Interesting. Being an Aussie it makes me wonder what the situation regarding anti-venoms are here, because lets face it everything over here is either poisonous or venomous which with the small population and the large distances makes it potentially a worse problem.
Going by rumours I've heard from snake fanciers, Australian doctors don't like anti-venom as much as they used to. Besides being expensive, it's quite dangerous. They've gotten so good at keeping people alive that it's often safer to let the victim recover naturally.
The large distances don't matter as much as you'd think, because first aid management of snakebite is very effective. If you're bitten by a snake, and there are country people or bushwalkers around, you can spend many hours getting to hospital, or even days.
I can belive that. What worries me is if you do need it that they cant get at it quickly enough.
As for distances though im not sure if I would care to be waiting hours following a Taipan bite considering how neurotoxic the venom is and how much they can inject.
