I'm NEVER going to Australia!!!

**druid** · 22nd October 08, 09:31 PM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/mai...aspider122.xml

**george7** · 22nd October 08, 09:57 PM

Blimey! That would ruin your day.

**ozth3dog** · 22nd October 08, 11:02 PM

Krykie!! That is disturbing! I think i'll stay away from that part of australia.

**AL-58** · 23rd October 08, 02:35 AM

I dont worry about the big ones. It's the little ones that kill.

Back on a Scottish theme, our garden has quite a few St Andrews Cross spiders. Called that because of the way they sit in their web with their legs in diagonal pairs just like the Saltire.

Perfectly harmless and the webs are pretty.

Al

**Southern Breeze** · 23rd October 08, 03:15 AM

That's a big spider!

Here in North Ga it's the Black Widow spiders you have to watch out for. We've been seeing a lot of them lately.

**auld argonian** · 23rd October 08, 05:43 AM

Get thee to the bookstore and pick up a copy of "In A Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson. Bryson also wrote "A Walk In The Woods". Both are very funny...not in a ROTFLMA way but in a more subtle and literate way.

"Sunburned" is a chronicle of his travels in Australia. In "Woods" he hikes the Appalachian Trail and the comic hook is the ever present possibility that he's going to encounter a bear. In "Sunburned" he's constantly worrying about encountering one of the seemingly hundreds of venomous critters that inhabit the Land Down Under.

You'll love it.

Best

AA

**davedove** · 23rd October 08, 05:47 AM

While I can rationally think about these spiders and whether or not they are a threat to humans, I would still freak a bit if I stumbled across one of them.

**Spc. Scott** · 23rd October 08, 06:39 AM

At the very least I would have to stop and watch something like that for a bit. Impressive spider.

**Ayin McFye** · 23rd October 08, 09:13 AM

I don't know what i'd do if I saw a spider like that. I'm not that afraid of spiders, but that one scares the (chose your own noun) out of me.

Although I hear that Australia is amazing, it's also home to pretty much all the deadlist insects, reptiles, and sea life in the world.

The spider would probably be the least of my concerns if I were to go to Australia.

**Colin** · 23rd October 08, 09:30 AM

It's funny, of all the Aussies I know they are more afraid of the animals we have here in North America. A good friend just recently moved from Perth and has never seen a shark, crocodile, or had too much exposure to the snakes or spiders, but now lives in a neighborhood in BC where bears in the yard are really common, we have had cougars (not just the ones in leopard print either) and a wolverine in the area. We have coyotes outside all the time.

I'm still going one of these days as I hear the country is beautiful and based on the Aussie I have meet while traveling and while visiting the local "Australian province of Whistler, B.C." they are a fantastic bunch of people too.