Australia's Deadliest. Thanks for the Fosters beer and the Body Bag.

reply to post by zazzafrazz


Well I was thinking about visiting austrailia, untill you scared the crap out of me. You know information like this might keep tourists away right?

Sure it's great to know what to avoid, but theres alot to avoid in austraila.

Originally posted by Nventual
When I was a child my auntie sat on the toilet and felt something touch her behind. She jumped up, turned around, and there was a snake sitting there in the water. We think it crawled through the sewer pipes.

That seems to happen disturbingly often actually. Really makes you think about where our waste ends up when wildlife seems to be so closely involved.

Zazz, this is a very cool thread. I'd like a similar thread about humans and human life in Australia. This type of stuff really interests me. Anything different. Like I found out in Canada they don't use milk jugs like in the USA, they use milk bags and everyone has a plastic pitcher for pouring their milk into!

I'd like to see some of everyday Aussie life, and such things like that, and all kinds of Aussie things, your cars, your groceries, anything strange and authentically yours, interests me.

I loved Steve Irwin so much, very sad what happened to him, though I was always sure an animal would eventually kill him, but I suspected snake or crocodile, that damn sting ray came out of nowhere.

reply to post by randyvs

Couldn't agree more. Steve Irwin was a top bloke. What you saw was what you got.

When I was a kid I lived not far from some decent bushland (near the Para Wirra National Park in S.A.) and it was great to go hiking there on weekends. Lovely country. The only serious problems I ever had with the wildlife there was when I brushed a wasps' nest while I was crawling inside a cave on a small cliff face above a creek. They popped their heads out of the hole like something from a cartoon and then it was full-on attack! LOL! I was out of there pdq and down into some stagnant water in the creek.

I never had any troubles with the roos. (Mainly greys there and some wallabies.) Long as you don't corner them or get too close to their joeys they won't bother you.

Snakes.... Yeah we used to get brown snakes in the back yard but they weren't a major worry. None of them ever managed to sneak into the house. I was more concerned about black snakes. They like to be near water and they're excellent swimmers so we had to keep our eyes open if we went for a swim in a bush setting.

One day I tried to pick up a big huntsman spider because I'd seen some guy do it on TV -- so of course I had to try it too. (Dumb idea but hey, I was only about 10.) The trick is to catch the spider by a back leg and hold it up, then it just sort of hangs there. So okay I went out in the back yard and caught one, but I let the spider swing a little bit as I lifted it, and it turned and grabbed me with its seven spare legs and sank in the fangs. OMG they are painful. It's like two hot needles going in and I kid you not. And they hang on for a couple of seconds to give you a good dose. Seemed like a couple of hours actually...

The pain is extremely intense, but after about ten minutes it starts to improve and the effects aren't serious or long-term. (Unlike some other spiders' effects.) We called the local doctor and he just laughed and told us to put ice on it and I'd be ok. I never told my Mum that I'd actually picked up the spider on purpose. She would've had kittens. But anyhow, after that I lost all further interest in picking up big spiders.

Ahhh, happy memories!

And to the OP: thanks for the thread, mate! If you get over to Prague let me know and I'll shout you one, okay?


[edit on 5/10/09 by JustMike]

reply to post by Burginthorn


HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!!
you could saddle that thing up and ride it.
Nope won't be going down under.
Don't you people have any caulking down there?
Man I'll send you some, I got plenty.

justmike

I never told my Mum that I'd actually picked up the spider on purpose. She would've had kittens. But anyhow, after that

lmao
great story man


[edit on 5-10-2009 by randyvs]

[edit on 5-10-2009 by randyvs]

reply to post by InfaRedMan

Terrific pics you put there for the spiders. Like you, I think their measurements are a bit off. As for the hunstman spiders, they are venomous as that's how they paralyze their prey so it beats me why that reference says they're not. I guess they mean they're not deadly.

In Australia that's a pretty useful distinction.

The one that bit me was not real huge. (And as I said in my post it was my own stupid fault that I got bitten.) It was about 5 inches across I'd guess -- by no means the biggest spiders I've seen in Oz though, considering the ones up in the Qld rainforests that catch rodents on the forest floor. Size of dinner plates, they are.

Jaws, dinosaur crocodiles, an ocean infested with neurotoxic rocks, and a surface with 80% of the World's deadliest snakes..

Um yeah. Can you just send all the cool Aussies to the States instead?

Awesome thread and awesome critters! I think we have killed all our deadly critters in the US, thats why we seem to have so few.

Originally posted by InfaRedMan


Get This Though!

Despite the lack of perspective in the Huntsman photo, the Huntsman averages much, much larger, anywhere from 4 inches to 1 foot across.

Linky

WTF? One Foot across!!!

IRM

[edit on 5/10/09 by InfaRedMan]

JESUS CHRIST... I already hate spiders, now I know this - in my life never seen one and hope I never will, but this makes me check under my chair anyway.... ugh, not as bad as those chiese spider crab things, dont care what they officially are they scare the crap out of me !!!

*shudders*

Originally posted by CRB86
I'd love to come down under for an Ashes tour, but to be honest i get freaked out enough by our British non-venomous (and non-big) spiders, so i would probably cack my pants if i ever came across a huntsman.

Oz sounds crazy though. Is there another country with as much stuff that can kill you? No wonder we used it as a prison for 200 years!

Lmao, you used it as a prison for a wee while, we took over the place and told yous to bugger off a few years after.

Now we entice you buggers down here with $10 air fares and you flock here !!



See wot happens when you send hardened bread thieves to a place full of deadly critters with a sun in the sky like a flaming dinner plate?!! AUSSIES !!!! 8]

Originally posted by mckyle

Originally posted by Ha`la`tha
.. amazing these magnificent creatures were killed to extinction by the early settlers... ugh.. time machine please thanks.

[edit on 5/10/2009 by Ha`la`tha]

Or were they??

We can hope not - we've found other animals thought extinct in the past. I would so love to discover this to be the case also !!

After my father and I had a sighting of a very large feline-like creature near his farm in the New South Wales Table Lands, I have a kept a more open-mind about what creatures could be out there.

An extension of this experience is that I belive intuitively that Thylacine is still on the Tasmanian island. However, whether or not it's gene pool is sufficient to avoid extinction is sadly, another matter.

And with us humans ever encroaching on wild landscapes it makes the prospect even more unsustainable. Still, fingers crossed that nature thumbs its nose at us - as she does!

Originally posted by Ha`la`tha

Originally posted by CRB86
I'd love to come down under for an Ashes tour, but to be honest i get freaked out enough by our British non-venomous (and non-big) spiders, so i would probably cack my pants if i ever came across a huntsman.

Oz sounds crazy though. Is there another country with as much stuff that can kill you? No wonder we used it as a prison for 200 years!

Lmao, you used it as a prison for a wee while, we took over the place and told yous to bugger off a few years after.

Now we entice you buggers down here with $10 air fares and you flock here !!

See wot happens when you send hardened bread thieves to a place full of deadly critters with a sun in the sky like a flaming dinner plate?!! AUSSIES !!!! 8]

I often wonder how the first British prisoners found the Australian experience when they first got there. Coming from a country with no natural predators whatsoever, to a country where just about everything can kill you!

I love aussies though. (Except Ricky Ponting, obviously )Britain in general does. Don't get offended when we call you 'convicts' and we won't get offended when you call us 'Pommy bastards'

Awesome thread zazz.

Growing up in the mountains of Colorado, we don't have a whole lot of menacing critters. No poisonous snakes in the high country, no crocks, no spiders that if they look at you the wrong way you will burst into flames or worse.

We did have mountain lion. (Cougar, Puma) a few bears and in the fall we had horny bull elk. In the spring we had overprotective cow elk.

Other than that it was the rocks you had to watch out for.

So having said all that. Screw Australia, too dangerous goin down under.

But for your Aussie entertainment here is the American mountain man reaction to Austrailian wildlife.

The box jellyfish Ok here we have a gelatinous glob of goo that will kill you. Thanks for that god. What the hell is this thing? So forget swimming.

Salt Water Crocodile Not only will the jellyfish come and sting your ass, but then some giant mutant lizard is going to come, bite you, drag you down, roll you over a few dozen times, THEN eat you.

Blue Ring Octopus Ok someone tell me again why anyone goes in the water around Australia?

Stonefish Ok not only are your deadly marine wildlife freaking obvious but here's one that hides as a freaking rock!

Red back spider Ok this I can understand, spiders bad.

Brown Snake Ok a camouflaged snake. GREAT!

Tiger Snake It's not bad enough that it's a freaking snake but it's a mutant snake that is bread with a freaking TIGER!

Great White Shark Ok now I am convinced that all surfers and beachgoers in Australia are suicidal.

Funnelweb Spider I am amazed that anyone survives in Australia.

What have I learned today?

Australia is deadly and the only reason they promote tourism is to kill stupid people.

[edit on 10/5/2009 by whatukno]

Thanks to this thread Australia just dropped about 93423740723042374 places in my to-do list! Spiders terrify me, always have. Here in Los Angeles, my yard in particular there seems to be an obscene amount of Black Widows. I can literally go out any night and find several, horrible things. Had one in the window in the kitchen and couldn't get her for the longest time, I was terrified to do dishes! I've finally got to the point where I can go smash 'em without having a heart attack (sorry nature lovers but I have no mercy for spiders!)

Originally posted by Selahobed
than the pommy west.

POMMY WEST??

Thats it - YOU'RE BANNED !!!!!11



We pay for most of the country you know, and we suffer in silence...

Crikey.. Insulted !! oO

reply to post by OzWeatherman


I think you missed some on your list for example.
Belchers Sea Snake (Hydrophis Belcheri), considered by many now to be the most deadly on the planet, it also is 100 times more venomous than the Taipan, Beaked Sea Snake or any other snake on the planet.
There is also the Krait (Bungarus Caeruleus), which I believe we have all heard of. The Philippine Cobra ( Naja Naja Philippinensis ) should also be on this list, since we are talking top 20. Then there is the Russels Vipor ( Vipera Russellii ) which is the Worlds 5th most venomous snake. last but not least is of course the Black Mamba ( Dendroaspis Polylepis ).
Seems to me that your list bypassed some of the worlds REAL most deadly could it be that your a little bit biased for your homeland and want it to sound so scary..?? Anyway just my thought.

Drop Bears

Dont forget the Drop Bears.

To think all we see of ozzies on tv are walking about in shorts and flipflops lol,you must be bleeding crazy i would need a suit of armour just to step off the plane,don't get me started on going for a dump with snakes ,spiders etc hideing down the pan lol.

Bloody hell, this thread has squished any idea of me ever visiting australia.

I'm PETRIFIED of spiders, so if i saw one that was poisonous on a toilet seat i'd probably collapse, and snakes in the toilet gonna have nightmare's now, thank you for that one

ahhhh I love england

You know, with all those sea critters, land creepy crawlies, absolute monster's and inanimate looking death traps, it's no wonder London is full of Aussies!

I think there's a clue as to why it became a prison colony. Even shells on the beach can take a stab at you :S

en.wikipedia.org...

"Because cone snails are slow-moving, they use a venomous harpoon in order to capture faster-moving prey such as fish. The venom of a few larger species is powerful enough to kill a human being."

"Come to Australia, even the scenery'll kill ya"

Great thread, but I won't be rushing to Oz to congratulate you :S

Originally posted by Toecutter.
There are always the kangaroo's that might punch you out !

www.youtube.com...

You can't take your eye's of em.

[edit on 5-10-2009 by Toecutter.]

I hope that roo knocked out those eastern europeans once and for all. Leashing a roo and putting gloves on them, is comical but to us Aussies they are wild animals and that kinda is cruel. I think the boxing Kangaroo (whilst they do defend themselves like that, but more from a tail lift and kick strike that can ***** you right up) mythology came from Loony Toons cartoons

In Oz I have never seen or heard of such a display. I have heard of alot Roos overseas in private zoos that are poorly looked after.