# Australia - not nearly that deadly, why not come visit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 31, 2009, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176 "2009-12-31T10:11:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/61 "2010-01-02T20:00:30Z")
If you survive all of that ,Russel Crowe will kick your ass. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/62 "2010-01-02T21:03:53Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > If you survive all of that ,Russel Crowe will kick your ass. Now THAT was funny 🙂 Reminds me of that South Park episode. As a sorta aside I never understood why the Southeast US doesnt get nearly as bad a rap. We have gators, rattlesnakes, water mocassines, coral snakes, pigmy rattlers, sharks, scorpions, black widow spiders, brown recluse spiders, tornados, hella lightning, rip currents, floods, hurricanes, and drunk angry rednecks. And I am sure I’ve probably left a few things out. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/63 "2010-01-02T22:45:45Z")
> [@bluezooky](#): > > No need for permanent residency for my Kiwi friends, social security kicks in after six months for most benefits, there are meant to be some exceptions however I’m not sure what they are, most seem happy enougth to work hard. They changed the rules again not too long ago- if someone moves from NZ to Australia without applying for residency etc, they’ll _never_ be eligible for social security. They will be eligible for Medicare, though. Everyone is, except tourists. ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/64 "2010-01-02T23:15:03Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > Would go in a heartbeat - in fact it’s a goal. BTW the wombat is one of my favourite animals. So cute and like a little tank. Another reason we moved to this exact location was the wombats. They breed here. We know the location of the burrows and so can see them pretty often. Adult wombats are drop dead cute, and baby wombats are even cuter. We are near St Andrews, at the foot of the mountain which goes up to Kinglake National Park - another major reason we moved to here. But it was wiped out by the bushfires last summer - killing millions of animals and over a hundred people in horrible deaths. We were saved only by a wind change when the fire was about 4 minutes from us. I have no fear of the potentially deadly snakes and spiders in the back yard, but the bushfire season is scaring the hell out of me. We’ve been up to Kinglake regularly since, and the bush is regenerating. Last week, at one of our regular spots, it wasn’t silent any more. The birds are coming back! A twitch of 6 species, where we would have got 20+ at the same time last year. But I’m not complaining - they’re coming back. Spiders and insects were back pretty quick - in small numbers though. The mammals and snakes are a long way off, though. So if you do want a good reason to fear Australia, then it isn’t any of our animals, it’s the bushfires. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/65 "2010-01-02T23:21:24Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > As a sorta aside I never understood why the Southeast US doesnt get nearly as bad a rap. > > We have gators, rattlesnakes, water mocassines, coral snakes, pigmy rattlers, sharks, scorpions, black widow spiders, brown recluse spiders, tornados, hella lightning, rip currents, floods, hurricanes, and drunk angry rednecks. Yeah, well, I wouldn’t want to live there either. Florida freaks me out almost as much as Australia and South America. Florida has nice roads though. None of that salt/sand damage. Why is New Zealand so friendly (environmentally-speaking) while Australia wants to kill you in so many ways (environmentally-speaking)? I know they’re not as close as they seem to be on the map, but they’re still pretty close. Edit to add, of course New Zealand could blow itself off the map at any time, but at least there are no deadly snakes and spiders. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/66 "2010-01-03T00:57:33Z")
> [@lynne-42](#): > > Another reason we moved to this exact location was the wombats. They breed here. We know the location of the burrows and so can see them pretty often. Adult wombats are drop dead cute, and baby wombats are even cuter. > > We are near St Andrews, at the foot of the mountain which goes up to Kinglake National Park - another major reason we moved to here. But it was wiped out by the bushfires last summer - killing millions of animals and over a hundred people in horrible deaths. We were saved only by a wind change when the fire was about 4 minutes from us. I have no fear of the potentially deadly snakes and spiders in the back yard, but the bushfire season is scaring the hell out of me. We’ve been up to Kinglake regularly since, and the bush is regenerating. Last week, at one of our regular spots, it wasn’t silent any more. The birds are coming back! A twitch of 6 species, where we would have got 20+ at the same time last year. But I’m not complaining - they’re coming back. Spiders and insects were back pretty quick - in small numbers though. The mammals and snakes are a long way off, though. > > So if you do want a good reason to fear Australia, then it isn’t any of our animals, it’s the bushfires. Wow, that’s where you live? That’s awful. ☹ It’s one of the reasons we stay in the city, the bushfires. Glad you and yours made it out ok, but awful, awful for that region. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/67 "2010-01-03T01:26:59Z")
After watching various nature films about Australia I’m afraid to even look at a native plant for fear that something out of the movie Aliens will attack me. Honestly, the whole country is one big Zoo full of poisonous animals. You can’t even run into the Ocean for safety. I’m sure the concept of sharks with laser beams came from there. I mean come on, if Steve Irwin can’t survive what chance do the rest of us have? ---
**Author:** ![Across](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Across](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Across)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/68 "2010-01-03T01:59:08Z")
I wouldn’t worry about redbacks - not a single person in Australia has died from a redback spider bite since the anti-venom has been developed. However, to date there is no vaccine for bushfires ☹ ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/69 "2010-01-03T02:39:06Z")
> [@lynne-42](#): > > We’ve been up to Kinglake regularly since, and the bush is regenerating. I’ve been out to Kinglake a few times in the last six months, and even though there is still a lot of evidence of the fires, it has a kind of stark devastating beauty to it, especially now with the regrowth coming in thick and fast. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/70 "2010-01-03T03:39:47Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > After watching various nature films about Australia I’m afraid to even look at a native plant for fear that something out of the movie Aliens will attack me. Honestly, the whole country is one big Zoo full of poisonous animals. You can’t even run into the Ocean for safety. I’m sure the concept of sharks with laser beams came from there. I mean come on, if Steve Irwin can’t survive what chance do the rest of us have? Oh please, oh please god, lets get Bear Grills to go on vacation over there. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/71 "2010-01-03T04:00:09Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > It’s mid-winter on my planet, plus there are Black Widow spiders all around the house anyway, so those funnel-web spiders only mildly terrify me. Black widows terrify me, but they don’t have fangs strong enough to puncture fingernails! ([cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian_funnel-web_spider): “Their fangs are large and powerful, capable of penetrating fingernails and soft shoes”) I know that cite says that only 26 people have died from spider bites in Australia in the last 100 years, and only 13 of those were from funnel webs, and there haven’t been any deaths since 1981, and that lightning, something I love, has killed over 7000 Americans in the last 34 years ([cite](http://www.sky-fire.tv/index.cgi/lightning.html#killedeachyear)), but, damn, better safe than sorry, that’s my motto. [QUOTE=Magiver] I mean come on, if Steve Irwin can’t survive what chance do the rest of us have? [/QUOTE] Funny! I laughed out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Shadow21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Shadow21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadow21)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/72 "2010-01-03T04:15:28Z")
> [@](#): > > 18 of the top 20 poisonous snakes are in Australia. The male platypus is poisonous. They have the most lethal spiders in the world. They have crocs that will eat you. They have a tiny pretty colored octopus that will kill you . They have stone fish and jellyfish that will kill you. Just because the great white shark had a down season ,it is not time to flock to the continent of death. > Then the hole in the ozone layer will subject you to cancerous death rays of the Aussie sun. Sheesh! Some people have no sense of adventure. 😃 > [@Giles](#): > > I visited the outback a fortnight ago – visiting my father’s home town of Hay. They had a total fire ban there, so setting fire to a goat using a magnifying glass would get you into serious trouble. Play it safe, and use an unlit goat. 😃 You went to Hay? By Choice?!? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Darwinian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Darwinian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwinian)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/73 "2010-01-03T09:53:30Z")
> [@lynne-42](#): > > Another reason we moved to this exact location was the wombats. They breed here. We know the location of the burrows and so can see them pretty often. Adult wombats are drop dead cute, and baby wombats are even cuter. > > We are near St Andrews, at the foot of the mountain which goes up to Kinglake National Park - another major reason we moved to here. But it was wiped out by the bushfires last summer - killing millions of animals and over a hundred people in horrible deaths. We were saved only by a wind change when the fire was about 4 minutes from us. I have no fear of the potentially deadly snakes and spiders in the back yard, but the bushfire season is scaring the hell out of me. We’ve been up to Kinglake regularly since, and the bush is regenerating. Last week, at one of our regular spots, it wasn’t silent any more. The birds are coming back! A twitch of 6 species, where we would have got 20+ at the same time last year. But I’m not complaining - they’re coming back. Spiders and insects were back pretty quick - in small numbers though. The mammals and snakes are a long way off, though. > > So if you do want a good reason to fear Australia, then it isn’t any of our animals, it’s the bushfires. Exactly!!! I live in cyclone territory and I can tell you I’m way more scared of bushfires than I am of cyclones. You get a bit more warning with a cyclone plus if one passes over your house (even a category 5) there is a chance of you surviving it, but if a bushfire passes over your house you’ve got buckleys! And then there was the time we had a taipan in our car. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/74 "2010-01-03T11:08:20Z")
> [@Shadow21](#): > > You went to Hay? By Choice?!? :eek: The basic reason was that it’s my father’s home town (though he left there 80 years ago when he finished high school, and hasn’t lived there since). One odd thing about my visit was that it was my wife’s first time in Hay, though she’d visited Goolgowi (about 100 km northeast) and Moulamein (about 120 km southwest) around 30 years ago. I would think she must have been the only person to visit both of those towns without being to Hay. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/75 "2010-01-03T13:21:58Z")
And we have bushfires in Brigadoon (that is not a typo) Toodyay (neither is that). It was well over 100 degrees here today, but I never saw anything venemous apart from a Blue Persian.And some cold VB. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/76 "2010-01-03T17:51:57Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > But how many clueless tourists drove their rental cars into the Outback and were never heard from again? 😉 Well, when the rental cars look like [this,](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/07._Mad_Max_Car_at_Silverton_Hotel%2C_Silverton%2C_NSW%2C_07.07.2007.jpg) they should’ve had a clue! ---
**Author:** ![Shadow21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Shadow21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadow21)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/77 "2010-01-03T23:41:02Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > The basic reason was that it’s my father’s home town (though he left there 80 years ago when he finished high school, and hasn’t lived there since). > > One odd thing about my visit was that it was my wife’s first time in Hay, though she’d visited Goolgowi (about 100 km northeast) and Moulamein (about 120 km southwest) around 30 years ago. I would think she must have been the only person to visit both of those towns without being to Hay. I’ve been to Goolgowi, Merriwagga, Hillston. Haven’t been to Hay or Moulamein. Well, I think I may have driven through them at about age 3 or 4, but that doesn’t really count. But then, I live in Wagga Wagga now, so I have an advantage. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/78 "2010-01-03T23:45:25Z")
> [@Shadow21](#): > > But then, I live in Wagga Wagga now, so I have an advantage. I just noticed your join date is like, now. Welcome to the boards. If anyone makes any stupid jokes about it, ignore them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/79 "2010-01-04T00:27:56Z")
> [@Gleena](#): > > They do, as bad or worse than deer in some US places (Michigan is the place I have experience with.) I don’t know the relative populousness of each animal, nor how likely they are to end up on roads, but roos are much more solidly built than your average deer (or cow, or moose, or quadrupedal ungulate of your choice), and they can make much more of a mess of your car. Someone I know who was on the committee looking at the “Very Fast Train” (no, seriously!) proposal between Sydney and Canberra/Melbourne said that one of the costs that put it out of commission was that the entire run would require roo-proof fencing to be installed and maintained. > [@](#): > > Disappointingly, there are also “Watch for Wombat” signs. I watch diligently, and I never see one. It makes me sad, cause I’d give almost anything to see a wombat outside a zoo! I did once see an accident where a semi hit a wombat on one wheel and overturned. The wombat survived at least long enough to get out of sight in the bush on the side of the road. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176/80 "2010-01-04T02:33:09Z")
> [@BigNik](#): > > I don’t know the relative populousness of each animal, nor how likely they are to end up on roads, but roos are much more solidly built than your average deer (or cow, or moose, or quadrupedal ungulate of your choice), and they can make much more of a mess of your car. Yep, a ‘minor’ glancing blow, driving a full sized 4WD (Landcruiser) with a proper steel bullbar, and you wind up with a dismounted radiator :eek:☹ Extra problem being that during our all too regular dry spells the Roo’s are attracted to the grass on the sides of the road. A new one I encountered driving out near Emerald, Xmas before last - Echdina. I narrowly missed one while driving at night - I’d never seen one on a road before. Lucky escape apparently, I found out afterwards that if you hit one, the tire you hit it with will be gone for good - replacement required, as it is all but impossible to repair. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-not-nearly-that-deadly-why-not-come-visit/523176.md?page=5)