A QUEENSLAND man has reacted to a deadly snake bite in the most Australian way — by grabbing a cold beer from the fridge.

Rod Sommerville, 54, thought he was going to “cark it” last month when he was nipped on the finger by an eastern brown snake while moving pot plants around his backyard.

The Yeppoon man smacked the backyard dweller on the head with a shovel and called for an ambulance.

Then he grabbed a XXXX Gold from the fridge and sat down, because “if you panic if you make it worse”, the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin reports.

media_camera Man’s perfect Aussie reaction to snake attack

The newspaper reported that Mr Somerville did not wake his teenage son, who was snoozing on the couch, because he didn’t want to a cause a scene.

“I said to myself, if I’m going to cark it I’m going to have a beer,” he told the newspaper. So I got a Goldie out of the fridge and drank that.”

He was whisked to hospital for treatment but his ordeal spiralled further when he suffered an allergic reaction to the antivenom.

“The reaction nearly killed me as well, so it was a double whammy,” he said.

Originally published as Man’s perfect Aussie reaction to snake attack