I’ve been back home in Adelaide for 2 months now. Wow. That went fast. So far I’d have to say my return has gone extremely well, better than expected, after a few weeks of feeling unsettled I quickly found my feet and am loving the lifestyle Australia has to offer.
However.
It’s not all beer and skittles, there are certainly a few things I miss about the UK. Rather than give you some sort of extensive list I’m just going to jump straight to number one. The main thing I miss is the absence of MASSIVE DEADLY SPIDERS.
As part of my move into my new place last week we moved a BBQ from my parent’s shed. We moved it quite a lot, from the shed to the lawn, from the lawn to the trailer, from the trailer to the new back yard – you get the idea. The whole time someone was holding the BBQ like this:
Three days after moving in I decided to fire up the BBQ for some tasty sausages, imagine my terror when I saw a GIANT DEADLY REDBACK spider crawling on it. Needless to say the sausages were cooked on the George Forman that night. The following day I did some investigation and discovered this insipid arachnid chilling in her web about 10cm away from where our ungloved hands had been earlier that week. Still can’t believe I didn’t check! As if a redback alone isn’t terrifying enough there were 3 sacks under there which I can assume were filled to the brim with THOUSANDS of REDBACK BABIES. I was forced to euthanise the redback family, I don’t like to kill spiders but I make an exception for ones that can kill babies and the elderly.
So, still jumpy after my earlier discovery I opened the laundry door to disturb a HUGE huntsman spider. I know these guys almost never bite people, and they’re not deadly, but phobias aren’t rational and it still freaked me out more than in should. Maybe it was because I’d recently watched this clip?
He quickly ran to the top corner of the laundry, he was happy, I was happy enough, we each knew where each other stood and kept ourselves to ourselves. This is what he looked like.
The following day I was enjoying a little TV when I saw movement on one of the lounge chairs. Uh oh, another BLOODCURDLING SUPER SPIDER.
I think I’ve pretty much seen the worst of the infestation, my place isn’t big enough to house too many more big ones, and I’ve given the perimeter of a house a good spray which should keep any would be party crashers out.
Looks like last week’s excellent galah has been countered by the events of the last few days. Hopefully the next wildlife I see will be another good one, koala perhaps? As long as mum doesn’t have to come and get it out of my house with a broom I’ll be happy.
