The Dangers of Being Australian

Recently, one of my favourite authors came to visit our lovely sunburnt country and its sweeping plains. Today, I read a post by her in which she's sure that every aminal and/or insect in Australia is out to kill you. It's not until these things get pointed out by a tourist that I even think about it - we have six of the world's top ten deadliest snakes; Sydney's Funnel Web spider is one of the deadliest spiders on the planet; the poison from the spurs of a platypus is supposed to be excrutiating; our saltwater crocodiles are prehistoric primeval marvels; Box Jellyfish can hug you to death, stopping cardio-respiratory function in as little as three minutes; the Great White Shark has been a hunter of the deep blue ocean for millenia; the Drop Bear has been plaguing tourists for decades.

It could even be argued that the country itself is out to kill you. The interior is so vast that whole European countries have as much square mileage as one of our cattle stations. Go too far out into the Outback and you could wander for days without seeing any sign of civilisation, and then you could die of starvation but not before you die of dehydration. Fires can mow down entire sections of the country in a blink of an eye.

The funny thing is, I know all of this. As Australians, we all know this. But, for those of us who live in cities, it really doesn't impact too much on our everyday lives. Not everything here can kill you, but it will. If you're stupid.