echidna

Hmmm, all relative I guess. To a worldly English speaker quite different, to an untravelled English speaker subtly different, but to a non-English speaker probably near identical I reckon.

lunachick

HA! You see, folks! Despite all the "oh, no, we're really very safe" chat, they have snakes they call tigers!!!

echidna

And who said Kiwis were shy & retiring creatures !!!

Farren

Ah, but In my experience aussie left wing activists can be quite scathing and caustic and will bite your ankles if you tell them sheep jokes

lunachick

I suppose that's true. I tend to look at things like art, music, history, indigenous culture, etc.
Many people would only see the rugby, the bar-b, the beach and the beer.

echidna

We try to keep that secret to ourselves for fear of scaring off the tourists.

BigBlue2

Funnel-web spiders are found in eastern Australia, including Tasmania, in coastal and highland forest regions - as far west as the Gulf Ranges area of South Australia. They usually burrow in moist, cool, sheltered habitats - under rocks, in and under rotting logs, crevices, rot and borer holes in rough-barked trees. In gardens, they prefer rockeries and dense shrubberies, and are rarely found in more open situations like lawns. Probably the best known of them is the Sydney Funnel-web which occurs from Newcastle to Nowra and west to Lithgow (approximately 100 miles north, south and west of Sydney respectively). Funnel-web bites are dangerous and toxic.The male Sydney Funnel-web Spider is more dangerous than the female. This is because the toxic venom component that attacks the human and primate nervous symptom so severely is only present in male spiders. Initial symptoms after a bite include local pain, mouth numbness, vomiting, abdominal pain, sweating and salivation. Antivenom is available and no deaths have occurred since its introduction.

I have lived in Sydney for most of my life and have never seen a Funnel-web, much less been bitten by one. My parents had a property on the NSW north coast for nearly 20 years and in my frequent visits there I have seen maybe two or three snakes (red-bellied black snakes which are relatively harmless, ie they'll make you sick but won't kill you ). As echidna mentioned, you are not likely to encounter a deadly snake unless you actively seek them out.

JGL53

I'll be going on my first trip to both Australia and New Zealand from mid-August through mid-September. After reading my fellow American Bill Bryson's travelogue "In a Sunburned Country", I was pretty apprehensive about all the poisonous spiders and snakes and stuff, but an American friend of mine now living in Canberra, like most of you on this thread, assures me it's no big thing, so I'm focusing my fears now on the driving on the left thing. My traveling companion is planning on doing most of the driving, thankfully.

BTW, what do I really need to see or do in Sydney - besides the Opera House - and around Canberra? (I've already signed on to go to the GBR for two days.)

Also, what must see or must do stuff should I not miss in Dunedin, Queenstown, Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland? And just how cold should I expect the South Island to be the first two weeks of September? Should I bring a parka?

NZAmoeba

Dunedin... dunno, never been.
Queenstown... throw yourself off of every high place imaginable, trust me its great fun!
Christchurch... ummm, I spose the cathedrals pretty...
Wellington... Te Papa museum was all I saw the day I was there, but its good.
Auckland... Last time i was at the War memorial museum it wasn't that great... but its free so... the skytower is also worth going up at either night or day... and you can walk across (and jump off) our harbour bridge.

September may be a bit nippy... but its early spring then so... yeah, bring both.

And as for the marsupials... if NZ had them, then they're all extinct now... I've never heard of them.

echidna

For fuck's sake be careful of the drop bears. September is springtime when they're at their most dangerous.