I’m curious because I’ve seen a number of threads (there’s one active at the moment) where people express reluctance to visit Australia because of man eating and/or venomous snakes, spiders, sealife and monotremes of one sort or another. I suspect that a degree of jocularity is often involved with people expressing faux fear and dismay out of proportion to their real views.
I have no connection with Australian tourism or travel or accommodiation or whatever, and I don’t give a damn one way or the other, but I am just wondering what degree of real concern is actually out there.
This is not a poll for people who live here/used to live here/have visited here [del]enough to know just how much more dangerous the situation really is than most foreigners realise[/del]. It is strictly a poll about perceptions not based on actual experience.
I joke about the dangerous wildlife (SPIDERS!) and if I visited it would definitely be something I’d be nervous about, but the looooooooooong flight is what keeps me from going to Australia.
Not at all. It’s mostly that Australia is really far away for what doesn’t seem like a huge change in culture. I prefer to travel in developing countries where my money goes farther and the culture is more exotic. If I had money for first world travel, there is still so much of America and Europe that I haven’t seen.
My perception of Australia is that it’s in the other freaking end of the world and I get tons of jetlag. As for dangerous critters, I’m not an animal lover, so any trips to “Da Wilderness” would involve a guide, tons of suntan lotion, nifty landscapes and hopefully a shortage of critters. Well, OK, we’ll accept “fishies” as being “critters I’d be happy to see,” but I’ve never touched one that wasn’t fished.
Judging from the Australians (and some relocated Kiwis) I know, I suspect the occasional drunk may be the most dangerous of Aussie critters.
Shouldn’t there be an option that you’re not at all afraid of wildlife but don’t plan on visiting because of the distance or any other reason? It seems like a neat trip but thanks to all the closer places that are more accessible it’s pretty low on my list. I never even considered dangerous animals. You mean it’s not all koalas?
I’d love to visit but it seems like every time some freak of nature creature that steals babies in the night and sucks their blood always comes from Australia.
So yes, I would not be surprised if Hitler came from there. Except it was the Hitler with 12 legs that only feeds on the blood of baby polar bears and can shoot fricken laser beams from his eyes.
This. It’s a major investment just to get there. Plus I can’t imagine there’s anything interesting about Australia or Australians. I understand they’re all criminals. It would be like taking a vacation in prison.
I’m not a huge fan of venomous insects, and if I went to Australia, it would be a concern, but that’s not a big reason I haven’t been/have no immediate plans to go. I generally prefer to visit developing countries, which are more interesting to me and fit better into my meager budget.
I would love to go to Australia, but of all the places I’d like to go, it’s probably pretty far down on the list simply because it’d be the most expensive to get to, and I’d have take more time off of work because of the super-long flight.
Actually, the wildlife is part of the reason I would like to visit Australia.
I’d love to visit, but much like others have mentioned the cost is what stops me from going. It is enough to make me want to make a crank collect call to someone and ask which way the water turns in their toilet to get a free trip in exchange for a booting.
Huntsman spiders. I’d love to see New Zealand a smidge or three more than Australia, even, but it’s those huntsman spiders that keep me off your continent.
In nearly 50 years of living in Australia, I’ve never seen a huntsman spider. I have, however, seen several species of spider in my backyard that can kill you (though they probably won’t, since they rarely bite, and if they do, antivenemes are easily available).
I’d like to visit some day, but I HATE planes. Everything about flying either bores, annoys, or scares the crap out of me. And it’s a looooong trip to get there. Maybe by boat.
