Also, the Red Cross chapter here has really great combo classes on CPR and First Aid.

Interestingly, I’m wanting to do CPR/first aid certification this summer as well. And now I also want to do some nature walking as well.

Dugites don’t bother me so much, they’re not super aggressive and mostly if you see them sunning themselves, you just walk slowly in the opposite direction. Tiger snakes wig me out – even if they do have somewhat distinctive colouring, they are characteristically aggressive.

Both still kill people though. Unlike redbacks and stuff which haven’t had reported deaths for some time.

ANYWAY, believe it or not, most of the animals I see in the bushland are of the completely non-venomous variety. *grin* Swear.

In re helping others: I do recommend specifically taking a wilderness first aid course, rather than “generic first aid,” if you have the time or money, and plan on spending any significant length of time out there. It’s possibly overkill for your purposes, but it gave me a lot of confidence to go through some concentrated formal training before hitting the Pacific Crest Trail two years ago. A typical class runs a weekend and costs $100-$200. Plus you become certified, at least to be the person in charge until someone more experienced arrives.

CPR alone is typically free or nearly so (contact your local fire station), and takes just an hour or two. It’s a great place to start while you’re figuring out how much time and effort you want to invest in training.

I think, other than the occasional hyper-sensationalized stories of hikers being attacked/killed/etc., most folks you find out on the trails are perfectly normal, adjusted people (as in not psychos and sociopaths). It’s probably especially true once you get further out. For one thing, more experienced hikers are A) going to be in better shape and B) are more likely to be able to kick your ass. For another, if I were someone looking for victims, a remote area far away from people wouldn’t be where I’d go–a predator of any sort would most likely go where there are lots of people, but also lots of hiding places, and you can get that in a city as well as in the woods. Maybe even easier in the city, where you’re not worrying about snakes and other critters. Granted, I’m not a psychopath looking for victims to eat, so this is all sort of conjecture

I had to look up what a dugite was. What the hell is it with you people down there and your venomous critters? *L* And that one doesn’t even look scary–at least our poisonous snakes here either have scary looking heads that are distinctive in shape, or are really brightly colored. No wonder nobody invades Australia! All you’d have to do is tell the invaders that whatever they wanted was right behind that bush or under those rocks, right over there!

I’m still boggled over the granola bars. I’m glad I was able to help, but I kinda wish I’d had more than two. I hope they were enough to get them down the mountain. Maybe I’ll start packing Power Bars or something more substantial.

Erynn–Yeah, after worrying for too long whether I was doing things the way I was supposed to, this was a nice reminder not to worry so damned much.

I always like walking the bushland on weekends, even though it means there’s always more people around. Even though Koondoola has one of the highest crime rates in a suburb in Western Australia, everyone there seems decent. We stick together.

One of my favourite warnings involved a HUGE scary looking guy with a scary looking dog stopping and saying ‘there is a HUGE dugite down there, pretty active, maybe take a different fork in the road,’ and then we started talking about goannas and snakes for about 10 minutes.

The granola bar thing is really touching, and very sweet that they insisted on paying.