[FUNSIZE]

Quote: Originally Posted by obehave

Snakes are deaf

You guys are reinforcing why my wife doesn't want to visit Oz

As I already said: There are no snakes in Australia... only centi or millipedes and scorpions... They've been extinct or so

"snakes are deaf"?

Good on them... so they got around blushing when Andrew's father was swearing and abusing verbally

Why do you just NOT show this thread to your wife?

[Todd!]

Quote: Originally Posted by obehave

Snakes are deaf

You guys are reinforcing why my wife doesn't want to visit Oz

Let this be no bearing on how the real Australia is... we are actually quite civilised for people who ride kangaroo's and eat bush tucker after chasing creapy crawlys around the bush all day.

Come to Australia, you wont regret it!

Todd

[obehave]

I want to go. So did she until she watched that "10 Deadliest Snakes in the World" episode on Discovery Channel.
8 were in Oz

I lived in Florida as a kid so I got used to the idea of snakes being around even if I'm not that fond of them.

I also don't think she quite realizes how big Australia is. Quite a lot to see.

[Todd!]

Tell your wife, last time I saw a snake was when Steve Irwin came to my primary school back in 1992

Stick to the coast and you will have a ball... head inland (and avoid the snakes ) and you will see some amazing sites.

Basically, your best bet is to stay on the east coast - around Melbourne - because every where else is grot! (*stirs the pot up abit*) Nah, the whole place is wonderful, somuch so that so many take it for granted...

If you get the chance - take it arms wide open.

Todd

[obehave]

Quote: Originally Posted by Red&blackS

Tell your wife, last time I saw a snake was when Steve Irwin came to my primary school back in 1992

Stick to the coast and you will have a ball... head inland (and avoid the snakes ) and you will see some amazing sites.

Basically, your best bet is to stay on the east coast - around Melbourne - because every where else is grot! (*stirs the pot up abit*) Nah, the whole place is wonderful, somuch so that so many take it for granted...

If you get the chance - take it arms wide open.

Todd

I take it "grot" is not a good thing.

Sounds like grotey. Surf term from the '60s. Nasty or dirty. A derivative of gross.
Close?

[Todd!]

Yeah Grot.. like grotesque I thought though.

I was just stirring the other Aussies up There is a fair bit of interstate rivalry in Aus.

Victoria (my state) is south of New South Wales and Queensland - so we are called Mexicans...

Some daft fools in South Australia - to our West - call us Mexicans too... but thats just because their education system is lacking decent geography content in their syllabus

Western Australians - well, I have never been there, but I hear its very nice.

Tasmania - very nice - but there are limited number of last names

Northern Territory - I've never been there, but in some parts tehre is no speed limit

Todd

[AndrewH]

Me yells


AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!

[Magictux]

The snakes are so bad where I live that I only go outside in winter (when the snakes are asleep).

Of course I'm kidding... I sometimes send my wife out to clear the area and I follow with my trusty 410..

We have bushland surrounding my workplace and it's got plenty of snakes but they don't bother us. I've seen a brown, black and then a tiger snake all in the space of half an hour. They really don't come looking for us and we keep the feeling mutual. You have to be pretty unlucky to encounter one really. ..unless you're going to Melbourne cos Victoria is snake capital of Australia.

[FUNSIZE]

Quote: Originally Posted by Magictux

The snakes are so bad where I live that I only go outside in winter (when the snakes are asleep).

Of course I'm kidding... I sometimes send my wife out to clear the area and I follow with my trusty 410..

We have bushland surrounding my workplace and it's got plenty of snakes but they don't bother us. I've seen a brown, black and then a tiger snake all in the space of half an hour. They really don't come looking for us and we keep the feeling mutual. You have to be pretty unlucky to encounter one really. ..unless you're going to Melbourne cos Victoria is snake capital of Australia.

No!
You must be really LUCKY to encounter one... I'm already searching for them for years.

I wasn't aware that they differ between deadly, deadlier and deadliest snakes ... it doesn't really make sense to me... I mean you're dead when you're bitten by a particular snake, and you're even deader, when bitten by another?

[Magictux]

Quote: Originally Posted by FUNSIZE

No!
You must be really LUCKY to encounter one... I'm already searching for them for years.

I wasn't aware that they differ between deadly, deadlier and deadliest snakes ... it doesn't really make sense to me... I mean you're dead when you're bitten by a particular snake, and you're even deader, when bitten by another?

You obviously hang around in the wrong spots then!

Don't you go knocking our snakes. We're very proud of having most of the 'most' deadliest snakes in the world. A red bellied black snake is deadly but most of the time it won't kill you. However the brown snake will kill you most of the time but you could be lucky and not die. A tiger snake is more aggressive so perhaps they're a bit more 'deadlier' than the brown. The Taipan though.... oooh, now I'm giving myself the creeps!

[ruthie]

Quote: Originally Posted by AndrewH

I decided that I’d install my gauges today (or at least do all the wiring) so I went out to my parent’s place (they’ve got a farm about 30 minutes east of Canberra) to use some of dad’s tools.

I was kind of kneeling outside the car doing some of the wiring under the dash when my sister came down to see how I was going. As she was walking towards me she was telling me something about her dog when all of a sudden she starts screaming at me . I had a pretty late night last night so I was just sitting there impatiently thinking what the hells the matter with you you stupid girl . I turned around to tell her to shut up (screaming is not out of the ordinary where my sister is concerned ) just in time to see a humongous tiger snake about a foot away from my leg and heading in my direction . I sort of kinda dived away from the car and the snake headed underneath it.

Cause the inside of the car was in pieces, I couldn’t really drive it out of the way so instead I decided to try and chase it out by spraying water under it. I couldn’t manage to encourage it out but we couldn’t see it either so I opened the bonnet and got the shock of my life when the bloody thing was slithering over the top of the engine (where the sparkplug leads go). Anyway, I tried all sorts of thing to get it out, including cranking the stereo up full blast but nothing seemed to work. So I got jack of it and just decided to put everything back together again so at least I could drive home. Had to keep the door closed which really made it a pain in the back (literally) to put everything back together.

After sitting and watching the car with my sister for about 40 minutes and running the engine until it got hot, the snake still hadn’t come out and for all I know, it’s still there . Oh well, at least it has good taste in cars.

As an aside, my mum was telling me afterwards that apparently if you get bitten by a tiger snake (and I suppose this applies to other snakes too) and you go to hospital and they haven’t got any antivenom, get them to contact the nearest vet as human tiger snake antivenom and animal tiger snake antivenom are apparently the same. (piece of useless information for you all).

OMG what a story!

[obehave]

Quote: Originally Posted by Red&blackS

Yeah Grot.. like grotesque I thought though.

I was just stirring the other Aussies up There is a fair bit of interstate rivalry in Aus.

Victoria (my state) is south of New South Wales and Queensland - so we are called Mexicans...

Some daft fools in South Australia - to our West - call us Mexicans too... but thats just because their education system is lacking decent geography content in their syllabus

Western Australians - well, I have never been there, but I hear its very nice.

Tasmania - very nice - but there are limited number of last names

Northern Territory - I've never been there, but in some parts tehre is no speed limit

Todd

Sounds a lot like the States with different accents

[meinamini]

I was fortunate enough to go to our local tip the other day . Whilst there, discarding some packaging I was marvelling at the flocks of disgusting, dirty, smelly and just plain gross ibis there, are they wrong or what? Anyway, I heard this rustling sound and turned around to see a great big black goana rifling through the garbage, licking everything...disgusting. I hate them even more than snakes, they have bacteria in their mouths that are yet to be discovered ===shudders==.

[ruthie]

Quote: Originally Posted by meinamini

I was fortunate enough to go tour local tip the other day . Whilst there, discarding some packaging I was marvelling at the flocks of disgusting, dirty, smelly and just plain gross ibis there, are they wrong or what? Anyway, I heard this rustling sound and turned around to see a great big black goanna rifling through the garbage, licking everything...disgusting. I hate them even more than snakes, they have bacteria in their mouths that are yet to be discovered ===shudders==.

What is a goanna?

I am so glad these creatures are not in my area.

[meinamini]

Quote: Originally Posted by ruthie

What is a goanna?

I am so glad these creatures are not in my area.

I am glad you asked Ruthie
A goana ( I couldn't even spell it correctly) is a big lizard, that is quite fast, can climb trees and will eat just about anything.

see pic

[obehave]

It's in the family of monitor lizards if I recall correctly.
As mentioned, very nasty bite. Bitten part rots off and you die from an infection.

Found this link

[meinamini]

Quote: Originally Posted by obehave

It's in the family of monitor lizards if I recall correctly.
As mentioned, very nasty bite. Bitten part rots off and you die from an infection.

Found this link

Right you are obehave.

We used to have a 4 1/2 foot lace monitor that lived in a tree in the backyard of our holiday house. My mum would be out watering the yard when you would hear this god awful shriek follwed by mum flying into the house. It would be getting dark and the monitor would haul itself over the back fence to return to it's tree for the night. Mum was delighted when I told her that if the lace monitor was startled it would run and try to climb, so as opposed to a snake you don't stand still as they may try to climb you.

disgusting none the less

[Magictux]

Quote: Originally Posted by meinamini

I am glad you asked Ruthie
A goana ( I couldn't even spell it correctly) is a big lizard, that is quite fast, can climb trees and will eat just about anything.

see pic

That looks like a baby one. The adult ones grow to about 12 feet long. They are very good tree climbers and jump off the trees onto people or cars..or buses. They're mainly found in Melbourne.

[FUNSIZE]

Quote: Originally Posted by meinamini

I was fortunate enough to go to our local tip the other day . Whilst there, discarding some packaging I was marvelling at the flocks of disgusting, dirty, smelly and just plain gross ibis there, are they wrong or what? Anyway, I heard this rustling sound and turned around to see a great big black goana rifling through the garbage, licking everything...disgusting. I hate them even more than snakes, they have bacteria in their mouths that are yet to be discovered ===shudders==.

And I LOVE goanas even more than snakes

[meinamini]

Quote: Originally Posted by Magictux

That looks like a baby one. The adult ones grow to about 12 feet long. They are very good tree climbers and jump off the trees onto people or cars..or buses. They're mainly found in Melbourne.

I hope that you are not confusing the monitors with the drop bears, that will open a veritable can of worms