While most grey nomads would choose not to dress up as a ‘Stormtrooper’ character from the Star Wars movies as they travel Australia, it seems that doing so can have its benefits.
A former soldier say that his decision to dress as an ‘elite soldier of the Galactic Empire’ while on a marathon walk for charity has saved his life.
Scott Loxley, 47, says the iconic Stormtooper armour protected him from a king brown snake bite near Yalboroo, north of Mackay, a few days ago.
Mr Loxley described the encounter with the ‘vicious’ snake on Facebook.
“He’s lunged at me and bit me but the good news is the armour, he bit me in the shin, the armour actually protected me and stopped the bite,” Mr Loxley said. “I could feel the teeth on the plastic scraping but the armour actually stopped something.”
According to Australian Museum, king browns, or mulga snakes, bite savagely and may hang on and chew as they inject their venom, which is highly toxic and can be expressed in enormous quantities.
Mr Loxley told the ABC it was the first time a snake had bitten him on his journey, although he usually catches taipans and western browns to eat.
Mr Loxley set out from Melbourne in 2013 to walk 15,000 kilometres around Australia in an attempt to raise $100,000 for the Monash Children’s Hospital. He has raised $40,000 so far.
* Have you seen the ‘Stormtrooper’ while out on your travels? What is the most unusual sight you have seen while driving in remote areas? Comment below.
We saw him in Broome around 17 September – he stayed in same caravan park as us.