4 ms·

> I was also lucky in another respect in that the local advised me to wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt Just based on Australia's reputation alone I don

> I was also lucky in another respect in that the local advised me to wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt Just based on Australia's reputation alone I don't think I would ever even think about venturing outside in anything short of a hazmat suit on top of a suit of plate mail :-)

eutropia 4y ago
Made a mess from bursting into laughter from this. Cheers
- hilbert42 4y ago
  Ages ago, I got a similar reaction (and also the exact opposite) when I posted my encounters with these critters (can't remember if on HN or elsewhere): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_funnel-web_spider https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_funnel-web_spider, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrax https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrax One of my staff had lots of Atrax robustus in his backyard and over a period he brought several to work and they became the Electronics Department's 'pet' (but we only kept one at a time). We put him (with A. robustus the males are more deadly and agressive than the females) in a large empty coffee jar with rocks and dirt filling about a third the jar and with air holes in the lid which were just big enough to fit a pencil through. We kept him fed on slaters (woodlice) and crickets and he took pride of place on my office desk. Typically, they'd live for 18 months to two years. They were talking points for visitors to my office (some were horried but most just curious). When I'd come in of a morning and switch the lights on he'd rear up on his hind legs with fangs thrust out. I'd occasionally respond by sticking one of those red 'Copperplate' pencils though an air hole and he'd attack it. The venom could be clearly seen running down the outside of the pencil. I kept that badly pocked-marked pencil as a souvenir for some years but unfortunately I've since lost it. Also, I was 'lucky' enough to have the organization's union rep as one of my staff. Often, he'd come into my office for a discussion and he'd jokingly preface our convention to the effect 'We expect your cooperation in this matter or we'll let him loose when you're not looking.' For some reason, that post horrified several UK readers. :-)
aidenn0 4y ago
Deadliest venomous creature in Australia is the honeybee.
- hilbert42 4y ago
  Uh, where did you get that notion from?
  - aidenn0 4y ago
    Multiple deaths per year in Australia from honeybee stings. Box jellyfish average less than one per year. Conflicting sources put bees (or bees and wasps together) at just behind, on par with, or ahead of venomous snakes in terms of mean annual deaths in Australia.
    - hilbert42 4y ago
      …But also honeybees are not natives. As I've said below, most of us survive despite some frightening encounters.
      - TheHappyOddish 4y ago
        Are you a honey bee?
        hilbert42 4y ago
        Not when I last looked. I'm their victim—they having stung me on multiple occasions.
    - jerrre 4y ago
      When I have an encounter with a potentially deadly animal, I don't care about the absolute number of deaths its species have created. I care about the percentage for 1 encounter.
      - 4y ago
dekhn 4y ago
that doesn't stop the dropbears
- TheHappyOddish 4y ago
  You can stick vegemite and forks on top of a hazmat, no worries.
hilbert42 4y ago
Ha! I don't want mislead you, in that I'm also a 'local' albeit from several thousand kilometers south of Cape Tribulation (Australia is a very big place). Thus, I'm familiar with much of the flora and fauna that seems to terrify people from other parts of the world (it's just that this was my first visit to these parts). The Emmagen Creek 'local' was someone who I already knew, he used to work for me in electronics but chucked it in to 'go bush' with his better half and ended up taking over a disused tin-mining lease under the pretext of prospecting for tin but in reality he did little other than to loll around eating papaya which grew everywhere around his dwelling. Somehow or other he invited me and another colleague to visit him and we agreed although it was very inconvenient for me at the time. (I had university assignments to complete—so when not trekking about in the bush you can picture me doing formal logic assignments sitting on a stump in that wilderness. Getting the assignments back to the uni in a timely manner was a somewhat fickle hit-and-miss process—I had to pay the local hippies who lived on the beach some miles away rather handsomely to take them to Cairns to post whenever they went there to collect their dole payments.) Australia isn't really that bad, not that many of us fall victim to or are gobbled up by the wildlife every year but it does happen. We locals are rather blasé about wandering in the 'bush' without much protection—hazmat suits would be deemed totally unnecessary. Though the Daintree Rainforest probably has more to be concerned about than many other areas, there are crocodiles in the larger rivers and you'd be advised not to swim in them, also the cassowarys can be quite aggressive, especially so when nesting (see heading 'Attacks'): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary. I got a bit of a scare myself when at Cape Tribulation. Emmagen Creek is just that, a small permanently-flowing creek with a few good swimming holes about two minutes walk from where we were camping. As was my wont, first thing of a morning I'd go to the creek to wash up and bush my teeth at its bank. One morning I sensed the presence of something nearby and to my right less than 18" away was a yellow-bellied black snake of a type I wasn't familiar with (like those I know from down south). Like me, it was hanging from bank and drinking the water (it seemed totally obvious to my presence). No worries, one keeps perfectly still in those situations. When it finished drinking it just slid away. Oh, that wasn't as nearly scary as when I accidentally stood on one of these critters close to where I lived as a kid (it was sunning itself on a bush path just around a bend that I couldn't see around): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_brown_snake https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_brown_snake. This is one truly nasty bugger that one doesn't want to mess with. I felt this squish under my foot, fortunately it took of at great speed in one direction and I did the fastest back-flip of my life in the opposite direction. See, there are hazards here, but one usually survives.

eutropia 4y ago

Made a mess from bursting into laughter from this. Cheers

hilbert42 4y ago
Ages ago, I got a similar reaction (and also the exact opposite) when I posted my encounters with these critters (can't remember if on HN or elsewhere): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_funnel-web_spider https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_funnel-web_spider, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrax https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrax One of my staff had lots of Atrax robustus in his backyard and over a period he brought several to work and they became the Electronics Department's 'pet' (but we only kept one at a time). We put him (with A. robustus the males are more deadly and agressive than the females) in a large empty coffee jar with rocks and dirt filling about a third the jar and with air holes in the lid which were just big enough to fit a pencil through. We kept him fed on slaters (woodlice) and crickets and he took pride of place on my office desk. Typically, they'd live for 18 months to two years. They were talking points for visitors to my office (some were horried but most just curious). When I'd come in of a morning and switch the lights on he'd rear up on his hind legs with fangs thrust out. I'd occasionally respond by sticking one of those red 'Copperplate' pencils though an air hole and he'd attack it. The venom could be clearly seen running down the outside of the pencil. I kept that badly pocked-marked pencil as a souvenir for some years but unfortunately I've since lost it. Also, I was 'lucky' enough to have the organization's union rep as one of my staff. Often, he'd come into my office for a discussion and he'd jokingly preface our convention to the effect 'We expect your cooperation in this matter or we'll let him loose when you're not looking.' For some reason, that post horrified several UK readers. :-)

aidenn0 4y ago

Deadliest venomous creature in Australia is the honeybee.

hilbert42 4y ago
Uh, where did you get that notion from?
- aidenn0 4y ago
  Multiple deaths per year in Australia from honeybee stings. Box jellyfish average less than one per year. Conflicting sources put bees (or bees and wasps together) at just behind, on par with, or ahead of venomous snakes in terms of mean annual deaths in Australia.
  - hilbert42 4y ago
    …But also honeybees are not natives. As I've said below, most of us survive despite some frightening encounters.
    - TheHappyOddish 4y ago
      Are you a honey bee?
      - hilbert42 4y ago
        Not when I last looked. I'm their victim—they having stung me on multiple occasions.
  - jerrre 4y ago
    When I have an encounter with a potentially deadly animal, I don't care about the absolute number of deaths its species have created. I care about the percentage for 1 encounter.
    - 4y ago

dekhn 4y ago

that doesn't stop the dropbears

TheHappyOddish 4y ago
You can stick vegemite and forks on top of a hazmat, no worries.

hilbert42 4y ago

Ha! I don't want mislead you, in that I'm also a 'local' albeit from several thousand kilometers south of Cape Tribulation (Australia is a very big place). Thus, I'm familiar with much of the flora and fauna that seems to terrify people from other parts of the world (it's just that this was my first visit to these parts). The Emmagen Creek 'local' was someone who I already knew, he used to work for me in electronics but chucked it in to 'go bush' with his better half and ended up taking over a disused tin-mining lease under the pretext of prospecting for tin but in reality he did little other than to loll around eating papaya which grew everywhere around his dwelling. Somehow or other he invited me and another colleague to visit him and we agreed although it was very inconvenient for me at the time. (I had university assignments to complete—so when not trekking about in the bush you can picture me doing formal logic assignments sitting on a stump in that wilderness. Getting the assignments back to the uni in a timely manner was a somewhat fickle hit-and-miss process—I had to pay the local hippies who lived on the beach some miles away rather handsomely to take them to Cairns to post whenever they went there to collect their dole payments.) Australia isn't really that bad, not that many of us fall victim to or are gobbled up by the wildlife every year but it does happen. We locals are rather blasé about wandering in the 'bush' without much protection—hazmat suits would be deemed totally unnecessary. Though the Daintree Rainforest probably has more to be concerned about than many other areas, there are crocodiles in the larger rivers and you'd be advised not to swim in them, also the cassowarys can be quite aggressive, especially so when nesting (see heading 'Attacks'): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary. I got a bit of a scare myself when at Cape Tribulation. Emmagen Creek is just that, a small permanently-flowing creek with a few good swimming holes about two minutes walk from where we were camping. As was my wont, first thing of a morning I'd go to the creek to wash up and bush my teeth at its bank. One morning I sensed the presence of something nearby and to my right less than 18" away was a yellow-bellied black snake of a type I wasn't familiar with (like those I know from down south). Like me, it was hanging from bank and drinking the water (it seemed totally obvious to my presence). No worries, one keeps perfectly still in those situations. When it finished drinking it just slid away. Oh, that wasn't as nearly scary as when I accidentally stood on one of these critters close to where I lived as a kid (it was sunning itself on a bush path just around a bend that I couldn't see around): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_brown_snake https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_brown_snake. This is one truly nasty bugger that one doesn't want to mess with. I felt this squish under my foot, fortunately it took of at great speed in one direction and I did the fastest back-flip of my life in the opposite direction. See, there are hazards here, but one usually survives.