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ABC NEWS (Australia)
  • 14 hours ago
Nature lovers are being urged to carry snake bite kits after a Sydney woman was bitten twice by a brown snake while bush walking on the New South Wales south coast. Experienced bushwalker Helen Worrell thankfully survived the encounter in Morton National Park near Ulladulla on Saturday.

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00:00Nature lovers are being urged to carry snake bite kits after a Sydney woman was bitten twice
00:08by a brown snake while bushwalking on the NSW south coast. Experienced bushwalker Helen Worrell
00:14thankfully survived the encounter in Moreton National Park near Ulladulla on Saturday and
00:19she joins us now to tell us all about it. Helen, thank you for your time. This was a hike just
00:24days ago as we said. You came into contact with a seven foot eastern brown snake. Tell us what
00:29happened in the moments before and after you were bitten. Yes we were just we were just walking
00:34along the track and it was very uneventful and then we stopped briefly to acknowledge another couple
00:41coming the other way and we stepped onto a side track and we were in single file with my husband
00:49and my brother and I think when I walked past I disturbed the snake and might have spooked it
00:56and it ran across the track behind me and then my husband took a step and accidentally stepped
01:02on the snake who um then lashed out and nipped me on the back of the calf and then wrapped it was well
01:13was entangled in his foot and then he an ankle and he then shook it off into the bush and it ran away
01:20and then we realized then that I had been bitten and um then we sort of went into action.
01:27Yeah it sounds terrifying when you say went into action that young couple that you mentioned a moment
01:32ago as I understand it they came back to help. Yes they they said are you okay and I just said I
01:39think I've been bitten in fact I know I've been bitten and um I had a basic first aid kit in my pack um
01:47um and I told them where it was um my brother started who has also done first aid started um applying a
01:56bandage to the site and and wrapping it with compression and um the young couple my god they
02:04stepped in called triple o uh controlled the scene assisted with everything that was needed to keep me alive in
02:13that first um while while we waited for the emergency services so um they they along with my brothers
02:22and my husband saved my life really with the bandaging yeah they certainly initially yes because
02:30um I mean from the bite within minutes I was unconscious so it happened so very quickly
02:36and I know you know they were buying time precious time anti-venom was on the way tell us about that
02:42yes uh that that in itself was an amazing feat um the emergency services engaged um the
02:52new south wales police they located um anti-venom in milton hospital which is the closest hospital
02:59and one of the smallest hospitals on the south coast um they engaged the emergency helicopter to
03:06come down from I think albion park or sydney um they picked up the police picked up the anti-venom
03:13from milton hospital under lights and sirens drove it out to the milton helipad they loaded on the
03:21the chopper landed there picked up the anti-venom and then flew up to the top of the mountain
03:27where we were and um dropped winch down to doctors who raced along the track and administered the
03:34anti-venom and there was like alladulla fire brigade um cajola rfs there was team from huskerson
03:43there was ambulance um all came up the track as well and now we were we were a good um 15 k's in from
03:51the main road and three k's down a track right at the very end of the headlands so
03:56it wasn't a difficult it wasn't an easy place to get to and for all those services to come together
04:03and to get that anti-venom to me within 50 minutes was truly amazing and we just have the best
04:12emergency services you could ask for it is comforting to know that um you're now urging
04:16everyone to carry a snake bite bandage when they go bushwalking as we said you had a bandage but why
04:23do they need this um but the snake bite bandages are um a wider they allow you to wrap a larger area
04:33um my bandage only came up to my knee it really needed to go all the way up to um
04:40all the way up to my thigh so um the snake bite bandage is um definitely um required it has more
04:50compression in it and it's stronger even if you don't carry any other bandage as the
04:56police sergeant said to me um they only carry snake bite bandages now because you can bandage
05:03anything with a snake bite bandage but you can't use anything to bandage a snake bite so there you go
05:09good advice well helen here's to bushwalking in 2026 thank you for joining us today
05:13no worries thank you very much jimmy
05:22you
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