You know you're back in Australia when...

RightHoJeeves

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... your boss sends an all-staff email warning people to be wary of snakes when going outside to eat lunch.

Sigh.
 

Helix

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When I worked to SW of Melbourne, we had to watch for brown snakes. In Townsville, it was brown snakes, taipans and brown tree snakes. Up here, it's mostly pythons and green tree snakes. I prefer here.
 

RightHoJeeves

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When is the last time anyone tried to steal a magpie's eggs? Those birds are assholes.

I guess we've still got the sharks to come, though.
 

LA*78

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I'll trade 'em all right now for my kids after a week & a half of school holidays...
 

RightHoJeeves

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There is nothing more terrifying to me than the idea of a trapdoor spider... except for having a child.
 

Helix

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What have you poor people done to deserve all that poison?

There are trees too...the stinging tree or gympie-gympie.

He describes the sting as "Initially like being attacked by wasps, then you get whitening and swelling at the site, and then if it's really bad you get sweating - liquid just drips out of your skin."


...The hairs can become embedded in the skin, which can lead to long-term pain and sensitivity - there are many accounts of people suffering for months from a sting.


The Gympie-Gympie is just as capable of stinging when its leaves are dead. Hugh says even people looking at specimens in a collection can be stung - the toxin in the hairs is sealed off as it would be in a little glass vial, and seems unaffected by age.

Getting rid of those buggers along a track requires full protective gear including heavy-duty welding gloves, safety goggles and a respirator. (The goggles and respirator are needed because the needles break off.)
 

HeavyAirship

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Y'know if you shipped in some gorillas that feed exclusively on snakes you'd be golden. Then, come winter, the gorillas will simply freeze to death.
 

poetinahat

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Other than that, though...

On the ferry commuting to work yesterday:

CQBe2N1UcAAoSPD_zpsngq6n9qw.jpg


...and on the way home last night:

CQDnqNjUsAA01sh_zpsxnkjzoko.jpg


Twenty years later, I still feel like this is a giant holiday.
 

LA*78

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Y'know if you shipped in some gorillas that feed exclusively on snakes you'd be golden. Then, come winter, the gorillas will simply freeze to death.

They tried that with the cane toads... we all know what a success that turned out to be :/
 

poetinahat

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Yep... they won eighty-one straight State of Origins X-(
 

Emermouse

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Is there any flora or fauna in Australia that won't eff you up in some horrible way? Because I seriously wonder why humans decided to settle there in the first place. It'd probably be easier and safer to colonize Antarctica.
 

Helix

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Is there any flora or fauna in Australia that won't eff you up in some horrible way? Because I seriously wonder why humans decided to settle there in the first place. It'd probably be easier and safer to colonize Antarctica.

Most of the land snails are fine. Well, the ones that don't carry parasites.

I wouldn't trust those marine snails, though. And it's not just cone shells.
 
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poetinahat

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Is there any flora or fauna in Australia that won't eff you up in some horrible way? Because I seriously wonder why humans decided to settle there in the first place. It'd probably be easier and safer to colonize Antarctica.
Totally. That's your best bet by far. Stay well clear of Australia. Get to Antarctica as soon as you can. Don't give up -- stay there fifty years if you have to!