This is why I hate Australia

For all I talk about loving Sydney and Australia, I very conveniently forgot about the thing I hate most about Australia.

The FREAKING SPIDERS. And dangerous animals / insects. And scary looking spiders. Have I mentioned the spiders??

I came back from a walk with Oti (I’m dogsitting for friends) when I turned around, closed the front door, and shrieked at the sight that was in front of me.

PANIC!

This is a Huntsman spider. They are very big. And very hairy. And very scary looking. Apparently they are not terribly dangerous (sure…) and would rather run away from a human than run towards one (are you sure…) and like to crawl up walls (clearly). According to Dr. Google (I know, I know, I shouldn’t be using Google whenever I’m in a state of panic) a Huntsman is a sign of a larger pest problem because insects are a food source for Huntsman spiders. There have been more fruit flies than usual in the kitchen, but I think that’s due to the summer and the garlic and avocados sitting under the net on the counter — I’m working on it!

The other annoying thing about living in Australia is that most of my friends are not awake during my night time, leaving me limited options to send panicked messages of me freaking out. Luckily I have a couple of great friends who responded immediately:

One friend left me a voice note that started with, “May - do not panic.” 😂

Another friend responded that she still panics at the sight of Huntsman spiders (it’s so nice to know that I’m not the only one!) but now she will kill them so that her daughter doesn’t wake up to the sight of the big scary spider — becoming a mum brings out your superpowers, for sure!

I’m not sure if writing this helped with the panic or calmed me down; I still need to shower and my bedroom door conveniently opens to the above view. Yay.

Wish me luck!