How much of a factor are the "creepy crawlies" in Australians' lives really?

Question

I live in New Zealand, a place that is pretty much without any dangerous creatures, if you count out dopey waiters. Australia would be a tempting place to visit and possibly live some day, but my wife keeps going "Eeeek! We'd have to inspect our shoes each time in the night before slipping into them for going to the loo!" Aww, come on. Is it really that bad? Any Australians around, I'd really like to know how the crawlies affect daily life there.
Cheers.

Answer 1

I'm a kiwi who's lived in NSW for a while. Can't speak for the other States, but I don't find they rate at all here in Sydney.

I have a spider-phobia and at this time of year, the St Andrews spiders are out in force, but they are harmless garden spiders. Its just that they can get huge with large webs. Being garden spiders you can avoid them. Redbacks are more prevalent in Sydney back yards than anywhere else in Australia. Wehave come across them occasionally, but being phobic, I just avoid any potential places they could live. Keep things clean around the yard. I went to sit down on a low wall at outside the hospital the other day, and fortunately checked first, as there was a small redback right where my leg would have gone. Huntsman spiders are common here, but I saw them (or similar) in New Zealand too. We did have a huge one on our kitchen wall once. Funnel webs are the real dangerous ones, but unless you are crawling around under your house, you'll probably not see them. They have been known to float on top of swimming pools. Check each morning.

Flies are less of a problem here than in NZ. You don't seem to get the big NZ blowflies in the city here. Houseflies are uncommon, and bush flies, which can be a real nuisance, are seasonal. Some years they are worse than others, but they generally only hang around for a couple of months and always outside.

Cockroaches are just as prevalent here as in NZ. But they are bigger here, and can fly.

Ants are a real nuisance. Even the non-poisonous ones seem to irritate my skin, and you tend to wear shoes on the grass & put down a picnic blanket b4 sitting because of them.

Snakes and lizards are common around Sydney's abundant green areas/bushland. But you are unlikely to see one in your back yard. You are also unlikely to see one on a bush walk unless first thing in th emorning. Little skink-type lizards are common around the house.

In the sea in NSW, blue bottles can be a problem. Sharks too. But many harbour beaches have shark nets. Certain other fish need to be avoided. But sealife is more of a problem in Queensland.

Which state are you hoping to move to, as each has very different creepy-crawly problems.

Generally, on my trips back to NZ, I'm always amazed by how many MORE spiders and creepy crawlies there are in Auckland. I think the NZ climate suits them better. (Birdlife is the bigger problem here. They have really annoyingly loud and ugly birds here. There are so many more birds here than in NZ cities.)

Answer 2

I live in the Blue Mountains and white tails are a common occurrence in the house as are humungous huntsman. Neither have ever caused us undue harm. We have an official "spider catching jar" in our house and any unwanted visitors are always promptly evicted. We leave heaps of shoes outside the house and I just stand on them before putting them on (in the hope that I'll squash anything that may be in it) and my husband is in the gardening business and never been bitten by anything and he is really slack about wearing any sort of protection (he doesn;t wear any). We've got as dog and we take more care with him in summer than anything because of snakes (we live in the mountains west of Sydney). Have come across a black snake in the bush once but apart from that we only hear of it happening to other people's dogs (although it does seem to happen a lot). So, I woulkd say I take more care for my dog than ourselves and thank our lucky guardian angels that so far, so good. Hey, if your number is up, then it's up.

Answer 3

They don't rate as a big factor in my life.
I do keep my eyes open for snakes when I'm bush walking, but that's just common sense.
I guess, if I left my shoes outside for a period of time and then went to put them on I check them but otherwise no.
You can let your wife know that we're not buried under a mountain of creepy crawlies.
I think too much is made of the dangers of the wildlife here.
I've never been attacked by a croc either.

Answer 4

Why would you need your shes to go to the loo? Our toilets are in the house?! And the creepy crawlies are not too bad, yes you do get the occasional spider here and the cocky there but is it not like that everywhere?

Answer 5

Australia has many venomous creatures but few dangerous ones. Most of them will get out of your way and will not attack you unless you do something stupid like trying to kill them. I live in the country and have had snakes in the backyard, my dog tells me when they are around. They don't bother me but she will have a go at them if she can which I discourage. In nearly 30 years living in Sydney I never saw a funnel web spider. I have seen a fair few redbacks and was bitten on the foot by one years ago. It was painful but not life threatening.

Answer 6

It depends on where you are. I live in semi rural Adelaide and we don't leave our shoes outside because my husband was bitten on the foot by a dangerous spider that crawled into his shoe one night adn when he put his boot on in the morning... Indoors you might get a few daddy-long-legs spiders. Other than that it is generally not as bad as it can be made out to be, however it all relates to the climate and the area.

Answer 7

I've spent over a year off and on in Autralia, and have been to most parts except Perth - including overland across the Red Centre. I also did lots of tramping.

In all that time I saw one snake - rushing off into the bush away from the bus I was on. I saw one harmless, but spectacular spider in the rain forest.

And that was it.

Don't panic.

Answer 8

Eeyore and Pooh are best of friends so I hope they are always happy. It's probably possible if there isn't any honey left and Eeyore goes ahead and finds some for Winnie the Pooh!

Answer 9

I have known some people killed or injured in car crashes. I have never known one person who was bitten by spiders or snakes. My mother knew a woman who was bitten by a red-back spider in the 1940s, before the antivenes were developed. She survived. You are more likely to be bitten by a dog,
Virtually all of the talk about them is complete BS.

Answer 10

i live in sydney and the worst creepy crawlies i get are cockroaches ..

but they can be fix by doing the twist on them..