Zahaliah Reedy was wading in thigh-deep water with a friend on the popular beach when she felt the sting last Saturday afternoon.

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“I made it back to the beach and I started to feel sick,” she told NOTA from the hairdressing salon in Nambucca Heads where she works as an apprentice.

Passed out and suffering a seizure, the young woman was carried by a friend to the car and taken to Macksville Hospital where she was treated for a severe reaction to the marine sting.

“The doctor wasn’t sure what kind of jellyfish it was but thought it looked like a box jellyfish sting and so did a customer who came in this week.

“I just assumed it was a bluebottle because that is what everyone always talks about here.

“The doctor said I probably had an allergic reaction.”

Zahaliah’s boss and Jazzy Hairtique Manager Tina said, “We’re lucky to still have her with us.”

Ms Reedy believes she saw the jellyfish which was “big and fat” and mostly clear.

Gary Nichols of Nambucca Marine Rescue said he doubted the sting had come from a box jellyfish, known as one of the most venomous creatures on the planet.

“I have never seen a box jellyfish around here,” the experienced Marine Rescue captain said.

The species is usually found in tropical waters along Australia’s east coast, although last year a pair of the stingers were found off Cronulla Beach by marine scientists.

Mr Nichols also noted local beaches were visited by “an absolute plague of bluebottles” last weekend.

“Lots of people got stung.”

Severe allergic reactions to bluebottle stings are rare but can happen.

According to St John Ambulance Australia, suspected bluebottle stings should be treated by flooding the affected area with water as hot as the patient can tolerate, while best treatment for the box jellyfish is dowsing the sting with vinegar.

By Ned COWIE