An Inland Taipan by the Coast of Eastern Australia?

The Inland Taipan may not be the most dangerous snake in Australia, but it is said to be the most venomous snake in the world. So, thanks to its shyness and lack of aggression, it drops down to being only the fourth most dangerous of the world’s snakes.

Lucky then, that its habitat is confined to the central areas of Australia, many many miles away from the vast majority of this country’s population.

Or is it?

Yesterday, in a small town called Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, just about 100 km north of Sydney and just 25 km or so from the coast, a teenager apparently tried to feed a mouse to a wild snake.

He got bitten on the index finger.

Another man, amazingly, captured the snake, and the boy and the reptile all ended up at the local hospital. There, it turned out, he had been bitten by an Inland Taipan.

These snakes can kill a man within 45 minutes and pack enough toxin to kill 100 adults. Fortunately though, this boy has survived, although he is still in hospital in a condition described as serious but stable.

The big mystery though, is what was an Inland Taipan doing here…

Kurri KurriInland Taipans should be inland; us people living by the coast already have to put up with the more aggressive Coastal Taipan, as mentioned in my post Australia’s Top 3 Most Dangerous Snakes.

So I’ll be watching to see how this story develops, I think we would all like to know why this snake was at least 1,000 km away from where he should have been.

At this point, you’d expect me to post a video, being as its Friday, showcasing the fearsome Inland Taipan. But the best video available featuring this particular snake already appears in my three dangerous snakes post mentioned above. Go on, click on that link, check out that video.

Anyway, I don’t want to scare you any more than I already have, so instead this week’s video is…

Bill Bailey

Last Friday evening, me and a bunch of my pals went to QPAC, that’s the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, to see Bill Bailey perform his show called “Qualmpeddler“.

Bill Bailey Qualmpeddler TicketThat’s qualm

Noun
1. an uneasy feeling or pang of conscience as to conduct; compunction: He has no qualms about lying.
2. a sudden feeling of apprehensive uneasiness; misgiving: a sudden qualm about the success of the venture.
3. a sudden sensation or onset of faintness or illness, especially of nausea.

peddler

Noun
1. a person who sells from door to door or in the street.
2. a person who tries to promote some cause, candidate, viewpoint, etc.

And that’s exactly what he did for about two hours or so. Hilarious it was too, we all had a great time.

UK versus Australia Price Comparison: Seeing Bill Bailey Live

Apparently, tickets for this show started at around £17.50 when the tour took place at venus in the north of England earlier in the year, we had to pay $80 for our tickets. So, in a UK versus Australia price comparison of seeing Bill Bailey live, the UK wins hands down.

But whichever country you choose to see him in, you sure will be guaranteed a good laugh; his humour, combined with music, is almost unique. Here’s Bill in a clip from a live performance back in the UK. He is introduced by another of our famous comedians, John Cleese, and is performing before Royalty, including Prince Charles, who clearly finds one of the jokes absolutely hilarious.

So, here’s Bill Bailey. Well, better than another snake video…

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{ 2 comments… add one }
  • Rupert September 29, 2012, 6:07 pm |

    Ah, Bill Bailey – such a talent, great stuff. Thanks for posting the vid Bob.

    • BobinOz October 2, 2012, 2:20 pm |

      Yes, one of our UK treasures for sure. He was even funnier than I thought he would be, worth seeing if you get the chance.

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