I work in the bush. I’m well familiar with snakebite first aid, snake ID and all of the “Here’s what NOT to do” etc.

There is something that nobody likes to talk about regarding snakes in Australia. If you get bitten on a limb and you know what to do, you’ll probably be ok.

None of us like to talk about what happens if you get tagged on the torso, arse or head by a brown snake, taipan, small scaled snake etc. The fact is, you are probably going to die.

Further still, I can follow all the right first aid advice if I am bitten on a limb: Pressure immobilization bandages, lay still, wait for help. If nobody knows exactly where I am, I could be waiting days for help. Again, I’m likely going to die. I do my best to communicate my movements but Australia is a big place, and emergency GPS devices often fail under canopy cover.

This is something that is ALWAYS in the back of my mind. I wear good quality snake gaiters, make a tonne of noise and keep my eyes peeled but when you are walking through thick undergrowth where you can’t see the ground there’s really not much you can do about it. It will be the one you don’t see. Also lots of snakes climb trees, not just treesnakes - this is another thing most of us like to just ignore because otherwise we’d never go out in the field.

Between the plants and the animals it does sometimes feels like this country wants us dead.