Surviving OZ. Leave your weapons cowboys, a realistic look at survival down under

To all international visitors. Welcome to Australia, and have a nice holiday (vacation).

Excellent post. We sure do have a lot of creatures that can kill us. Living in south Australia the main problem I find is Red Backs. I dont like to kill any living creature but I have to with having 2 children about.
I thought some might enjoy this song from the Scared Weird Little Guys Come To Australia. Also has some images of the various things that can get us.
No idea how to embed a video sorry. So not sure if this will work.

Incase it doesnt heres the link

youtu.be...

I had a girl from oz in my life for awhile
I got the impression everything in OZ will kill you
plants chase you
spiders swing down like tarzan and scoop you up
the snakes put on suits and come knocking at the door like jehovas
and there are sharks in the pool.....hall
its along way to the shop if you want a sausage roll
and the beer might be warm in some locals

but she said thats all OK
No worries mate!
( darn "mate" its an noun, not a verb in Oz.......ha, just kidding)
She said:
just don't live in Melbourne
its depressing

Just don't forget to try a couple of Kangaroo steaks, or Emu steaks whilst here! Don't bother with trying Crocodile. Too fatty and salty.

And as for the bogans, if you hear the names Shazz, Dazz, Wazz, Johnno, Robbo, or anything else close to that, then walk the other way. You could either end up deaf from their high pitched way of talking (at above normal volume, no less!), or down half a pack of smokes, and a few dollars too!

But in all seriousness, I still think the most dangerous thing in Aus is the Ranga. Aggro bastards when they get pushed, or the colour of their hair is repeatedly mentioned. Angry, angry things they are!!!!

Just remember, after seeing the vid on the redback above my post, about my daughters efforts when it came to a redback. She was only 4 at the time, and the missus (now ex) were sitting on the steps, at the front door, having a ciggarette and chatting, when little miss nosy comes out to see whats going on. After she had a quick chat to us, she looks down at the step at the door and goes "hey mum, hey dad, what kind of spider is that???" Knowing we had a few daddy long legs about, we asked her what colour it was, and she replies "it's black, and it has a bit of red on its back!"

The missus jumped up, since she was sitting right near it, and shreiked "IT'S A REDBACK! LEAVE IT!" Meanwhile, the little on had her face about 1ft from the thing, and her 16 month old sister decided to come and see what the commotion was all about. The ex ended up grabbing the littler one, telling the 4 year old to step back, while her and the little one ran inside

Funny thing about it was the ex actually made my 4 year old bring a shoe out to me so I could kill it, because she hates spiders so much, yet the 4 year old was laughing and giggling about something the size of my nail on my pinky finger, that could have killed all 4 of us no problems.

Gotta love how kids have no fear, even after you tell em how easy it could kill you!

reply to post by jaijlee


Sounds like you're in Franger Danger dude? The people there are dangerous too I hear.

The tiger snakes in Bathurst actually come into your house!! I have a witness and saviour (if they weren't there I wouldn't have seen it sliding into my bedroom as he did, at 9pm Australia Day, of all bloody days) that can prove it. I'm not that good with snakes these days.

The most dangerous species here though is Homo sapiens (var. dementus)

reply to post by Griffo515

telling me about an animal park he worked at in NSW back in the 70's but when it shut down,

What park was that? Bullen's Animal world, African lion Safari park?

I do know people who claim to have seen big cats in the Grose vale, Grose Wold & Bowen Mountain areas at the foot of the Blue mountains. Tey say they actually came into their yards! Who knows!

LOL - just a bit exaggerated don't you think? Or is this to scare off overseas visitors? Never have I come across a red back in the toilet (I mean we live in 2011 right?) and the occasional possum you see every now and then is more scared of you than the pet dog should ever be. I live in on the beaches of Adelaide and near the home of the Great Whites and i swim at the beach a lot and have never come across one and neither has anyone I know - yet. I am just writing this so people that live overseas do not see us as some backward, funny talking, beer drinking louts with big fat pot bellies. A lot of us are progressive, educated, well dresses, well spoken and so on...

Australia is the best place in the world... but yes... beware of the bogans...

reply to post by Danbones

just don't live in Melbourne its depressing

After living there for a few years I would say I agree 100% with that. Down there they have the dreaded "fooy bogan". Could talk the head off a man from 20 feet! lol!

As for "Mate" we also have "Cobber", "Sport" and "China" as well!

well you have to admit
a sense of adventure is a requirement for dealing with anything OZ
heheh
other wise you might as well be in Britian

reply to post by zazzafrazz


A good post, some good tips in there, but it aint all that bad. I keep a clean dunny so I dont need to check for redbacks, but I admit, as an Aussie, you're always going to come across a poorly maintained dunny, where checking can be very handy. As is checking your shoes for spiders in some spots like mountain areas.

I've been around in Oz for 30 odd years and never come across a croc in the wild, no sharks, no nasty jellyfish, not even come close to half which you describe, and I've seen a lot of Australia. Guess its cause I've never been north of Perth or Noosa. You guys can have that tropical crap. I'll be very happy if I wake up to snow tomorrow, if not a single digit temperature just above 0 is still nice. No nasty diseases here either, that you get with your tropical killer fauna up north folks. There's nothing nicer than a -5 frost.

Australia certainly would have been hard to live in no matter where you were 100+ years ago. It would have been rewarding and fun though I reckon. But with all our luxuries these days, its all pretty easy. Nothing really bothers me. Sure there is potential trouble like roo's on the road everywhere, but nothing really scares. Snakes, yeah, well, I have a bad history, but spiders and all other insects are easily sorted out with a thong or something to that effect.

Sorry, not having a go, just trying to provide some balance. But you were right on many things. I also get about employing the same observation techniques you do, its crucial to be very observant here in Oz, its a shame that its a quality many of us have lost.

My most Australian moment. Walking home from the pub on a rainy night, find a spider on the flyscreen. Work out it is a funnelweb, freakout and stand back about five meters. I take off one my thongs and launched it at the fly screen. Dead.

Doubtful it was the deadly Sydney funnelweb as we don't get them here, but do get the odd tree funnel web(I think that is the name).

Also probably worth mentioning the fierce snake (part of the taipan family). Is only found in that border around nsw, qld,sa and nt. Dont think it is the most venomous (that belongs to an African snake I think) but it is the most dangerous due to it being the most agressive and in the top 3 most venomous. Unlike other snakes this thing won't try and get away, it will go out of it's way to attack. Due to being found in a tiny and remote area, it hasn't notched up nearly as many kills as some of our less dangerous snakes.

Was in nt recently, chillin on mindil beach with a beer and watching with absolute astonishment all the tourists going in the water. Crocs, box jellyfish and sharks. No thanks!!

All in all though Australia (like any country) is only dangerous if you dont engage your brain and take precautions.

Originally posted by RealAmericanPatriot
Oh by the way, only a few Americans will have a clue what a Bogan is...just sayin'...

It's like a crack fein. Except their crack is grog. An lol at who said station rats. Someone forgot to mention most bogans wear polo's, short shorts and a cap backwards.

G'day Zazz!

I wanted to tell you thanks so much for being our special guest last night on the All Things Survival radio show.
You did a fantastic job of telling our listeners about the things in your thread here. While I've never been to Oz your description would certainly never deter me from wanting to visit - in fact, I love wildlife (even the deadly stuff) and you have my curiosity peaked. I can love them at a proper distance and generally treat all animals with respect regardless of whether or not they can kill me.

I enjoyed your answer to my question about how to teach kids about all the dangers. "Don't touch" should be a rule for everyone regardless of where they are. I loved Steve Irwin but I always had a complaint about how he would handle animals unnecessarily (other wildlife shows too). He taught many people about wildlife but for the sake of making the show he died. Really, there's no good reason to handle wildlife, it endangers both you and the animal.

I would also imagine that with so many deadly animals around, children's curiosity would make them want to learn more about them so they don't get hurt. I often lament the loss of all the big predators and other dangerous animals from most of the US. It has made us arrogant thinking that we are the "supreme predator" or something. we've lost our respect for the land and the plants and animals that inhabit it. I would imagine it's the opposite down under where if you don't pay attention and respect even the smallest buggers you can get in big trouble.

In many ways the land shapes the people. Aussies have had to learn the hard way to survive in an unforgiving land to make them the people they are today. Americans were once like that but we destroyed everything that posed a possible danger and in trying to tame the land we've made much bigger messes (like the flooding on the Mississippi). You guys love your country for what it is and respect the animals that come with it. We could use that kind of attitude over here desperately! In the US we have whacked down over 500 mountains in Appalachia to produce cheap coal. You can't grown new mountains and they are gone forever. At this rate there will be nothing left for my grandchildren. Not that you haven't had your share of environmental disasters over there - rabbit invasions and disastrous farming policies that cleared the land but those are mistakes of the past not likely to be repeated.

Great thread Zazz and thank you for all the good information on your beautiful country, After hearing you talk about it I want to see it more than ever.

Cheers,
Dave / Asktheanimals