Please don't laugh...
Being terrified of spiders and snakes (I don't care whether they are harmless or not) I am getting a bit nervous as we are planning a holiday in Australia for December next year. We would be staying in holiday parks (in a campervan) while travelling from Cairns to Sydney, are we likely to see spiders and snakes everywhere? Someone even told me that spiders liked hiding under toilet seats!!!
Please, tell me it's not that bad...

Hi MietteMeg,
Your friends are just trying to frighten you as a joke. If Australia was so dangerous, there wouldn't be millions of happy Australians. American Bears are much more frightening.
Very few people have ever died of spider or snake bites in Australia.
If you have a spider phobia, perhaps you should stay in motels/hotels instead. Camping in any country, you would see spiders.
There are spiders in Australia, as in any country, and only a couple are a problem. I've never seen a spider under a toilet seat. If you're worried, get a family member to check first before you go in. Spiders usually are small and harmless, sitting in the corners of ceiling, and mind their own business.
Re snakes, you won't see them in cities, and highly unlikely you'll see them in holiday camps either. You are even unlikely to come across one if you walk in the bush (forest). Most are shy. Just watch your step on bush tracks, and if by any chance you see one, just quietly stand still then back away from it. Don't hit it or try to kill it. It will probably be more scared of you than you are of it and will go away quietly.
How many Australians do you know who have been bitten by snakes or dangerous spiders? Drowning on a surf beach is a much bigger hazzard for tourists. Swim between the flags only.
Have a nice trip and relax. Think of all the fun you'll be having.

1. No - you will not see spiders & snakes everywhere. Most Australians have not & will not see a snake in their life, unless it's in a zoo.

2. It's highly unlikely you'll see either at all, given the number of people in caravan parks at the height of the summer holiday season & the natural reticence of both.

3. If you are visiting a "bush" toilet which looks as if it's not often used(e.g. in one of the roadside areas out in the country as opposed to the caravan park/town facilities), just lift the seat with a stick & check. Or get someone else to do it for you.

(4) Relax - if the place was crawling with snakes & spiders, there wouldn't be 20M+ of us living here & countless tourists all over the place would there?

Last time I heard, America still had rattlers, cottonmouths and Black Widows. In recent weeks a black bear has killed a child and three Florida women have been killed by alligators. Should I rethink my planned visit to the US? (Hm - maybe I should....)

OK, this isn't meant as a "your nasties are nastier than our nasties" session. A saltwater crocodile would make breakfast of a Florida alligator any day, for a start. But we don't have bears! This to me is a very big plus.

There's a very common spider called a redback, related to the American Black Widow, which can make you pretty sick in the unlikely event you got bitten. They like to nest in quiet, dark, concealed and undisturbed places, typically under rocks, certainly not under something like a constantly opening and closing toilet seat. As a rule you'll only find them if you're looking for them, and you'd only get bitten if you grabbed one, as they're sluggish and non-aggressive.

You may - or may not - see a large, hairy-legged spider called a Huntsman, which are fond of wandering into houses. They're harmless - sorry, I know that doesn't matter, but what can I say? We usually have one or two in residence and just leave them to get on with their business, such as it is. I don't know where you'd travel to avoid seeing spiders.

As for snakes, Lleaf has it right. In 8 years living in a bushy part of the Blue Mountains, and doing a lot of bushwalking, I think we saw snakes perhaps four times, and they were escaping us as fast as their bellies would move them. In over 20 years in Canberra, walking almost daily in nearby bushland, maybe twice. If they're around they'll hear you coming from afar and hightail it. I'd be surprised if you came across one.

In our experience, most toilets had their seats removed so spiders couldn't hide under them. We were advised to bring our own toilet seats if we required them

Andrewdavid

andrew david - are you serious? where was this that you were supposed to BYO toilet seat?

Andrew's kidding lancefan, but considering his somewhat bizarre choice of accommodation at Cape Tribulation, it mightn't have been a bad idea to have taken his own loo seat! Andrew, wasn't it a recovery centre for injured bats? Now that would bring on the pythons.

Pat is trying to let MietteMeg down gently. Of course it's de rigeur to buy a pack of disposable toilet seats at a camping goods store before travelling in Australia, along with a can of long-life redback repellant, and I'm glad that AndrewDavid found that out before he set out on his journeys. Especially in places where they have singing dingos.

"There was a redback on the toilet seat when I was there last night.." are words from a famous bushie's (bushman's) song (Slim Dusty?). This is probably where the rumour started.

Mind you I have killed a few redbacks outside my house over the years. And I don't live in the bush.

But unless you go creeping around someone's garden shed you shouldn't come across any harmful spiders.

Thanks everyone, I will now concentrate on what we want to see rather than what I don't want to see!
And thanks for making me laugh with some of your comments!

My only disappointment was that the travelling toilet
seats only came in one color and it clashed with all my travelling gear

Visitors to Victoria, BC will be pleased to know that Mountain Equipment Coop has opened here with a lovely collection of travelling toilet seats

AndrewDavid

Neil, as one who has had the misfortune of being bitten by a Huntsman I can assure you they are not harmless ! Non lethal yes ! Even though it seems like all our animals and reptiles and insects are designed to inflict pain or death it is a fact that There is more danger on the roads!The fauna won't go looking for you !
(Unlike some of the drivers ,especially in the country!)

Thanks, Marko. I've never been bitten by a Huntsman, and the only person I know who has been told me it was about like a mosquito bite. I decided not to put that to the test - whenever I have to eject one from the house I use the tried and tested method of carefully placing a wide-mouthed jar over the beast, then sliding a piece of stiff paper between the jar and the spider, forcing it into the jar.

WE relocated one last week , very similar method! Which is much better than wifes method of vacuuming them up......THEY DON"T ALWAYS DIE !!!!! Then when you go to empty the bag...much screaming ensued
I was bitten as a teenager and spent a couple of days in bed, just general malaise and a bloody sore arm and bite area. In Australia the one thing I find that I am very carefull of is the Irukanji Jellyfish....nasty bastard of a thing, and almost invisible and not necessarily kept out by nets.

I was aware that huntsman's are slightly venomous, but I just leave them alone. They're the least of your worries when you live in the tropics. In Far North Qld its quite common to encounter a brown tree snake inside your house, they're only back-fanged venomous and who's going to stick their finger down their mouth to get bitten. Husband has been stung by stone fish on foot and was on crutches for months. Worst I've ever had was a bull-ant bite in Sydney and reaction was similar to yours, Marko. Irukandjis are not good, but box jellies are worse. You'll be pleased to hear that work is nearly completed on developing a box-jelly repellent, to apply like Rid or Bushman's.

Pat does this mean those gorgeous but seasonally unswimmable Queensland beaches will now be swimmable beyond the netted enclosures?

A/D

There's also the small matter of an effective repellent for the common saltwater crocodile... I'm sure the boffins of James Cook University are hard at work on that too.

Just occurred to me that it's nice to see we have universities named after such prominent figures as James Cook (Townsville) and Charles Darwin (Darwin, of course).

So Neil Oz ...in that vein .... Bond uni ????

Good one, Bokhara!

AndrewD, it'll probably be years before an effective box-jelly fish repellent is developed sufficiently to be marketable, but trials are looking good. Be nice to be around long enough to buy shares.

Dr Jamie Seymour, attached to Cairns' campus of James Cook University, is an acknowledged expert on marine stingers, also looking at an anti-venene. From time to time, in pursuit of his cause, he lets himself be stung by boxjelly fish (chironex fleckeri) which makes his wife very cross with him.

Good one, Bokhara. No reason why jailed businessmen who spend other people's money to build monuments to themselves shouldn't join the company of great explorers and scientists.