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Thinking about maybe moving out to Australia to life within the next 10 years.
I'm wondering if there is anything animals or creepy insects to worry about?
There is a spider called a Katipo, which is related to the Australian Redback. Very rare for people to get bitten, and I've never heard of anyone who died as a result.
Other than that, there's just the pesky sandfly, which can be horrendous in the wrong location. But they don't transmit disease, and have the decency to stay away during darkness.
There is a spider called a Katipo, which is related to the Australian Redback. Very rare for people to get bitten, and I've never heard of anyone who died as a result.
Other than that, there's just the pesky sandfly, which can be horrendous in the wrong location. But they don't transmit disease, and have the decency to stay away during darkness.
Yep, although I think the UK has a poisonous snake.
There are occasional shark attacks, or people getting speared by a stingray. But nothing worth worrying about.
Like many countries, an allergic reaction to a bee sting, is probably the biggest insect killer.
Yea we have the Adder snake, we also have the False Widow in southern parts of the UK who are the worst kind of emigrants! But false widows are fairly rare to spot, however rather like living here! There's also another type of spider that can hurt, Jellyfish and Ticks... If you get bitten, stung or sucked by Adders, False Widows and Ticks then it's advisable to get it checked out. But Wasps are the worst and bees only sting if you annoy them!
By the way I got sucked by a Tick last year, and I went to get it picked out. Mum was worried I get Lyme Disease, but I'm not dead yet so that's good!
I don't think New Zealand has any wild life at all, that's why it's so boring.
Introduced species of mammal are the most obvious. Deer,pigs and goats are plentiful - I would shoot 1-2 a week on average, just on our property, Rabbits and possums are very common - I don't know how many possums i've shot this year. Rats, stoats, wild cats are very common.
Introduced birds are more common. Native species such as parrots (6 species ) or kiwis, blue ducks etc are rare to see. Some surviving species thrive in the new environment though -tui, bellbirds, fantail, warblers, cuckoos, hawks etc. Falcons and wekas seem to be on the increase.
Seals are a common sight, and it's possible to see schools of dolphins in the hundreds, with orcas being frequent visitors . Sea birds are well represented with lots of species, in big numbers.
In 2.5 years I have been in Aus, we have had 3 chickens killed by what is likely to be foxes coming into city neighbourhoods at night, who knew you "must" build a roof on your chicken coup!
A brown snake was seen behind the house which is a well kept landscaped area, so we do wonder about our dogs when they are out there.
Saw a huntsman running down our hallway, they are cute but you know wouldn't pick it up with my hands :P
Gardening without gloves I suspect would be a bad idea. If you are not familiar with specific lakes, approaching a water edge it does make you wonder.
When living in NZ, certainly never worried about approaching a water edge, never cared about chucking the dogs outside, so its definitely a small negative of living in Aus imo, but to keep perspective its FAR more dangerous driving your car.
Thinking about maybe moving out to Australia to life within the next 10 years.
I'm wondering if there is anything animals or creepy insects to worry about?
I'm British, have lived in NZ and now live in sub-tropical south east Queensland.
Of the three countries this part of the world has the greatest species biodiversity - the place is humming with wildlife.
Quote:
It is part of the third richest area in Australia in diversity of habitat and wildlife (after the wet tropics and the Stirling Ranges). Over half the bird species of Australia (including all of its raptors – eagles, falcons etc.) have been seen in this region. Land birds (such as koels, channel-billed cuckoos, dollarbirds and rose-crowned fruitdoves) and many wading birds regularly migrate, others appearing less predictably as nomads or vagrants.
There are more mammal species here than anywhere else in Australia (including the country’s richest diversity of macropods – kangaroo family members), and a rich diversity also of reptiles, frogs and other wildlife. Many plant and animal species reach their northern or southern limits here, this overlap adding to the diversity.
There are also many creatures found nowhere else, including unusual species such as the hip-pocket frog (the male shelters the eggs and tadpoles in groinal skin-folds) and Albert’s lyrebird (one of the world’s greatest mimics).
I regularly hack off track into the bush (which is beautiful) and have never had a problem with anything nasty - all you have to do is make a lot of vibrations and disturbance. I get roos in my garden when they think the dogs aren't watching, I have birds nesting in my palm trees and plovers raising their young across the street. The biggest thing that worries me is that one of our pets may pick up a paralysis tick from the roos. The dogs have tick collars which I change every 6-8 weeks.
I was very disappointed at the lack of wildlife in New Zealand, did you know it has no native land mammals at all? Most of the countryside is intensively farmed for sheep or cattle, what remains gets 1080 dropped all over it and the department of conversation sprays the landscape with brush killer to get rid of gorse, pampas grass and anything that is not native gets ripped out and replaced with boring natives. And believe me they are boring. I never want to see another flax or cabbage tree ever again
Please don't let concerns about animals or creepy insects deny you the chance to experience life here, you'd be missing out on so much.
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I was very disappointed at the lack of wildlife in New Zealand, did you know it has no native land mammals at all? Most of the countryside is intensively farmed for sheep or cattle, what remains gets 1080 dropped all over it. .
There are actually two species of bats native to NZ, but it is uncommon to see them, to the point that most people don't realise they have just seen one (in my experience).
1080 isn't the ideal solution, but I don't see any better or more realistic options.
Last edited by Joe90; 08-27-2014 at 06:47 PM..
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