I always wanted to go to Australia , the land and sea there looks beautiful. Then I found that everything ...every snake is poisonous to some degree...a box jelly will kill you in two minutes…salties and great whites will eat you and even platypuses (platypi??) are venomous. Go figger.
You left out Sydney funnel web spiders and cone shells. When in graduate school I had some Australian roommates ( 2 - I admit a statistically insignificant sample) - convinced me that only if I completely ran out of other places to go Australia would be a destination.
I’m Australian and what you say is true but you can still have a great time there. One could list dangers of many places in a similar fashion and never go anywhere. When I went to Israel and Jordan in 1996 I was a bit hesitant but was told if I was frightened of terrorism I would never go. Well I went and had a great and memorable time.
Then I found that everything ...every snake is poisonous to some degree...a box jelly will kill you in two minutes…salties and great whites will eat you and even platypuses (platypi??) are venomous. Go figger.
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Awesome country with varied geography. However, it is quite possible to survive their wildlife, mostly by avoiding them...they really aren’t *everywhere* and don’t seek out victims. You can chase those little blue-ringed octopus and all they do is flash their color and swim away, fast, for example.
I’d love to see the West and the far Northwest, but I’m past the age for 30-hour plane trips. Been to Oz twice and never got West of Alice Springs.
If you get a chance, go. I never even saw a snake, either time, nor a platypus or even a big spider (for which I’m grateful). Wallaby, now, there’s a lot of those, all sizes.
While the venomous critters exist, the media overplays their
prevalence. Snorkeled and dove the Great Barrier Reef. In the Coral Sea, there are places around resort islands where you can just stand in waist deep water, dip your head and be surrounded by gorgeous fish and coral. Other islands offer miles of white sand beaches you can nearly have to yourself after a very short run in a fishing boat with an outboard.
Australia is a country that keeps you on your toes but the Aussies have adapted. There are jugs of vinegar at all the beaches to rub on jelly fish stings & counteract their venom. There are common plants to crush & rub on ant stings.
The platypus is very elusive. In the Atherton tablelands there are tours where one of the stops is a look out over a stream where the platypuses are known to live. You watch for 20-30 minutes and are rewarded by seeing them amble down to the water to swim. In Darwin there is a platypus exhibit, I believe at the aquarium downtown where you can see them more easily. Platypus venom is used on rival males at mating season so visitor are safe unless...