So I’m on the Gold Coast of Australia on a relaxing holiday with the husband. The resort is right on the beach. The autumn temperature is a balmy 25 degrees C and there’s sunshine and a gentle breeze. There’s a heated pool, sun loungers and pool bar. Sounds idyllic, right?

Here’s where the picture perfect scene falls apart. You see for much of my adult life I’ve lived in the middle of anxiety central —just ask my long-suffering husband. All it takes to set me off is some throwaway remark or in this case the half-assed joke from my other half as he gazed out to sea from our resort window. “You know something, we’d be gone in a tsunami!”

So what do I spend the rest of the evening doing, as the hubs snores after falling asleep watching The Good Fight? Yes, you’ve guessed, I start googling the chances of the Gold Coast being hit by a tsunami in the next seven days. To add to my already rising anxiety levels, I decide to read the hotel info pack which ever so subtly alludes to the abundance of native flora and fauna in the area, especially reptiles. Reptiles —those include snakes and snakes are my worst nightmare. Way more scary than any tsunami!

So knowing that there’s no way I will sleep —after all I need to be alert and ready to run for the hills, or at least to the roof, when the inevitable tsunami hits, I may as well google the resort reviews on Trip Advisor.

Bad move. Mr X from NYC loved the place and would come back again. Mrs Y from Melbourne hated it and will never come back. Different expectations most likely. However, Mr X and Mrs Y are totally in agreement and united in their shock at discovering a 2 meter long Eastern brown snake swimming in the pool! Mrs Y and her daughters are still traumatized. I’m hearing you Mrs Y, I’m feeling the need for therapy just reading your review.

So here I am poolside 12 hours (and no sleep) later. Some guests are relaxing and reading. A few brave, or I’m guessing completely ignorant, souls are in the pool. I’m neither relaxing nor reading. I’m on high alert ready to run from tsunamis and snakes! If I survive the next 24 hours unscathed, maybe I will start to relax —a little!