It’s no secret that Australia has a reputation for being home to many of the world’s most dangerous animals, and now a New Zealand comedian has poked fun at the country’s deadly wildlife in a hilarious mock tourism advert – and even Aussies are seeing the funny side.
Chris Drabble uploaded a video which included him joking that there’s “no prettier place to perish than Queensland”, before poking fun at crocodiles, stingrays, snakes and spiders.
“Welcome to North Queensland Australia. Fancy a swim in a tropical paradise?” Chris says in the video. “You can’t do that here because there’s crocodiles. Oh but don’t worry, they’ve made a sign.”
Dressed in the stereotypical Aussie attire of shorts, singlet and a bush hat, Chris goes on to poke fun at the state’s seemingly relaxed approach to keeping tourists safe.
“You’d think there’d be signs everywhere in this tourist hot spot, right? Nah, there’s just the one,” he says. “And some beaches don’t even have any. Because they mainly just use word of mouth round here.”
As a woman makes her way into the water, Chris warns: “Apparently there’s massive prehistoric beasts out there, so just take care.”
When she asks “what”, he turns back to the camera and says the classic Aussie phrase: “She’ll be right.”
He then jokes about the nicknames Aussies have adopted to describe various dangerous creatures, such as “stingers” and “salties”.
“As a bonus, they’ve also got ‘stingers’. Doesn’t sound too bad though, right? Well actually stingers is just Australian slang for the most deadly marine animal known to mankind. But you know, stingers is a good name too,” the comedian says referring to the sign.
Chris also wonders why the slang for saltwater crocodiles is “salties” as that could “be used to describe literally any marine animal”.
“So if you’re paddling in the shallows and a local notifies you that there’s some salties round, don’t just assume he’s talking about dolphins or some form of innocuous mollusc because, actually, he’s referring to giant, flesh-eating reptiles.”
He then warns tourist about “deadly snakes and spiders” and a “bird that may as well be a velociraptor” — the cassowary.
“The best part is you’ll only need to pay a one-way fare because, chances are, you won’t return,” he says.
The video was posted on Friday and has already racked up over 1.8 million views.
“What the killer drop bears don’t even get a mention how rude,” one commentator joked, while another added: “This is hilarious and sadly true.”
Another viewer tagged a friend in the post and joked: “I bet you can’t wait to get here.”
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