When we wore shoes down here, we checked because, in addition to scorpions or spiders [brown recluse & black widow], they attract pygmy rattlesnakes and coral snakes. The pygmy rattler’s bite is painful, but the coral is a cobra and without anti-venom your are dead. Corals aren’t aggressive, but no one likes getting stepped on.

Cleanliness is the path to life, especially if you are depending on an M-16. I never underestimate the joy of clean and dry socks.

Thing with the Koala that amazes me is that it is actually one of the most insane animals on the planet and would be a maniacal shredding machine, but Mom Nature provided the only food source they eat and essentially filled it full of tranq’s! (It’s not that simple of course, but you get the drift). Talk about amazing! 🙂

And as you say, common sense goes a long way here too. Many Aussies spend a lot of time going bush, even if only for a holiday for a week or four. And it’s rare to hear of someone being attacked, unless they were stupid. 🙂 You take some basic precautions, and watch where you are treading, and you are usually OK. One thing they taught us in basic was always to stuff something in your boots when they were off to stop nosy local critters looking for a nice place to take a nap! Scorpions or one of the nasty spiders or even snakes get annoyed when you try to squish them with your toes! 😉 😀 We generally put our socks over the boot tops to air and sometimes dry them out after a nice march in the sunshine, or a tropical downpour! Doesn’t matter what wet-weather gear you have, you are gonna get wet in one of those storms! (Same with sand in the desert too. Get’s in everything! Never spent so much time carefully cleaning equipment daily!) Another thing they generally forget to mention in movies! 😆

Join the Army, see the World… and clean, clean, clean! (Funny… I don’t remember that getting a mention during induction!! They LIE you know!) 😐 🙄

There are a number of things around here that I don’t like or trust, but I’m not going to annoy them just because I can.

I still can’t get over the idiots who feed ‘gators or bears. It’s the animals that end up dead or relocated when it should be the people.

There are always a few who don’t want to go along in any generation, otherwise humans would have died out long ago.

You should know Bryan that most Aussies don’t take ourselves too seriously. 🙂 We take pride in taking things in our stride. Just look as Jessica! And here I was thinking that Aussie spirit and attitude was probably going to die with my generation. Good too see there are some flag bearers amongst the new generation, and not all off them a going to end up with SMS RSI, car crashes or in alcohol and drug rehab!

Most of the sane smart Aussies understand where we live. The others, end up as part of the food chain! 😈

But… keep sending tourists! (It keeps the nasties from looking for us, they tend to prefer the easy prey!) 😆 😉

I’m glad you don’t take it seriously, Kryten. I’m still freaking out over the wombat. It’s not just that you have dangerous animals, it’s that some of them are cute. Our nasty animals look the part.

Yup! 😀 Just ask anyone who ever met one of us on the battlefield! Oh… wait… you’ll need a medium and a seance. 😈 (Well, after the Gurkha’s, of course! Even Aussies are smart enough not to p*ss off a Gurkha!)

Natural selection works here, survival of the fittest. 😛

this is what people who have been there tell me too. major accomplishment, and yeah, good on ya, jessica!

She could be a Dame Ellen MacArthur in the making, if she wants to continue sailing.

The reality is that at 16 she set a goal and went on to accomplish it which is an amazing thing for a teenager, no matter what the goal is. She has also learned to exist alone, and that television is not the world – valuable in their own right, because it allows her to appreciate other people and the media with a sense of discretion as she now knows they aren’t central to her existence.

The Facts About Jessica’s Voyage

Seriously, some people just have to try to kill any achievement. We call it “The Tall Poppy Syndrome” here. The World is still full of fools… but Jessica has shown (and amply proven) that there are some real Champions too! 😀