Hell that shirt is funny. Especially in the situation your in that day, although glad you pulled through. I've got to get me one.

I don't play well with paper wasps either - was bashing through some buff grass as a kid up in Darwin (just yesterday ;)) and ran into a nest. I go wheels up whenever I get bit nowadays, but fortunately it's not life threatening for me.

I got stung between the shoulders by a paper wasp when I was a teenager. Thought I'd been shot! They get the WD40 and lighter whenever I see them now.

There are dozen kinds of paper wasps just in NSW. Took quite a while to narrow down exactly the type that I now have a problem with.
Wasps have something like 7 brains and 6 of them are for attacking things.

So they're like the opposite of Mt Druitt people, but with the same effect?

Did I tell you about the time I climbed Mt Druitt?

Yes, it's a dangerous mountain and you were silly for doing so without a guide and a full first aid kit.

I have always wanted to take a trip "down under" but the reality of that environment has me rethinking that idea

Surprising number of Aussies manage to last till we are in our eighties or nineties despite the number of nasty critters.

I guess its because we were taught from a very early age how to behave around them - leave them alone!

Rick

I promise you you'll survive. Just a little common sense is all that is needed.

My sister and BIL live in Denver. They travel here every couple of years for a visit/holiday and all is good. ;)

We'll look after you and Beth, Rick.

You know how I was laughing about your t-shirt tonight, well poetic justice - tonight I dislocated my finger playing mixed netball. Everyone got a good laugh, especially when the missus told everyone about the shirt.

I'm still going to get one of those shirts.

Come to New Zealand Rick. There is nothing here that will harm you.


That's unless the cannibals get you...

That's the type of stuff we have here, I don't think I would trade them for your piosinous stuff. I have an acreage on the bay of Fundy where there are lots of sharks including great Whites, but the water is mostly too cold to swim in. I have also been chased by a moose, that was a little tense.
Someday I will get down under.
Steve

I just scratched Australia off my list of places to go visit. :(