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Published: December 2nd 2011
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Be crockwise!
Advice from the Nothern Territory Government. Got this postcard at a booth they had set up at one of the local night markets. In Darwin, everything that is fun to do probably involves danger. Mom and Dad, you should probably stop reading now.
Go for a walk along the beach and you might just get stung by a deadly box jellyfish or blue ringed octopus. Or perhaps eaten by a saltie croc. You might even pick a venomous seashell. Or maybe you'll get invaded by some weird bacteria (melioidosis) that inhabits the sand and soil and can kill you in 48 hours.
Maybe the beach isn't so fun? How about a swim in the pool instead? Sure. Just don't go at night because that's when the venomous mouse spiders like to come out and play. Our neighbour found one dead at the bottom of our pool. Eeek.
Ok, so maybe a hike in the forest sounds safer. Watch out for the King Brown snakes, and numerous others that can kill you with their venom. Do not walk in long grass. (Until the rains recently started there was a "high alert" for snakes in homes too. Apparently they were searching for water at the end of a long dry season and everyone was supposed to check their beds before just jumping in!
And 'they' said to be careful not stick your limbs anywhere a snake might be hiding or where you can't see. Wow.) And watch for the poisonous plants that leak sap that can really hurt you.
Ok, so scratch out hikes from the list of fun things to do.
A lot of things to remember, eh? I used to like going pee in the middle of night without turning the lights on, so I could maintain a half-sleep and then just crawl back into bed (well I didn't really 'like' it, I just thought it was a normal thing to take for granted). Now when I wake up I'm paranoid that I might step on a repulsive giant cockroach or worse yet, that I could get offed by a snake or a scorpion. Not to worry though, the 'house scorpions' are the cute little marbled ones and their sting is only very painful, not deadly. So I'm just exaggerating. Did you know that all scorpions are cannibals? Gawd. I could of course put on some slippers to avoid stepping on something, but then I'd have to make sure nothing was inside the slippers first. So much work at
3am.
Ok, so the house isn't super safe either.
Oh I know! We could sit on the balcony and read a book! Yes! That sounds tame! Just make sure to slather on the sunscreen as Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer on the planet (2 in 3 will get it before reaching 70). Oh and don't go outside during a storm because Darwin happens to be the most lightning-struck city in the world. And the monsoons. And the cyclones. Watch for those. And if you feel you're having trouble breathing and like you have a piece of flannel over your mouth, no worries mate! Check the calendar! It's probably just the wet season! And one more thing, if you feel something crawling up your legs, it's probably just an army of green ants and their acid stings aren't
too bad. They just burn and itch for a couple of hours or so.
Ok, so even
reading could potentially be deadly.
Well how about a car ride then? You could turn on the a/c, pump up the tunes and go for a sweet ride around town. You could. Just make sure there isn't a nice
Katie and me!
Katie's an awesome 'bird' (yes, another Aussie expression meaning 'woman'). She not only shows me a lot of cool stuff in Darwin, but she's super fun! big fat spider waiting to jump on you when you pull down the sun visor. They love to hide in snug little places like that. And there are SO many deadly kinds to choose from.
Damn. I used to love car rides.
I've learned that if you
think you saw something move from the corner of your eye. You did. And there are 20 more things that are there that you didn't see move. So far though, those things have mostly been cockroaches and ants, which I still find repulsive, but oddly, also very friendly. I guess everything is relative.
Oh yeah, one more thing. I was telling my 'got attacked by a bird' story (see previous blog) to one of my Darwin friends, Katie, and she did not laugh. She told me that I was lucky that nothing bad happened because those birds -plovers- can really hurt people. They have these large tusks or horns on their wings and when they fly at you and swoop, they are intending to maim you! One of her friends became blind in one eye after a plover attack! OMG. I feel very lucky.
So people, if you're planning
Random cockroach
This guy was huge. But like I said, I'm kind of starting to warm up to these repulsive beings. (Well, not really.) to come visit, just remember: whatever dangerous creatures lurk in Australia -and they are plentiful- they are all more numerous, larger and more venomous up here in the Northern Territory!
p.s. Luckily I haven't encountered any of these creatures, except once a suspect spider...but I didn't stop to take a picture, hence the lack of pics in this blog... If you want to check them out, a fun but non-comprehensive website of some of these creatures is: http://blog.hotelclub.com/the-10-most-dangerous-animals-in-australia/
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ginger
non-member comment
oh la la, I want to see pictures of a scorpion!!! ;)