Tim Elleston and his wife were on the road trip of a lifetime through outback Queensland when their trip didn’t quite go to plan.
The pair stopped in the tiny town of Croydon in North Queensland, 500 kilometres west of Cairns.
It’s an old gold mining town which draws tourists in for its history.
The closet grocery store is almost 100 kilometres away and it’s home to just 250 residents.
Tim, a Perth local, went out to explore the sites of the town.
“I took our dog for a walk. It had just gotten dark and then I noticed I had two holes in the side of my ankle and I knew I’d been bitten at that point,” he said.
An unknown snake had struck Tim.
The couple had a first aid kit in their car, so they strapped Tim’s leg, while they waited for the ambulance.
They were shocked the town even had an ambulance.
With Croydon home to many of Queensland’s deadliest snakes, the Flying Doctor was called in to assist.
“My wife said I was surprisingly calm,” he said.
“I was on a stretcher and put into the aircraft and I was amazed.”
“The RFDS staff had me hooked up to everything on the plane and were checking my levels, pulse and heart rate.”
“It was like a normal flight, except without the inflight entertainment. I think I was the entertainment,” he laughed.
He was flown to Mt Isa where he was checked over.
Luckily it was a dry snake bite, but Tim was kept in hospital overnight as a precaution.
While an RFDS flight wasn’t on their trip’s bucket list it certainly made for a memorable evening.
“The RFDS are brilliant. What an amazing service.”
“To have you guys to come out all that way, it was just incredible.”
With the all clear Tim and his wife carried on with their road trip after getting a taste of the outback.
