KEY POINTS:
Cedric Suifua, 22, of Auckland, was hiding lollies for a children's treasure hunt in a park across from Gold Coast's Main Beach on Christmas Day when he was bitten by an eastern brown snake.
Initially mistaking the sting on his toes of his left foot for a bull ant bite, Mr Suifua continued to play baseball for about 45 minutes before having heart palpitations, the Courier Mail newspaper reported.
"I had just sat down and told my wife about my heart and 10 seconds later I saw bright lights and then passed out and fell back on to her," he said.
An off-duty nurse came to Mr Suifua's aid and bandaged his leg until an ambulance arrived.
He was taken to the Gold Coast Hospital where he was given 12 vials of anti-venom by yesterday afternoon.
A spokesman for the Queensland Ambulance Service said Mr Suifua had all the classic symptoms of a snake bite.
New Zealanders also featured in one of several false alarms which called out firefighters on the Gold Coast.
The firefighters, who were called out to a number of grass fires over the course of the day, arrived at one only to find a Maori family preparing a hangi.
"We get calls every year to what people think are grass fires but are hangi," said a spokesman for the firefighters.
- NZPA
