Australia - not going bc snakes

[user1457213512]

It's my dream to go to Australia, Melbourne and Sydney in particular (and the street that Neighbours is set on), but the thing is I'm terrified of snakes. Actually hate them, and spiders too really but not as much as snakes.

Aibu not to go because of my fear? Has anybody been who can advise me just how likely I would be to come across poisonous snakes, spiders etc. I wouldn't be planning to go trekking in jungles etc but just wondering how much a part of life they really are. Sound silly, but I have a somewhat irrational fear (even at home) of coming across a snake in the top corner of a wardrobe etc.

Just to add any spiders you will see will most likely be harmless - just like in the U.K. Yes Aus has venomous ones but you most likely won't come across any.

There has been one death from a spider bite in the last 38 years. More posies crossing the road!

More people die crossing the road!

Live south of Perth. Saw my first wild snake about 6 years after moving here. Have seen half a dozen since then ( around 2 years). Never seen one in the bush and we camp a lot. The ones I saw were Coast bound. We just turned around and walked the other way.
Have seen lots of snakes at zoos and at display things, so contained!
Seen lots of red backs but we have awesome spider killing spray over here!! Works all the time 😃 Also I don't kill my daddy long legs as they like nasty spiders.
Never seen a shark but if you stay out of the water during dawn and dusk you will be fine. Have seen plenty of beautiful dolphins 🐬. They are regularly at the beach. They are wonderful.
Most dangerous animals are the f**king magpies! Now they are nasty😂😂

We have redbacks here in Qld and DH kills them for me.

I've seen a tiny baby snake that my bloody cat was playing with. There was apparently an enormous snake that lived in my street two decades ago because two different people have told me they saw it but he's long gone. I saw a very pretty treesnake at my parents house a couple of years ago--they lived across the road from bushland though.
DH rescued a snake from the road up on Mt Coot-tha a few weeks ago. I side-eyed him for that as he couldn't tell me what kind of snake it was...

There are snakes here. You are very unlikely to see them in the cities let alone be bitten.

I never saw a snake in the 2 years I lived there, in Melbourne and also out in more rural areas, went to a little island off cairns famous for deadly snakes, told the staff to find us if there were any as we really wanted to see them, and there were none the whole week! So even trying to find then we couldn't drop bears are another thing though...

Ive been here for ages and have seen 2 in the space of 5 years. Big (and very beautiful) but not venomous.

Been here four years and the only snakes Ive seen were in the zoo. I did manage to get bitten by a bloody house spider in my sleep though. I am glad I don't live in that house any more! And we.spray the house twice a year so its a spider free zone now.

Apparently if you look at the statistics, more people in Australia are killed by horses than by all the other animals combined. It's the horses you should be scared of!

I have spent much of my life in Australia and have seen snakes a a couple of times. The only person I know bitten by a snake was a Finnish friend picking bluebells in Finland and bitten by an adder.

I grew up on a farm in an area (country NSW) where there were lots of snakes - eastern brown and tiger snakes - and have only seen a handful in my whole life and only know one stupid man who was bitten whilst dicking about poking a broom at a brown snake.

I now live in the UK and last week my neighbour found an adder curled up snoozing on the back seat of her car!!!

I'm Australian and I've been so surprised how many people I have met who feel like you - including my own husband.
It's not 'unlikely' you won't see a snake on the streets of Melbourne or Sydney - I can guaranteed that you won't unless it's a snake that's escaped from a pet shop. Snakes are only in remote areas and even then you are unlikely to see one...they are not interested in meeting humans and the vibrations they feel from our footprints scare them away long before you would get anywhere near them. The only snake I have ever seen in australia (outside of a zoo) was a dead one.
Also re spiders - if you want to go into someone's backyard and start digging in the ground near fences and trees I can't guarantee you won't find a spider. But they are not crawling around people's houses trying to bite people. Infact, I'm shocked how many spiders I find in my house in England - I'm guessing they like the warmth. Spiders in Australia are mostly happy to be outside except maybe the daddy long legs which are harmless.

I live in Australia...have done for two years. I've seen ONE snake.

The neighbour shreiked "SNAKE!" and then chopped it with his spade...the fool. You're meant to slowly back away from them!

He later said he doesn't know why he did it...he might have died! It was a brown snake.

Ittakes they're not "only in remote areas" at all! I live in the suburbs. We have snakes in the gardens here. Maybe it's different in S.A.though?

Never been to Australia but saw several in Kissimmee

I lived in Australia (Canberra - don't judge) and went bushwalking every weekend. I never saw a snake. I did encounter a few spiders but nothing more dangerous than the pretty harmless - but scary-looking - huntsman (which my then- boyfriend carefully relocated to the garden when I called him in a panic over it). The worst spider bite I have had was here in the UK...

Snakes are also my horror. Venomous of not, I cannot look at images of them. I couldn't touch one for the world or be in the same area as one.