How to self-defence if i get attacked by an animal or bad guy

Hi Heiner

This is Australia you are talking about?

My biggest fear when camping in the outback is waking up next morning and find a flat tyre on my vehicle.

Seriously you have never travelled into our great outdoors, as we do not have any wild animals that want to make a meal out of you. We have had on many occasions dingo print on and around our old open swag and never any issues.......will i tell a lie. Once during the day at Dalhousie, Fiona did not put her boots in the car while we are swimming and a dingo decided that it wanted to play hide and seak with them.

The only wild animal that will want to feast on you will be only found in our far northern areas, the salt water crocodile. If he wants to make a meal out of you, they are thst quick, you will never see it coming.

as for people, outback Aussies are some of the nicest people you will ever meet and if in time of trouble, will go well out of their way to help you.

This is Australia, not the bad west or the middle of Africa where there are nice wild animals that would love to snack on you. As for the items you mentioned above, get caught with them and the only trouble you will have will be the Police.

Gee I am glad I live in our great country where my biggest fear is a nice mulga stake through my tyres.



Cheers and happy outback travels.


Stephen

Seriously? What's a location got to do with anything?

Iza

If you trust statistics, then you should be worrying more about car accidents or drowning. They are the real threats to international tourists. Bad guys are very rare and wild animals attacking you even more rare.

Heiner should be more worried about flies than anything else

Best to go and watch a few Bruce Lee movies and hang a black belt over your rear vision mirror or just talk to them in a politically correct fashion, making sure you do it in a soft and fluffy way.

Another way is to take Paul Hogan with you and he can stare them down.

The original question is not being answered, all of the above replies are just skirting the issue.
It is a fair question. When camped on the side of the road on your journey (not your chosen destination) and more than once I felt some type of anxiety due to people sniffing around. Friend of ours were camping and fellow campers high on happy mushrooms and associated smokes made them nervous.
One also read on this forum of campers (again overnight type camp) where young nogoods stopped to sniff around.
I too am interested in the answers.

Hi Heiner

As the sensible people have already said - nothing to worry about.

I have recently returned from eight months travelling around Australia with my wife and two young boys. Not once, again not once did I feel threatened at any time during our trip. We come from WA, which many will say is a quiet backwater, so we are used to a quiet lifestyle.

Even when visiting the large cities on the east coast, late at night and catching public transport coming home from football games, we felt completely at ease. In the whole eight months we only saw one piece of trouble (two drunks fighting outside a pub) and we simply crossed the road.

Carrying knifes, weapons, pepper spray etc is illegal in all states and territories of Australia (unless you have a lawful reason and self defence isn't one). Apart from that, if you do pull one out it will generally only serve to inflame the situation.

If you have a happy positive outlook and are sensible in your regards to your own safety (if it doesn't feel right don't go there) you will be OK!

Come and enjoy our great country.

Cheers

Anthony

Gday,
Ill have to disagree with those saying there are basically no dangers, and one persons idea of the "Outback" and "remote" are not necessarily someone elses........

eg. 50km out of a town while on foot because your vehicle has broken down, no traffic and have no means of communications can be remote...........

To some the "outback" can be 100 km West of Sydney........The middle of the Simpson desert, or a crocodile infested billabong in the Top End etc and to say you don't need to be careful in any of those areas sounds a little naive to me.

Tanks and spells are not the usual form of self defence in my experience.....I personally find avoiding certain areas and behaviour a lot more beneficial and legal, but also cary a large hunting boomerang in my drivers side door pocket. LOL
Maybe if you tell us where and how you plan to stay we might be able to give you a bit of advice.......

Cheers
Hairy

A lot of great responses and this is a topic that lots of people consider.

Problem with carry any form of a weapon (besides being illegal) becomes an issue if the other party takes your weapon off you and uses it against you. Sounds good to front some young noisy campers with a baseball bat but should they be quick enough and disarm you then you get the resultant beating. Better to have no weapon, approach them with a polite request and then retire. And yes some may ignore you - better than attack you with your own weapon.

For traveling and camping it has been mentioned already if I am to pull over for an overnighter I look for other campers and camp in the vicinity. They too will have similar thoughts of security.

If I am really remote I will go down a small track well off and tuck in behind a bush screen so no-one sees my camp fire. I also position my car for an easy drive out - mostly for inclement weather but also for relative ease in leaving quickly.

If you do feel insecure due to persons or dingos (not much else out there) getting in your car and locking the doors is probably the best option.

In Australia even if you are a register firearm owner you may only transport the fire arm from one place to another, not carry it with you at all times. Also in transport it must be unloaded and secured (locked in boot or such). It would be pretty useless as a quick defense item unloaded and locked away.

I try not to camp close to townsites in case the local youth decide to drive just out of town for drinking and partying. I go that bit further.

Hope this helps

Serendipity

Heiner - The answer to your question is; On the extremely rare occasion when someone with a criminal or violent bent decides to attack you, you are allowed to defend yourself with equal force.
If you injure or kill the attacker, then you will end up in court having to explain how the injury or death occurred whilst trying to defend yourself from an unprovoked attack.
You would have to provide evidence the attack was unprovoked.
If you lie about the circumstances, then it's very likely your lies will be exposed, and you will be found guilty of either manslaughter, or causing "grievous bodily harm".

Fortunately, Australia has a fairly good record for personal safety. Most attacks on persons are provoked, it is extremely rare to have an unprovoked attack.
Having said that, drug use IS an increasing problem in Australia, and heavy drug users are often paranaoic or schizoprenic and very unpredictable in their behaviour.
However, it's rare to find heavy drug users in the remote and rural areas. They cluster in the poorer, more violent suburbs of our cities.

I have been attacked twice in my life - both times I "provoked" the offender by trying to stop a violent assault on a woman, in broad daylight, in the street.
One of them was most certainly a very violent drug-using offender, he was much larger than me, and I was lucky to escape him.

As a result I am very wary of trying to actually stop any personal assault. My wife and I just recently witnessed a violent assault by one large male on a smaller male in broad daylight in the middle of Perth.
The offender was Aboriginal and almost certainly a heavy drug user. Numerous other people tried to stop the assault and they were assaulted themselves.
This offender was very violent, and used anything to hand as a weapon - bar stools, signs, and poles.

You will find that the greatest risk of assault in Australia is from drunk or drug-affected Aboriginals. Be very wary of them, particularly if they outnumber you.
They will nearly always ask for .. A: - cigarettes, B: - money - C: - an alcoholic drink.

Be firm, never give them anything, and be very alert to them getting very angry, very quickly, when you refuse their request.
Be alert to them carrying a weapon such as a piece of wood, a large screwdriver, or a piece of metal.

Be firm in your refusal, and ensure you don't turn your back on them, because they are "dirty fighters" and will attack you from behind and when you are distracted. Their aim is always to bash and rob you.
This does not mean that ALL Aboriginals are dangerous. The largest proportion of Aboriginals are friendly enough, but they have a propensity to violence and destruction if angered.

You can take precautions by learning some basic martial arts moves. My stepson and his lady are top-class Mixed Martial Arts exponents and they have won international competitions.
My stepson has taught me numerous moves that disable an attacker quickly. As a Vietnam Veteran, I was also taught some basic enemy disabling moves in the Army.

Using a leg to kick out at an attackers knee, from the front or side, disables an attacker quickly, because it dislocates the knee.
A kick to the diaphragm disables an attacker as he struggles to breathe. Cutting off air to an attacker is important, if they struggle to breathe, they forget the attack as they try to get air.

If you do end up in close quarters contact, you can carry out a neck lock from the rear.
You place your left arm around the attackers neck, and twist it so the forearm bone is against the "Adams apple" (the thyroid cartilage surrounding the larynx).

You then raise your right arm, with the forearm vertical, and grasp the middle of the right forearm with your left hand (left hand palm against the right arm forearm).
By then pulling your right arm towards you, you develop a vice-like grip on your attackers neck, via your left arm.
Gripping the middle of your right arm increases the leverage, and increases the pressure you can apply with your left arm muscles.

The left forearm bone in great pressure contact with the "Adams apple" causes extreme pain and commences to crush the larynx, thus cutting off the attackers air supply.
This move disables most attackers quickly, as they merely grab your arms and try to remove them, which is nearly impossible to do.

A trained martial arts person, when faced with a neck lock as above (or a headlock), uses their right elbow to punch rearwards into an attackers diaphragm.
You make a fist with your right hand, and smack your fist hard with your open left hand, at the same time as punching hard rearwards with the right arm - thus performing the equivalent of a hammer and punch motion to the attackers diaphragm.

When faced with an attacker holding or swinging a weapon of some type, avoid the weapon swing, then attack as the swing goes past and the attacker is unbalanced.
Kick the arm holding the weapon to try and break it, or utilise the diaphragm or knee kick as above, to bring the attacker down.

If you spend a little time learning some basic martial arts disabling moves, you will be more confident and be able to "handle yourself" if the situation deteriorates.
Always be confident and alert - attackers look for weakness such as fear, reduced defence ability because you are drunk - and they will often try to outnumber you.

Carrying pepper spray in Australia is illegal, as is carrying large knives or machetes - unless you can prove you have a legal use for that item.
Naturally, in the rural and outback areas of Australia, a good size knife is very handy, and an excuse can be, it is a fishing knife or boning knife for cutting up meat. [;-)

Self Defence techniques

Cheers, Ron.

Hi Heiner,

I assume that you are a young man from overseas preparing for a trip in outback Australia. You ask how to defend yourself against attack by people or animals.

In both cases avoidance is the best policy. In the case of animals stay well clear of crocodiles, especially salties. In the past couple of days rangers in the NT were warning people about getting too close to freshwater crocs and suggesting 15m was a minimum safe distance. That distance would be too close for a saltie. Bull camels in the mating season are also said to be dangerous - if you encounter camels on an outback track its probably best to stay in your vehicle if you are on your own - the camels will eventually move away. Wild pigs are potentially dangerous too but unless you are on foot in places where there are likely to be pigs you may never see one. Dingos will often be seen and heard at dusk and during the night - they generally wont bother you unless you are on Fraser island - and there are plenty of signs there warning you of what to do and not to do around dingos.

There are plenty of large animals out there - emus, kangaroos, cattle, wild horses, donkeys, even cassowaries, and all have given people a fright or even inflicted injury at some point. But common sense ie keeping back, reading the warning signs (the written ones and the ones that any agitated animal will give you) should keep you safe.

What you do need to be careful about is snakes and spiders. Australia has several of these that are extremely venomous. If you are out walking you have to keep your eyes open and wear appropriate clothing eg foot and leg protection in the form of boots and long pants. Carry and know how to use a snakebite kit (essentially compression bandages) to keep you alive while you call for help. Good communicatons are essential.

AS for danger from humans, I would suggest that there is more danger in Kings Cross on a Saturday night - which means there is some risk but its really quite low. Again avoidance is your best strategy. When camping alone be out of sight of the road. If camping with others be sure not to camp too close, a common mistake made by many overseas tourists. Aussies like their wide personal space and are not comfortable if it is unnecessarily invaded - pitch your tent well away from others until you get a feel of what is acceptable. Be friendly without being pushy eg give a wave, a smile and break the ice gradually.

There is an outback code that you offer assistance to anyone who looks like they might be in trouble eg have a problem with their vehicle. Unfortunately not everyone offers help and those in trouble might be cautious about someone pulling up and offering same. So do it slowly and in a relaxed manner - wind the window down and ask "are you OK?". Dont leap out waving a spanner about - that might be mininterpreted!

Alcohol and drugs are certainly out there in the bush/outback/remote. Its really up to you to be aware and avoid or at least weigh up your options if you decide to partake. If you are travelling on your own there would seem to be little point in taking physical action as any adversary would probably have a few mates around. Your best course of action is to be aware of your surroundings and stay clear if there is any hint of trouble.

In travelling in all parts of Australia, including in remote areas over the past 25 years we have only had a couple of incidents where we felt a bit concerned - and neither ended up causing us any real problem.

Have a great trip.

Cheers

Val.

I have found on one occasion the fire extinguisher was a good deterrent. The threat of ''accidental discharge and blindness" was just a little too much for that small group.

Mind you I did hightail it outa there Very Quickly after that.



ZZ

l think heiner has a right to be scared,
have you all forgotten that drop bears can cut up pretty rough when you invade their terrroity?
and then there's the savage... and.... horrid bunyip,
and how can you possibly outrun the dreaded hoop snake....

and then there's Mick Taylor to contend with as well....

we're all doomed

If you feel the urge for a weapon for safety however don't want to break the law, keeping a tyre spanner or long handled ratchet next to your drivers seat may be an option.... quite legitimate to keep it handy for changing tyres, they also make a good club.

If you want and the cook will allow you to, roll up her latest shiny paper mag very tightly and poke an attacker hard in the face and twist it..... then the cook beats hell out of you because the blood covers the story she was about to read!
AlanH.

If you go on U tube and type in Mick Taylor Wolfe Creek.

Supposedly based on a true incident.

(;=))

Cheers
Pop

Buy a dog.........a big dog!

Or a little dog with a deep voice.

Bob

There is lots of advice here on what to do during the day time. At night the best solution is a Roof Top Tent. I get a great nights sleep every night knowing I am safe. Anybody climbing my ladder at night with evil intentions will wear a tyre lever in the face as soon as they poke their head in. Animals don't climb ladders so I do not worry about them.

Hi @all,

now i'm amused and tranquilized :)
Now i know i dont need any of the "weapons" above.
And if i get in trouble i will make me nudely and all attacker will run away screaming :)

Some ask about my planed trip:
Starting @ the end of April Perth, CSR with friends to halls creek, after that 8-9 month absolute freedom (maybe Cape York, Darwin, Kimberleys, ... don't know yet :) ).

Cheers
Heiner

Heiner

You have nothing to worry about . Just enjoy the travelling.
As someone said , fly's will be your biggest problem.


Cheers

did you watch wolf creek

havnt read through all the replys but im guessing most are similar to my respose which is Huh? what

anyway my recomendtion is a maglight
doesnt have to be 6 battery 4 will do.
If anything dodgy goes bump in the middle of the night it ticks all the boxes
- it illuminates the area so you can see whats going on
- this will scare most animals you dont want around like dogs etc, and reveal the prescence of creepy crawlys
- if the prescence is human then they would normally run in the prescense of light
- you can shine it in thier eyes if they choose to face you so they are blinded and cant size you up
- if crap really goes down then you are holding some form of weapon

do you honestly think a weapon can help you in this situation??????