Steve, you’d make good Aussies actually I think. Common sense and a healthy dose of fear is a very good thing to have. 🙂 Nothing beats knowledge and respect for the land. It’s the most important lesson we have had to learn from our indigenous people. Aus can be a harsh and unforgiving land, but it also can be beautiful and simply magical! I have traveled extensively, and even lived in the USA and I found much to admire and enjoy there, but I always come back. I find that true of many Aussies who leave but have an attachment of some kind to the land here. I don’t know what it is or why, I just know it is. 🙂 I still get funny looks when I mention that Aus has the 2nd biggest desert in the World after the Sahara (the Simpson desert). LOL People (and not just American’s BTW) think of Aus as a small island somewhere south. 🙂

I enjoyed my time in the USA and would love to visit again (perhaps after the insanity stops however), but I will always live here. I was warned about Cottonmouths when I was traveling there and remember just smiling. 😀

Bryan, apparently there were two Iraqi’s on one of the ships that have been detained. I still find it amazing the story that they just happened to drop their anchors during a storm right where the cables were! If that had come across my desk during my Intel days, I would have laughed and said “Yeah, right!” I find it too hard to believe it was an accident. You know the saying “Once may be an accident, twice might be a coincidence, but three times is deliberate” (or a conspiracy).

Cheers. 🙂

If so, will they post a sign for journalists, “Warning: Buried Cable Story / Please check with authorities before digging”?

Stella, who is far from timid, and who and was smart enough to survive camping across Alaska one year, was absolutely terrified outdoors only once in the time I’ve known her: when we saw the biggest cottonmouth water moccasin I’ve ever encountered, swimming across a creek we were walking along. Even on another occasion when we encountered a young alligator standing across the marked path, we didn’t beat a retreat as hasty as the one we made from the water moccasin. We were well away by the time it reached the bank. We’re passably capable outdoorspeople in Texas, but I don’t think we’d make very good Aussies.

I love your version of “cowboys” and the “fun” they have with wild bulls – makes Spanish fighting bulls look like wimps.

We have several varieties of rattlesnake, the copperhead, the cottonmouth water moccasin, and the coral snake [the American branch of the cobra family]. Alligators aren’t as big as crocs. Frankly most of them will run if you give them an opportunity, but we keep paving the areas that they can run to, so they are being encountered more frequently.

It will be interesting to see if the cable story gets buried, which would tend to indicate that all was not as presented. If the “defendants” show up in court with expensive lawyers, that will also tell a tale.

Aus has more dangerous varieties of flora & fauna than any other continent. 🙂 Many of us find it very useful in eliminating those annoyingly stupid tourists. Really, countries should pay us for removing the stupid and strengthening their gene pools. 😉 LOL

From memory, we have the 10 deadliest species of snakes in the world (and most aggressive! Such as the Taipan and Eastern brown snake). We have 2 poisonous species of turtles even. And luckily for most tourists, the Platypus they love to try to catch and hold is very shy as it has the most painful toxin known to man in hidden spurs on the hind legs! The pain can last for months. Even the frogs here can kill you, and of course we have the deadliest jellyfish, octopi, spiders, skorpions, crocodiles, sharks etc, etc. 🙂 And people want to come here backpacking? LOL

I learned all this during survival training many years ago, and kept up a keen interest. 😀

I was helping a friend out on his large farm over Easter. A rifle and knives are considered essential for several reasons. But the most important weapon is education. Considering that Aus has the deadliest creatures known, the number of Australian fatalities is relatively low. Most Aussies have a very healthy respect for nature or they don’t last long especially if they live on the edges of suburbia or the outback. The general rule of thumbs is “Keep your eyes open, watch where you are stepping, and leave it alone!” But education is crucial. For example, if a snake is moving towards you, stand still and it will usually pass by. The exception is the Taipan and sea snakes. They are more aggressive and may well attack, and they are fast.

There was an interesting story on an ABC science program about the Venom & toxins and how they work. 🙂 The Platypus is fascinating and still not quite understood. 🙂

There is an article about it here for anyone interested.

Great Australian Bites

And yes… that whole cable thing is very curious. Will be interesting to see what comes of it, or it just disappears. 😉

Cheers!

Some people can’t figure out who the “enemy” is, which is not the way to win a “war”.

As I remember there are dingos and crocodiles in your “Outback”, Kryten, as well as the worlds most concentrated collection of poisonous creatures, so a weapon in your rural areas might come in handy.

That article on the cables is interesting. The government denied it was a ship, but then the ships were identified. Tracing the ownership on those vessels and the crews could lead to names that no one wants to say aloud. A bit odd that no government agency pursued the satellite photo option, leaving it to the owners of the cable to use the less precise commercial photos for identification. You have to wonder why that is.

For the record, I don’t own a handgun because I don’t have the time to properly qualify with one at a range and sans that, a handgun is more a menace to myself than to an intruder. I do own a couple of shotguns and have tormented many a tin can or milk jug with them in the past, as well as managed to shoot a few branches behind squirrels when hunting with my Uncle Alvis. I’m much better at fishing, I can actually catch fish :-). And I’m quite aware of how rural churches work as the primary social activity and help network in a rural community, been there, done that, it’s been years since I moved away but you don’t forget. I’m just wondering whether I’m one of the people who’s supposed to be insulted by whatever pseudo-scandal is currently underway. On the other hand, maybe it’s for the better if I don’t inquire further, don’t need to get my blood pressure up…

– Badtux the Well-armed Penguin

I agree that there are few legitimate reasons to own a gun in a metropolitan area. Here in Aus, they are a necessity in rural areas for various reasons, but even there now ownership is heavily regulated.

You can get anything on eBay or Craigslist. 🙂 The Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs asked the GAO to investigate stolen military hardware being sold there recently. Was a smorgasboard of forbidden hardware apparently.

http://newsbreak.com.au/search.ac?relkey=a1084974

Easy to see where Iran is getting it’s spare parts from. LOL

BTW… Remember those undersea cables being cut? Seems they may have found the culprits.

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/73911,two-held-over-undersea-cable-damage.aspx

Curioser and curioser… 😉

Cheers!

People keep yelling for more laws, when we don’t enforce the laws that exist. It’s damn stupid way to run a country.

And while I’m at it, I don’t like sales at guns shows, because they drive good dealers out of business and protect a lot of less than honest and upright people. I’m not happy with Wal-Mart selling guns, and don’t get me started on pawn shops.