Just to add my 2 cents,we briefly considered oz, but apart from the upside down seasons, the creepy crawlies were the main reason it was never pursued. I have what you might call a fear of spiders. I'm not scared of being killed by spiders- it's just a fear of spiders. So all the death statistics are irrelevant to me. I'm a gazillion times more likely to come across an eight legged thing in oz compared to where I am here in Edmonton.

the last couple of posts from folk in aus finally got to it. yes these things are there, yes they kill, yes its rare. that was all i was trying to get across. some though treat it like a state secret, that it does not exist, or it somehow relates to polar bears. thats what i take issue with.

As a member of Edmonton's finest and a former member of the British Armed Forces I was going to ask you why you appear to be so wussy about Australia's creepy crawlies, then I learned that you are a ex-Matlow, nuff said

I'm not sure if it's so much a state secret as just not given a lot of thought by Aussies and long term expats. Like Bryson wrote about in his book...he found that Aussies tend to be pretty non-chalant and laid back about all the venomous creatures all around them...like that scene where he's out in waves off some beach in NSW and the jellyfish are coming in and he's freaking and the Aussies are saying, "yeah, maybe we should head back...a sting might be a bit uncomfortable..."

I went on a bush walk last weekend with my neighbors. There was a dead brown snake at the entrance to the reserve (hit by a car, lying there in the gutter on the path where we were about to go in). I've only been here for about 12 weeks now. Just the sight of it coiled up there sent me running in the other direction. All the Aussies burst out laughing...

spiders are far more of a handfull than people give them credit for, and anything else that is big and crawly, uugrgghghh.

Ah bless your cotton socks....

The USA has Mountain lions, Grizzly bears, deadly rattle snakes, venomous spiders, alligators, fire ants and wasps, and sharks all of which kill people but no one seems to be affraid of Americans deadly animals when moving there but everyone is terrified of OZ's deadly animals. l think the wildlife kills more people in the USA then OZ.

I think this whole thread has been a lot of playful ribbing. Personally, the wildlife would not be an obstacle that would put me off going to oz. The heat and the isolation would (for a permanent move that is). Having said that, I have not been there so don't really know what I'm talking about. I would have considered trying it had I been a bit younger and not settled.

check the title mate, you are on the canada forum. i believe there are lots of nasty things on mars too, but what the hell eh.

and further to that, this has so far only mentioned the sharks, spiders and snakes in oz, with an odd reference to jellyfish. if you really want to open a can of worms (pun) on the rest of oz's wildlife of which you only scrape the surface with whats in N.America then lets go. how about wasps for a starter for 10.

i also think you are fast becoming a low level troll. where do you live? how long have you been there? how come you are on the canada forum? why are you currently arguing the same point on the barbie? what is your experience of north american wildlife? where do you get this fact from you quote above.?

It only gets hot in summer its not hot all year round , in winter in can get very cold and snows in some parts of OZ. Most people in OZ look foward to the hot weather so they can enjoy the beach or the pool.

l'm not a troll, it just seems theres alot of people here who have never been to OZ have absolutely no idea of what the country is really like , l am just informing them.

And the isolation?

Isolations a good thing ,who wants to be next door to the USA. If theres a nuclear war with China or Russia, OZ will survive it down at the bottom of the world, CAnadains will be fried along with the USA