My Spider Story

November 25th was Election Day in Australia. While the nation’s votes were being tallied, (The Labour Party trumped the Liberals for the majority after John Howard’s reign of 11.5 years!), Susan and I went to a pre-Christmas party thrown by one of her friends. The party was fine, but that’s not the story….

On our way to the event, we stopped off at a Bottle Shop (Liquor store) to buy some drinks.
As we got back into the car, I reached down to put my purchases down on the mat between my feet, and there --- on my calf --- was a HUNTSMAN SPIDER!

I was excited and scared at the same time! Finally…a Huntsman spider, up close…AND IT WAS PRETTY BIG! Not dinner plate big, but hockey puck big! I should have calmly reached for my camera and taken a picture of it alive on my leg. I didn’t. I screamed and brushed it off, stomping repeatedly on it as it fell to the floor. When we were sure it was dead, we laughed hysterically for a while before disposing of the body.

The question is…where did it climb onto me? In the car --- maybe from underneath the seat? If so, it had been hanging out on the back of my calf for a good 20 minutes before I saw it.
In the bottle shop --- maybe scuttling out from between stacks of booze boxes as I stood considering my options? I sure didn’t feel it on my bare ankles if it crawled up onto me from the floor.

Bottom line: Huntsman spiders DO bite, but they are not poisonous or deadly. They’re just ugly and scary. I’m sure I’ll meet more, and maybe next time, I’ll get the photo!