Aussie brands and organisations fool followers on April fool’s Day

A Sunshine Coast snake catcher has shared a photo of a monster snake spotted guarding the entrance to a popular hike – but not everything is as it seems.

A giant Anaconda spotted in Queensland stumped Aussies. Picture: Facebook / Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers

For pranksters, April 1 marks a day of fun, rebellion and lighthearted revenge, but for those who don’t like to be tricked, the date is filled with 24 hours of scepticism and anxiety.

But no matter how dubious one may be when it comes to debunking April Fools’ Day pranks, there’s always a few pranksters that know how to outwit the nation.

Here are some of this year’s best April fools pranks that have Australia talking.

Huge Anaconda spotted in Buderim Falls

This Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers prank couldn’t get any more Australian, with the reptile removal service deceiving their followers into thinking they found the massive non-venomous constrictor near the entrance of a tourist hotspot.

In a post to Facebook, they warned Queenslanders to stay away from Buderim Falls, explaining they were on their way to collect the “exotic species”.

Hundreds of comments poured in with some believing it was a missing pet that escaped years ago, while others were fooled into believing anacondas existed in Australia.

Meanwhile another follower said: “Oh no we have a wedding on the boardwalk at 11am right there! Bride is beside herself and we’re trying to let all guests know to relocate, what a nightmare!”.

For all ophidiophobia sufferers, it’s safe to say the post was a false alarm with the snake believed to be photoshopped next to the sign.

Experts find tea-cup sized wombat

Animal lovers were left in awe on Saturday morning when the CSIRO posted a photo of a miniature wombat they claimed was a new discovery.

“We’re so excited to announce we have discovered a new species of miniature wombat,” the scientific research organisation posted to Facebook.

“Growing up to 15 centimetres in length, the newly described Vombatus iocus, or teacup wombat, is endemic to Alpo Floris National Park in Tasmania.”

Amid a lot of congratulatory messages for the CSIRO’s great work, some animal enthusiasts said the new-found creature would make a great pet with others going as far as spreading the news to family members.

Unfortunately those who fell for it were left a little red-faced when they found out the adorable marsupial was in fact a joke.

McDonalds introduces the “all new” McFry

Macca’s fans were left drooling over the fast-food chain’s latest menu item, which features all the ingredients of a standard quarter pounder plus fries.

Some would say it’s a saviour to the environment given there would be no paper sachet to hold your side of fries.

Unfortunately the joke quickly caught on, with one follower going as far to say: “all your best ideas are April fool‘s pranks. This burger would be amazing. The pickle burger would be amazing. Sort your rig out.”

Virgin Australia offers sky-high dry cleaning

Wouldn’t it be nice to have your clothes neatly pressed after a long holiday by the time your plane lands at the airport?

Virgin Australia has become the first airline to offer “fly cleaning” – a world-first laundry service in the sky.

“I know how stressful it can be arriving home from the airport to mountains of dirty laundry, particularly for young families, so we are thrilled to announce the first-ever Fly Cleaning service,” Sarah Adam, Virgin Australia Group General Manager Product and Customer, said.

“We have collaborated with our wonderful partner in Gold Coast Airport, a key airport for holiday-makers, to trial the service this April, before rolling out Fly Cleaning to other major airports around Australia.”

What a way to get the hopes up of mums who are indebted to their washing machine Virgin, not cool.

Luke Brooks to leave West Tigers

West Tiger fans were in for a treat when they found out halfback Luke Brooks was leaving the team.

“Breaking: West Tigers release Luke Brooks, set to join new club immediately,” the headlines from NRL site Zero Tackle read.

“So happy for him. Should take a few week holiday and reset hopefully shows the world his talent,” one fan said on Facebook in response to the news.

A leading NRL news site tricked its readers into believing Luke Brooks left the West Tigers. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

“Definitely feel for this bloke, he lasted this long in the NRL. Which is outstanding. Super League would definitely suit him,” another said.

NRL enthusiasts who clicked on the breaking news link were quickly struck with the headline “April fools!”, with many coming to the realisation Brooks would be playing against the Broncos on Saturday night.

Tim Tam’s newest savoury treat

An Arnott’s classic has taken on a savoury twist with Tim Tam introducing its new “Tim Tam Jatz” biscuit.

A chocolate-coated cracker with classic Tim Tam cream in between, “what more could you wish for?” the biscuit giant asked its followers in a post to Instagram.

Those who fell for the trick quickly scrambled online to find the decadent treat, with one woman taking to the comments to ask why Woolworths didn’t have the product on sale yet.

“These aren’t on the Woolworths site yet. None of this counts till I can buy it,” she said.

Another hyped-up fan added: “I just sent this to my whole family, we were so excited about this collaboration. I AM HURT BY THIS MEAN JOKE.”

Nice one Arnott’s!

Lightning on the moon

Not even weather watchers were safe on Saturday with meteorology site WeatherZone announcing lightning had been detected on the moon.

WeatherZone tricked people into thinking lightning was on the moon. Picture: WeatherZone

For the first time in history, the electrostatic discharge was captured “not far from the landing site of Apollo 11 in 1969” – or so WeatherZone said.

“A lightning flash density sensor attached to the Lirpa-1 satellite detected a cluster of lightning pulses early on Friday, March 31 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time),” the weather website said.

“Weatherzone is working closely with the Australian Space Agency to verify the lightning observations and will be making this data available to international space organisations and research institutions in the coming weeks.”

At least the so-called discovery wasn’t aliens.