KEY POINTS:
An Auckland man is lucky to be alive after a Christmas Day encounter with one of the world's most poisonous snakes on a Queensland beach.
Cedric Suifua, 22, was at a barbecue near Main Beach on the Gold Coast when an eastern brown snake attacked him as he hid treats for a children's treasure hunt.
The eastern brown is the world's second most venomous snake, beaten only by the inland taipan, which is also a native of Australia.
The creature has small fangs, but can strike its victims several times, injecting a mixture of cell-destroying neurotoxins and blood coagulants with each bite.
But the dangers of brown snakes didn't mean much to Mr Suifua. When the commerce student from Te Atatu saw two small marks on the middle toe of his left foot, he assumed he had been bitten by a bull ant.
"We were all laughing at me hopping about."
Mr Suifua then went off to play baseball, but within about 45 minutes he was having palpitations and seeing stars.
"I felt my heart pounding, like, boom, boom, faster and faster."
An off-duty nurse applied a bandage to the wound, after Mr Suifua passed out.
He was taken to the intensive care unit at Gold Coast Hospital, where he spent three days recovering.
Mr Suifua told the Herald he was usually careful to steer clear of Australia's more toxic residents and was wary of venturing into their habitat.
"My wife hit a tennis ball into the bush, and I said, 'I'm not going in there'.
"I always watch the Discovery Channel, and a lot of the deadly snakes are from Australia."
Mr Suifua required 13 vials of anti-venom during his hospital stay, well above what one doctor told him was the average of four to five vials.
Australian Reptile Park general manager Mary Rayner said Mr Suifua was lucky to be alive and was probably saved by his age.
"If that had been an older person, or younger person, they might possibly not have made it."
The eastern brown snake was a sensitive creature that was quick to take offence, and often inflicted several bites, she said.
The Australian Reptile Park is the sole supplier of venom for anti-venom treatments.
Ms Rayner said about 1000 people were bitten by snakes in Australia each year, and seeking medical treatment quickly was the best way to prevent deaths.
About three people died of snake bites each year.
The holiday was Mr Suifua's first trip across the Tasman, and he was to have returned to Auckland on Christmas Day.
He is now looking forward to getting home and putting the experience behind him.
His brush with death has not put him off a return visit to Australia, but he will be more careful of the wildlife.
"Next time I come I am going to stay at the resort and swim in the pool. No more beaches for me."
