Dangerous Queensland Waters

[dragon]

Was just watching this show on deadly creatures from Australia, and they were saying how they have to close some of the beaches near Queensland during the summer because of the deadly Australian Box Jellyfish which has so far accounted for over 60 deaths.

This jellyfish has venom over 500 times more potent than the very dangerous Portugese Man-O-War along with billions of microscopic stingers and many tentacles reaching up to 9 feet in length. You have virtually no chance of surviving the venomous sting, unless treated immediately. The pain is so excruciating and overwhelming that you would most likely go into shock and drown before reaching the shore......if stung, death usually occurs within 2 1/2 minutes.

I'm cancelling my trip to visit Lisa now :-(

[GoatLocker]

I watched the same show yesterday. I've been stung by jellyfish many times, but I have never SCUBA dived in OZ. We had the box jelly's in Hawaii, but their sting wasn't much worse than any other "normal" jellyfish. The part where they were both hospitalized after being stung was pretty wild. I can't imagine constant agony for 2 weeks.

I don't know why, but you guys in Australia have the most poisonous of everything! Spiders, snakes, octopus, jellyfish, ???

[Spud2]

No such worries here in the Great Lakes, just a few snake bites. No salty taste to the water, but the water is harder in the winter (frozen).

[Phailure]

Just stay away from the water...

[JMH]

Ya just gota get yourself one of them cotton jumpsuit things

[Freefallguy]

» Was just watching this show on deadly creatures from Australia,

Box jellies are one buggered creature… but Aussie Redback spiders enjoy staying closer to human proximity! I’ve heard their bite is 15 times more venomous than a rattler’s… but only the female bites. Naturally!

[shrink]

"......if stung, death usually occurs within 2 1/2 minutes."

I've gotten stung before, but those must be the worst fakes ever made! :-P

[jay8354]

Sorry to confirm everything in this post.

Australia is one of the most dangerous places on earth, with numerous poisonous or deadly creatures.

If they don't kill you, then the desert will. :-D

Seriously though, there are many beautiful things / places / creatures. :-)

i promise they won't bite ... much

[strayvector]

I used to think that the Arizona desert was dangerous with its poisonous snakes, spiders, lizards, and scorpions until I watched a show about Australia in junior high school. Now I laugh when people ask about the poisonous creepy crawlies of Arizona and I tell them they should check out Australia.

[El Presidente]

» Was just watching this show on deadly creatures from Australia, and they

» were saying how they have to close some of the beaches near Queensland

» during the summer because of the deadly Australian Box Jellyfish which has

» so far accounted for over 60 deaths.

»

» This jellyfish has venom over 500 times more potent than the very

» dangerous Portugese Man-O-War along with billions of microscopic stingers

» and many tentacles reaching up to 9 feet in length. You have virtually no

» chance of surviving the venomous sting, unless treated immediately. The

» pain is so excruciating and overwhelming that you would most likely go

» into shock and drown before reaching the shore......if stung, death

» usually occurs within 2 1/2 minutes.

»

» I'm cancelling my trip to visit Lisa now :-(

You don't swim in the North between October and March/April. The jellies are plentifull, poisonous and near invisible.

Fishing on the beach of West Arnhemland last year I was casting from the beach wading up to my knees at alarge 3 foot Barramundi which was tailing tantalisingly 20 metres away. I was focused on it for 10 minutes but it just wouldn't take the fly. My guide came up behind me and whispered "Rob...how is it going" I replied " almost....almost...one more cast and I will drop it on its head and annoy him into biting".

The guide said "That's great Rob but keep an eye out on the Salt Water Croc 40 m to your right. He is drifting in a metre at a time each time you are pre-occupied casting."

I never saw the 14 ft Croc. I stripped in my line, wished the Barramundi well andwent and fished in the middle of the rest of the guys next to the guide with the gun. Just when I thought I was safe, Bradley "Shagga" Bowden let out a cry. He was clearing what he thought was gunk from his trebble hook on his lure....turned out to be tentacles from a box Jellyfish.

[Bill Hayes]

I've scuba dived the outer ribbon reefs of the Great Barrier Reef and Osprey Reef which is a further overnight boat trip from the barrier reef. It's safer there. No crocs or jellies. Just stone fish, lion fish and sea snakes. They say the best treatment for the poison from these is to bend over, put your head between your legs and kiss your butt goodbye. Oh, I forgot the tiger sharks, hammerheads and reef sharks. But they're usally no probs. Unless of course they get in a feeding frenzy. But I feel a lot safer out there than on the roads in QLD. :-D

[dysfunctional]

» » Was just watching this show on deadly creatures from Australia,

»

» Box jellies are one buggered creature… but Aussie Redback spiders enjoy

» staying closer to human proximity! I’ve heard their bite is 15 times more

» venomous than a rattler’s… but only the female bites. Naturally!

LOL..... make sure the missy dont read your comment or you will get bitten....

[Ken Gargett]

guys, australia is perfcetly safe provided you don't go outside, or they don't come inside. at uni, lived in a house inner brizzy but on the riverbank and came home one night to crawl into bed with 7 foot of snake.

apparently they have discovered a jellyfish that is worse than the box - tiny thing that they believe has caused a lot of the deaths attributed to the box - the irronquoy or something like it.

as for snakes, we've got them all. add poisonous octopi, stingrays, coneshells, cane toads, stonefish, poisonous frogs, even the platypus has a venomous spike. list goes on.

redbacks are positively friendly compared with funnelwebs ("The Sydney funnel web spider is a bulky, ugly-looking and relatively large (6-7 cm) spider much feared. It can rear up on its hind legs when annoyed, aggressively exposing its massive fangs- they are strong enough to penetrate even a finger-nail. The spider attacks in a very specific manner: it grips its victim tightly and inflicts a series of painful bites.").

come on down!

[Ken Gargett]

sorry - forget the sharks, crocs, lionfish etc etc.

on fraser this trip, saw something i have not seen before - quite a number of sharks leaping clear of the water. they looked like whalers, about 6 to 8 foot long. have seen the docos with the great whites in south africa but never anything like this. you always see a lot of sharks at fraser but they tend to stay beneath the surface.

anyone any thoughts?

[n2advnture]

Ken,

Are there a lot seals in the area?

I know that it is usually a method for hunting. They go deep and hang out on the bottom to blend with the dark (as you know, their tops are dark and look down at the bottom, they blend).

Then when they see lunch, they go full speed straight up. That's usually when they get up out of the water.

Pretty cool to watch.

[Ken Gargett]

no seals at all. there were, i think, schools of tuna - a few of us got broken up and i think that was when the schools shot thru - i wondered if they were doing the same thing with tuna (or possibly big mackeral or mack tuna) but i hadn't heard of it before.

» Ken,

» Are there a lot seals in the area?

[El Presidente]

Mark

ken has been mistaken as a large seal/beached whale once or twice.

This would explain the sharks behaviour as Ken approached the water.

[n2advnture]

» i wondered if they were doing the same thing with tuna (or possibly » big mackeral or mack tuna) but i hadn't heard of it before.

Quite possible indeed. I think the term most often used is "breaching"

[n2advnture]

» Mark

»

» ken has been mistaken as a large seal/beached whale once or twice.

»

» This would explain the sharks behaviour as Ken approached the water.

LOL!!! :-P

[Wiley]

I wonder if any scientists have theories about why Australia has such a high density of extremely hazardous critters?

I wonder if any other scientists have theories about the mentality of people who would voluntarily live amongst said critters? :-P

[El Presidente]

Wiley.

We feel safe and at home amongst the treacherous and poisonous.

....professional courtesy

[Ken Gargett]

wiley, the reason is to try and keep kiwis out but unfortunately, it has failed dismally.

[Ken Gargett]

» Mark

»

» ken has been mistaken as a large seal/beached whale once or twice.

»

» This would explain the sharks behaviour as Ken approached the water.

THANK YOU BRAD PITT!!

[Ken Gargett]

to return to something sensible, not sure if it is relevant but there were huge numbers of whales around for the week - more than usual. i have asked seaworld and they have promised to get back to me.

Quite possible indeed. I think the term most often used is "breaching"

[El Presidente]

No need to thank me Ken. Just seemed the most plausible explanation :cool: