Shouts From Down Under

Australia is beautiful, but will you return home safely?

Dangerous place?

I came across this tongue in cheek warning to tourists against visits to Australia.

http://www.viralnova.com/australia-is-dangerous/

I wonder how many people believe this rot? Seriously. Do you really think it's this bad? Whoever wrote this is having a lend of you, pulling your leg, playing silly buggers.

Even so, like in any country just about, there would be situations and animals / insects / birds / reptiles in Australia that do need vigilance and care. It's common sense.

Tell people / police if you are going into the interior of the country. Seek advice first and listen to it. Listen carefully. They won't be exaggerating about the conditions in Outback Australia. If you have never been Four Wheel Driving, or don't know how to handle yourself, your basic life needs, and are unable to look after yourself if an accident happens or you get lost, then DON'T GO.
At the worst you'll die. At the very least you'll look like a prize tosser.

Respect is important. Shrugging your shoulders about losing respect, from putting other's lives in danger because of your stupidity, is lame and sad.

If visiting southern parts, where you know or are advised that it can snow, don't underestimate this, thinking it's just a tourist place, there'll be plenty of people, it's all warm and sunny and you are only going there for a couple of hours.



That could be a deadly mistake. No one will warn you to take warm clothing. There will be no signs saying, hello goober-head! Did you bring any food? Did you pack an EPIRB? (Emergency position indicating radio beacon)

We were caught out (the photo below is what I took not long after apologising to my daughter for risking our lives) with a life threatening situation like this, and we'd prepared and we live here! Even with all that, stuff happens. Accidents. Mistakes. Weather. Stupidity. You think you know. You think you're experienced and maybe you are. But nature seems to have a will of it's own, and delights, it seems, in showing us how puny we humans really are.




http://www.mast.tas.gov.au/domino%5CMAST%5Cmastweb.nsf/v-lu-all/General+Safety~E...(EPIRBs)?OpenDocument

In the northern parts of Australia, ask before you walk down the street near rivers. If there are signs warning of crocodiles you better believe them. Is it really a good idea to go swimming there?

I haven't had a lot to do with crocs, but saw one at a reptile park in Townsville. There was a crowd of us along a walkway rail that was built up above the crocodile habitat pen. The crocodile itself lay in the sun along the perimeter fence, separated from us by a secondary fence about a metre from the first. But we were still fairly close to the beast.

From memory it was something like the length of a large vehicle, and with a girth the size of a row of flattened bathtubs. The old clawfoot ones.

We all stood there for ages, the whole crowd murmuring and chatting quietly but excitedly, as tourists do. The keeper was on the inside, across a small moat from the croc, and he had some meat to feed it, and I'm not sure but I think it was on the end of a long pole, with something to hook it.

Whatever it was, all I remember the most was that when he threw the meat or dangled it above the croc, this huge thing that had sat like a silent unmoving tractor, for the 45 minutes or more that we were there watching, suddenly moved like a massive machine, with blinding speed, and with a resounding chomp, the meat was gone, and the croc instantly returned to it's motionless state.

Unblinking.

The whole crowd gasped with unfeigned shock. It was very sobering, and I'm sure everyone was picturing themselves in those jaws, and their certain fate.



I think comparing a crocodile to a machine is probably still underestimating the animals speed, and definitely insulting the animal. Though huge and terrifying, there is still a certain beauty about it.

Especially our frightened reflection in it's unblinking eye.

Sparky