Garrie beach bluebottle sting..ouch!!

To make the most of final couple days of the new year holiday,
we went for a picnic at Garrie beach in Royal National park.
The lookout leading to the beach has a perfect view of the ocean and the surrounding hills, perfect for a lunch stopover.

Down the winding road with a great drive, we reach a hidden, beautiful stretch of sand, typical Aussie coastline, leaving no doubt this is such a lucky country. But you may not be very lucky if you
get stung by something lurking in the beach, Bluebottle jellyfish. You will find this jellyfish species scattered around most of the Australian beaches, they seem placid and actually look beautiful with trademark deep blue color, bottle like body and tentacles. Do not go near!

After spending an hour in the waves and sun bathing, we were going for a stroll. That is when I felt a sudden pang of pain around both my lower legs. I knew straight away that something from the sea had bitten me, just didn't know what it was. My first thought was it could be a Stingray or something. Whatever it was, it was excruciatingly stingy and painful. I looked down to find a blue jellyfish and its beady tentacles wrapped around my legs! I removed those with my bare fingers and walked up to a nearby life saver tent. The life guard had a look at my legs and was about to offer an ointment, but decided to drive me to a nearby shower in his life saver vehicle. Apparently I needed a 'shower' .

There was a young girl also with the same incident. For her, it was on her hands. We were handed over to an elderly life guard who took us upstairs and opened up the shower and let us run hot water on the bites, turns out hot water is the best remedy for Bluebottle stings. The pain got worse in the legs and started to radiate, specially in the groin area. Worried, we tried to find a nearby hospital. It was at Sutherland, about 35 km away. With my wife navigating the high volume traffic in the bushy road and  slow driving, traffic holding drivers, we finally managed to reach the hospital in about half an hour. Luckily the medical centre was virtually empty when we arrived and I only had to wait barely five minutes before being attended by a doctor, who had a look at my groin and said it was no problem. I was given a prescription of pain killer, Panadene Forte, that was it.

It hurt badly for few hours, morning after, today I feel its fairly gone except for a light remainder pain that is not too bad. Google search shows hot water is the best treatment for bluebottle stings, scientific reason for this being hot water actually cooks the poison so that the body can break it down better and it becomes less lethal.

I am looking at the incident now and feel it is in a way is a gift, a learning by God. A first hand experience of pain and a minute glimpse of lurking dangers in the beach, ocean. Now I have earned a right to talk about the sting of a Bluebottle.

So much for the country living inspiration that I have been feeling for a while, mainly due to visits to Hunter valley. I imagine what if you have more serious medicals? Broke your limbs, snake bites, heart attacks..nearby medical facility might be hours drive. Again, knowing what can happen can make you prepare for it, to still be inspired by the beauty of remote country living, put up with it. Or get scared and do not attempt. Choice is yours, you have been warned