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What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

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Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#41

Post by foobarian »

hilbert42 wrote: post #28

I had an encounter with Gympie-Gympie/Stinging bush (Dendrocnide moroides) in the early 1980s when I was camping for some weeks at Emmagen Creek, Cape Tribulation which is about 50 miles north of Cairns and past Mossman in Queensland's Daintree rainforest. (Back then, Mossman was a single street with none of the modern luxurious tourist hotels/accommodation that it has today and Emmagen Creek was just cane toad infes…

> I was also lucky in another respect in that the local advised me to wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt

Just based on Australia's reputation alone I don't think I would ever even think about venturing outside in anything short of a hazmat suit on top of a suit of plate mail :-)

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#42

Post by localplume »

John23832 wrote: post #36
llamaLord wrote: post #7

There's an urban legend in Australia about a bloke that went camping once, had to take a shit in the bush, and didn't have any dunny-role. Poor guy grabbed a handful of Gympie-gympie that was on the ground next to him and proceeded to wipe his ass with it. Legend says he ended up topping himself a few hours later to escape the pain. Whether it's true or not... Fuck only knows. We do like making shit up... Especially…

As a yank, it's always been believed that everything in Aussieland wants to either kill you or make life supremely uncomfortable.

Eh I mean the US has its fair share of snakes and spiders, crocs/gators, plus bears, coyotes, and other large animals which Australia doesn't have which are far more scary than any insect IMO. I guess the oceans are worse with sharks and box jellies, and some rivers have bull sharks. But Australia and the US have more in common wrt deadly flora and fauna than most would like to admit.

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#44

Post by adamsmith143 »

coldcode wrote: post #6

Stories like this make me wonder why anyone lives in Australia, since virtually everything seems to want to kill you. Or perhaps Aussies are tougher than the rest of us.

Is it any better in the US where corporations, cars, trucks, alligators, wolves, bears, rattlesnakes, and most of all other people all want to kill you?

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#45

Post by foobarian »

AltruisticGapHN wrote: post #4

> After investigation, Hurley found several culprits, including beetles, other insects, and red-legged pademelons, a type of small marsupial. I was going to ask. I remember an old woman in my childhood, someone in the extended family, she could take nettles and crush them in her hands and felt nothing. I'm not sure but it may have been partly due to handling them to make soup and whatnot in those days. So I was just…

Nettles don't really hurt on the palms of your hands. Nettles are also kinda not in the same club, after all we eat them. They taste like spinach.

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#46

Post by SamPatt »

yardie wrote: post #30
Zealotux wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's unlikely since he would've immediately felt the pain when grabbing the leaf in the first place.

From the article: the pain peaks after 20-30 minutes.

In the video the pain looks nearly instant. It just gets even worse over time.

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#47

Post by eutropia »

foobarian wrote: post #41
hilbert42 wrote: post #28

I had an encounter with Gympie-Gympie/Stinging bush (Dendrocnide moroides) in the early 1980s when I was camping for some weeks at Emmagen Creek, Cape Tribulation which is about 50 miles north of Cairns and past Mossman in Queensland's Daintree rainforest. (Back then, Mossman was a single street with none of the modern luxurious tourist hotels/accommodation that it has today and Emmagen Creek was just cane toad infes…

> I was also lucky in another respect in that the local advised me to wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt Just based on Australia's reputation alone I don't think I would ever even think about venturing outside in anything short of a hazmat suit on top of a suit of plate mail :-)

Made a mess from bursting into laughter from this.

Cheers

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#48

Post by klyrs »

AltruisticGapHN wrote: post #4

> After investigation, Hurley found several culprits, including beetles, other insects, and red-legged pademelons, a type of small marsupial. I was going to ask. I remember an old woman in my childhood, someone in the extended family, she could take nettles and crush them in her hands and felt nothing. I'm not sure but it may have been partly due to handling them to make soup and whatnot in those days. So I was just…

I snack on nettles, there's a trick to it. The needles only grow on the underside of the leaves. If you handle them with care you can pluck the leaves barehanded, roll 'em in a ball and chew.

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#49

Post by blantonl »

llamaLord wrote: post #7

There's an urban legend in Australia about a bloke that went camping once, had to take a shit in the bush, and didn't have any dunny-role. Poor guy grabbed a handful of Gympie-gympie that was on the ground next to him and proceeded to wipe his ass with it. Legend says he ended up topping himself a few hours later to escape the pain. Whether it's true or not... Fuck only knows. We do like making shit up... Especially…

dunny-role

topping himself

The English Language is definitely different around the world.

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#50

Post by blantonl »

moron4hire wrote: post #32
llamaLord wrote: post #7

There's an urban legend in Australia about a bloke that went camping once, had to take a shit in the bush, and didn't have any dunny-role. Poor guy grabbed a handful of Gympie-gympie that was on the ground next to him and proceeded to wipe his ass with it. Legend says he ended up topping himself a few hours later to escape the pain. Whether it's true or not... Fuck only knows. We do like making shit up... Especially…

We have the same urban legend in the US about poison ivy, but I actually knew a kid who made the mistake. Poison ivy is certainly nowhere near this description of gympie-gympie, but the persistent itch is certainly unrelenting enough to cause pretty severe distress. I got a small touch of it on my forearm one time. Didn't even know I had brushed up against the plant, so I didn't perform the recommended clean up. Just…

I got one worse for you. The home that I lived in when I was 16 years old had a chain link fence in the backyard that was covered in poison ivy. I got the bright idea do douse some of it in gasoline and light it on fire to get rid of it.

Bad idea.

The smoke carries the oils and if you get in it, you're going to be in for a bad time.

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