A friend tells this story.

On her honeymoon, she was snorkeling with her new husband along the Great Barrier Reef.  Something in the water stung her, but she didn’t see what it was.

She swam back to the boat and told the captain what had happened.  He said: “Not much we can do about it.  Why don’t you climb in the boat and have a beer.  In about half an hour we’ll know whether or not you were stung by something deadly.”

So understated.  So Australian.

Here is an unavoidable fact: There are more things on the Australian continent that can kill you than anywhere else on earth.

There are the big obvious things, like crocodiles.  Seems every year at least one unfortunate tourist does something stupid and gets himself (or herself) eaten.

Not going to crocodile territory?  Don’t get complacent. There are dozens of other things that can kill you, things that you never see coming.

Consider the female red-backed funnel web spider.  If a bite is not quickly treated with anti-venom, the likely result is a very painful death — or worse.

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