Serious warning for Fraser Island.....

[Jeepers Creepers]

Now, this is not the normal crap i post...ok.

SO FAR, THIS IS ONLY FOR THE WESTERN SIDE OF FRASER ISLAND.

Seven people so far have been stung by what is believed to be the irrigangi jellyfish. Best thing is to google the irrigangi if you don't know what they are, but our northern swaggers will know all about them.

The last two hits, were right where we spent our time during the Xmas break at Moon Point, or more so, Hawks Nest Beach.

I'm not trying to put the wind up anyone, but just a warning is all and to be careful.

OK, now back to my normal viewing pleasure of jokes, assorted sh!it and crap. postings.

[Mandrake]

For all you divers and snorkellers - http://www.barrierreefaustralia.com/the-great-barrier-reef/irukandji.htm
Its actually Irukandji after the Cairns Aboriginal Tribe who invented it ... LOL .. Its tiny only about 2-3 cms across ...
That plus them lizards and a few other nasties will keep me well away from the northern beaches ....
Mandrake

[BigJules]

Not to mention the bloke medivac'd off after being stung by a centipede whilst sleeping at Central Station.

[baldheadedgit]

Bugger. !! that's one hell of a dangerous island.! Not going there.


BHG

[Jeepers Creepers]

Thanks Mandrake, wasn't sure of the spelling.

What i've posted is as reported by channel 7 tonight.
This is a report from the Courier Mail, but 18 hours old......

Five people stung by Irukandji jellyfish in six days off Frasier Island by: Rose Brennan From: The Courier-Mail January 06, 2013 11:55PM
BEACHGOERS are being warned to stay out of waters off Fraser Island after the fifth person was suspected to have been stung by a deadly Irukandji jellyfish in six days.
A 16-year-old boy was stung by a jellyfish tonight while swimming in waters at Wathumba creek off the western coast of Fraser Island.

The teen was staying with his family in a boat off the coast and was stung on his knee about 7pm.

But an ambulance officer said the boy had a delayed reaction to what was believed to be a Irukandji sting and paramedics weren't called until 7.40pm.

An emergency helicopter, flown from Bundaberg, treated the boys at the scene before airlifting him to Hervey Bay hospital for further treatment.

It's the fifth sting since the New Year with all reported to have occurred on the western coast of the island including at Platypus Bay, Wathumba, Awinya and Woralie Creeks.

The cluster of stings coincides with a burst in numbers of jellyfish blooms in Australia's waters.

On Saturday a nine-year-old boy was airlifted off the island when he was stung on the right arm while on New Year's Day a five-year-old boy was hospitalised when he was stung in waters on the west coast of the island. On Wednesday two men were stung with one of the men, 40, taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.

On January 4 the Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing put out an alert warning people of the dangers of swimming on the western coast.

"A number of people have been stung by what is suspected to be Irukandji jellyfish along the western coast of Fraser Island."

"Visitors are advised that swimming or wading in the water along the western coast of Fraser Island is not recommended."

Irukandji jellyfish have a small bell with four long tentacles and are in the waters of Hervey Bay but are more common further north.

Stings from an Irukandji can go unnoticed initially with just mild pain but can lead to back pain, sweating, nausea or death.

Irukandji jellyfish have been officially blamed for two deaths in Australia over the past decade after a tourist died in the Whitsundays and Port Douglas in 2002

[Mandrake]

BHG - you've had a facelift !!

[Nomad]

Yep there moving south................

We are all going to have to wear something like this to stop the little bastards in the future.................personally I like the green.



Cheers Nomad.

[Jeepers Creepers]

maaaate, thats the same as my pajamas, only mine are black. 

[Nomad]

Nice................good for sneaking up on the Mrs in the dark. 

[Jeepers Creepers]

Oh crap, there goes my serious thread.....

Bugger ya Nomad, its all your fault......

Ok, enough about my PJ's and back to the stingers.

[Bunyip]

Now I have seen everything, a serious thread from JC.

The word must have ended, the Mayans were right

Bunyip

[baldheadedgit]

BHG - you've had a facelift !!

   You like it.?



BHG

[SteveandViv]

We have them up here as well, lots of research into them as they reckon they can make some real good pain relief drugs out of them. We usually get about two deaths a year from them and 200 odd stings. White Vinegar stops them from firing any further venom which is why we keep a bottle in the car. Cape Leveque is the only place up here where they are not as the currents a re two fast for them and they spawn in the mangroves and sheltered bays. We still wade up here while at the beach but wouldn't swim and have had a couple of lite touches more like a blue bottle but we now really have to wait for the dry when the water cools down again. The sea temp here is 37c at the moment, like soup.

[Burnsy]

White Vinegar stops them from firing any further venom which is why we keep a bottle in the car.

Steve do you spray or pour? We just grabbed a litre last week for the car for blue bottles but was unsure if I should get a sprayer for it or not.  Remember as a kid getting stung and havng to get my cousin to pee on my leg as there was no vinagar around, not sure I want my girls to have the same mental scaring so the vinagar will live in the cruiser .

[Nomad]

Burnsy,

Warm water fro Bluebottles, about 45C, is the best treatment, failing that cold or ice pack. Vinegar should only be applied if the cause of the sting is unknown, i.e. irukandji or box jellyfish..........if you don't know what stung do this then get to medical help asap.

You get a good ammunity to blues eventually. I have had them wrapped around my head, over my eyes, up my nose over so many years and I don't even whelt when I cop them these days, just get a bit itchy.

Cheers Nomad.

[Jeepers Creepers]

That just proves that real estate agents have no feelings. 

[KingBilly]

up my nose

OK, you got me intrigued.  How the hell did you get one up your nose?

KB

[ozbogwam]

OK, you got me intrigued.  How the hell did you get one up your nose?

KB

You know how it is a few drinks around the fire, dares start happening next thing you know have a blue bottle up your nose.

[Nomad]

The dares usually involve toilet paper and fire.

When your duckdiving a wave, and the wind is a northerly, that when blues come in in drove your prone to copping them in the head and face as thats the first part of your body the cops the wave as it goes over. The worst one was over the eyes. That stung and I had to sit in fairly big lumpy surf with them shut for ten or fifteen minutes to wait for the pain to go away.

[Squalo]

maaaate, thats the same as my pajamas, only mine are black. 

Bring out the Gimp
But the Gimp's sleeping.
Well I guess you'll just have to wake him up now won't you...



Irukandji stings are known for the delayed response/symptoms after contact which makes them even more of a bastage thing. Horrible thing to happen to anyone let alone little kids.

I'll throw in a further warning - stonefish are found in most places where people like to wander around barefoot, we've found them at Agnes Water, Fraser and Double Island Point. It was annoying at first to have to wear footwear in the water but all our family is now outfitted with water shoes and we try to keep them on the kids at all times. You get used to them and it's nice to have foot protection on rocks etc.

Oh and last time we were on Fraser, one night around the campfire a mate spotted something moving in the semi-darkness, it was a big shiny black funnelweb and he was trucking - racing across the ground directly towards the campfire. A shovel took care of him but they are there, check your bedding before you go to sleep... we had a big brown snake warming itself on the concrete outside the amenities block at Dundubara one morning. He moved on after an hour or so, but where there's one there is always another... his mate might have been behind one of the toilets in the Ladies? who knows.

I'm not trying to reduce the number of people choosing to go to Fraser... just want to make people aware of the extreme danger you face every hour you spend there. You could literally die at any time. Hear about that dingo attack? Scary stuff... and have you seen how much the barge costs these days? Crikey. Then there's the fuel prices... who can afford to go to Fraser Island these days... oh and the Maheno is just a pile of junk now, can't even tell it was once a ship... gee there are so many places to go that are better than Fraser Island... <walks off whistling, hands in pockets>

[Vk3bq]

fraser sounds a bit like this...

http://youtu.be/eNEeq5qGh8I

[Boxhead 71]

Bugger. !! that's one hell of a dangerous island.! Not going there.


BHG

One hell of a dangerous island off the coast of another hell of a dangerous island! Front page of yesty's local paper over here in Geraldton had a bloke bitten by a Gwardar [type of Brown snake i believe] crossed with a Tiger snake! He had to get both antivenoms [one Tiger and one Gwardar] into him to save him. Unreal. If the wildlife doesn't kill ya and eat ya, it'll still kill ya anyway. 

[Shane083]

the bloke that got bitten by the centipede was from mountain trail campers, i pumped the tyres up on his cruiser on the barge for his wife after he got choppered off and she returned with the kids to meet him at the hospital.  also those irukandjis have been down here for ages, same as the big effin sharks on the western side of fraser and people still swim in the water. I dont want to start any arguement but we just spent a week camped at woralie creek and there was alot of vehicles with nsw plates doing some pretty stupid things, if they've never been there they should treat the place with a bit more respect.

[SteveandViv]

Steve do you spray or pour? We just grabbed a litre last week for the car for blue bottles but was unsure if I should get a sprayer for it or not.  Remember as a kid getting stung and havng to get my cousin to pee on my leg as there was no vinagar around, not sure I want my girls to have the same mental scaring so the vinagar will live in the cruiser .

Mate, I don't think I needed that scaring just thinking about that 

You pour it on. It only works with these and Box jellys, not Blue Bottles etc. I reckon the acid in pee would work though and they'll b is some much pain anyway they will hardly notice a quick weeing on

[SteveandViv]

Burnsy,

Warm water fro Bluebottles, about 45C, is the best treatment, failing that cold or ice pack. Vinegar should only be applied if the cause of the sting is unknown, i.e. irukandji or box jellyfish..........if you don't know what stung do this then get to medical help asap.

You get a good immunity to blues eventually. I have had them wrapped around my head, over my eyes, up my nose over so many years and I don't even welt when I cop them these days, just get a bit itchy.

Cheers Nomad.

Hi Nomad.

After spending several hours in the Ed at the hospital here with ED staff who are mates and as I work for a medical company here that services all the local communities along the coast here they have all told us, from the locals to the white fellas, you always use the Vinegar first as the water and Vinegar do two different things. The Vinegar stops any additional firing of the toxins from the tendrils, stopping any additional poising being injected. The very hot water, has to be almost to hot to touch, is known to help as it changes the composition of the proteins in the toxins (also works with some snake venom) and is the best solution for the pain. In some cases there have been people put into a comma to relief them of the pain for several days as morphine etc has little effect

I to grew up surfing with Blue Bottles. We used to collect them and put them in a water hole in the beach then chuck our mates in for fun, really it was . Oh well, young and stupid. Anyway a Blue bottle sting is nothing compares to Irukandji. And all our stations have vinegar here at the beach. No harm will come from pouring it on, no matter what the sting was so I would do it anyway, and that is the hospital advice up in Broome. There are only Blue Bottles or Irukandji here so make sure you carry vinigar in he warm Months and into April.