EEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
brrr..
nightmares. I bet the chap didn't sleep for days on end. creepy crawly.
bbbrrr

That be one big spider

OMG!     :b_shocked:

Last time I saw him he was in a Harry Potter film!!!

Quote - Last time I saw him he was in a Harry Potter film!!!

Either that or SHE was a stand in...

:b_scared:

:b_nervous:

Maybe this is even for me a bit to much.

Probably bloody poisonous as well! Seems like all the critters down-under are poisonous,lol.

Ugh!   That is too big to comprehend. 

I lived in Hawaii for a couple years.   The spiders could be big but not like this. 

True story.  I was awakened one night by what I thought was a mouse rustling about in my bedroom.  I flipped the lamp on and saw it was a giant wolf spider.  YOU COULD HEAR IT WALKING ! I stood on the bed and threw a shoe at it.  I missed and didn't sleep all night.

I had an experience similar to that when I lived in Hawaii except it was roaches..Hawaii's number one pet...lol
We had just moved into an apt. next to the Ala Wai canal and the first night I woke up hearing something rustling, like you said, and when I flipped on the light there were roaches crawling on the walls in the bedroom.  I went right out and spent the night in the car and the next day they brought in an exterminator.   They got rid of everything that day and guaranteed the job for 6 mon. and we never had another problem..
I felt like I was in a horror movie...

Gran had a spider size of your hand in her house in Australia, it was ok, it was a "house spdier", it ate all the actually dangerous ones ;)

Funnel webs are the bad ones, BlackWidow doens't have a LOOK in, by comparison. Black widowis tiny funnel webs about 4 inches across, can easily bite through yer clothes, it's poison isn't quite as bad as the black widow, but it pump sin about 100 times as much...

one of the few creepy crawlies I cannot stand, ugh

cousin's neighbour used petrol to fry her entire backyard, it was alive with 'em.

my son in Iraq has spiders that are twice the size of these...;) dang ugly too...

Well when I moved into this new place I went into the bathroom and there in the tub was a black furry monster of a spider I thought it was a Tarantula at the time LOL my daughter said it was probably a large wood spider. Well I fliushed it down the drain anyway LOL

yep, we grow em big downunder.  Especially in the old outside dunnies, lots of flies I guess! My mums house always had two there they took up the whole panel of the door and the legs were as thick as your little finger . One day my mum flew in and could only see one....until she got up and there was the other under the lip of the toilet seat....she still checks before going to the loo.

They are not quite as as big as the wolf and bird spiders but one gave me a shock a few months back when one popped out from under the sunvisor of the car while I was driving. It was just as startled as me and scurried back in, hubby evicted when I got home.

Funnily enough my old samoyed thught they were a tasty snack!

But on the serious side, here is a decent website that explains what they are and thier reasons for 'scaring us'. It is a good link and tells you how to evict an unwanted guest from house or car. Now that is handy!

http://www.mdavid.com.au/spiders/huntsmanspiders.html

What is it with Australia? Almost every venomous, dangerous, bitting and other nasty behaviour showing critter lives there.

Oh now RobertJ! You aren't really calling Boofy a "critter" are you? ;-)

When we went to Oz, we stopped in the Jungle near Cairns. I had already posted a message here asking for advice. Most of it came back beware of this, that and the other as our Aaussie friends love to boast about their dangerous inhabitants. Anyway we check in and my wife ask about snakes and stuff. The Aussie goes "ah don't worry about the snakes, there aren't any" "oh good" we reply. He waits a second before gleefully replying "yeh the spiders have ate them all!"
Anyway first day around the place, I saw loads of wierd coloured spiders hanging from the trees. My wife nearly had a beetle the size of her fist land on her head by the pool. The thing lay on it's back kicking it's legs and three small lizards appear from the rocks thinking "hey lunch". But even they backed off and decided it wasn't worth the effort. 
Before we went we were told to wear sandals on the beach as there are these tiny little  blue jellyfish that can give you a nasty sting if you step on them. Didn't think I'd see any, but when we went down, the beach by the water was covered in them.
Any thoughts of going for a swim were quickly discarded especially as I found a dead hammmerhead shark on the beach.
On one of the days we were walking back through the Jungle to our hut, to be confronted by a 6 ft long goanna (big lizard) strolling about 30ft from where we slept. I thought I was in Jurassic park for a moment. 
Saying all that though regardless of all these nasties, you soon forget about them.

*Danamo wouldnt do that....unless he wants to make me grumpy as the cute little snake here. :tt2: and you thought the spider was big!!! Best viewed full size...but then again

Subject:* SNAKES ALIVE - Read story first.... This story came from our CASA (civil air safety authority) Darwin office (waaay up north........
 
Hello all - thought you might be interested in these photos of a snake caught on an electric wire on a sheep station near Alice Springs (Central Aust, near Ayers Rock).
the story goes that some Army boys, on manoeuvres, came across this rock python. Caught in an electric, fence it's continually being shocked, and getting rather cranky! The Army boys, wondering what to do with it, decided to divert the current, snip the wire and let the snake go. They then reattached the wires and rejoined the current without any problems.
When the station owner found out he went ballistic - apparently the snake has been eating all the young sheep in the area, and he's been trying to shoot it for ages.

You're quite right that I wouldn't do that Boofy! It would be bad manners, first of all. Also, a wise 
expatriate from Down Under(met him at Ned Kelly's Last Stand in Hong Kong)once told me that I did not want to mess with an Australian woman, or piss her off,lol. I've taken that to heart ever since! That is a beeeg Snake! Yikes! I still would love to visit OZ someday though, even if some of the wildlife is just waiting for a tourist to slip-up.

Oh look, its beautiful Charlotte with all her babies!!

I've never understood why they are called 'Sheep Stations' ?

Sheep Stations, cause the men drive in, and fill the sheep up....! :D

Australia has all the nasty critters to make up fo rthe fact its a wonderful place and the peopel are great  

The box jellyfish, little buggers can kill you, their sting is liek being whipped by red hot barbed wire.

In Sydney, lovely little lizard size of my pinky, ran up and sat on my hand, beautiful wee thing :)

If any of you lot do want to come downunder, IM me to let me know. I am down south in Melbourne and would be happy to see you one day. I will send out a general broadcast to all the nasty wildlife to leave you alone. They may or may not listen but I will ask nicely.:lol:

Wish i'd known that couple of years back Boofy! Stayed in Melbourne over cup week. The time when Mackybe diva (spelling?) made the record.

Rats! You would have been welcome. Oh well. There is always next time Orbital. Although that year I think we went bush up around Dubbo. Lovely time. Went into the local Culcutta and outbid my cousin for a nag that is probably still running.

Quote - Probably bloody poisonous as well! Seems like all the critters down-under are poisonous,lol.

No mate that one ain't poisonus, thats just ya common old huntsman by the look of it. Not all our little critters are poisonous, bout 60% of them are though. Australia as 11 of the world deadliest snakes, 2 or 3 of which are sea snakes...

Worst thing here though is the house wife, get her mad and she can kill you with one look.

:b_stunned:

Just throw 'em in a frying pan, dip the results in molten chocolate, and sell 'em on the market as 'spider shaped candies'. The kids will love 'em ;-) Oh and keep the big one for display purposes ofcourse, as it'll no doubt work great to attract increasing amounts of kids to check out the big candy spider ;-) inspiring them to bug their parents into buyin some of the little ones. I smell profit really!

*Just throw 'em in a frying pan, dip the results in molten chocolate, and sell 'em on the market as 'spider shaped candies'. The kids will love 'em ;-) 

Rayaz, I think there are some countries that actually do sell fried tarantulas, aisia or tibet or the south africas or something....I think I will pass on that delicacy, although you can go and suggest chocky dip to em if you like :unsure:! 

It is amazing what you can choke down as long as it has chocolate on it.:biggrin:

My grade 10 school trip was to the arts festival in Adelaide. One day we ran across a couple of women asking people to try their chocolate covered munchies. A good hand full later somebody asked what they were. 

Chocolate covered SILK WORMS

Now I have to say the munchies were great, but the show after the question was answered was outstanding. 

One teacher fainted, and  three people burped their cookies. Add the numerous people looking greener than Kermit the frog and it made for an interesting moment. 

As for myself, I took the paper cup full offered by one of the women and with a couple of mates of the cast iron stomach variety, munched happily while chaos reigned.

:b_lipssealed: I'll pass thanks Cyba Storm. Delicate constitution......er tummy.

Quote - Rayaz, I think there are some countries that actually do sell fried tarantulas, aisia or tibet or the south africas or something....

I know! I've seen footage of it. They actually remove the fangs, then put them in baskets and sell them on the market, still alive. People will jump at them grab hands full and pick out the best ones! Only thing i forgot was where exactly this was...
Oh and I have no problems trying them provided their texture isnt bad :-) I dont like the idea of having a hairy spider on my tongue, or biting on a bit of spider and having it burst into gooey stuff. But if its something reasonably solid, like meat or whatever, sure why not try it?

:b_lipssealed:

One shouldn't dismiss what one hasn't tried ;-) Besides, most foods I've ever tried were quite nice really..

The only thing I'm definately dismissing is the "greasy, grimy, gopher guts" part of your description....oh, and the  biting part too.

hehe yea that bit i'd be dismissing too :-P But if it would be proper meaty instead of gooey... why not? ;-)

Ok...so shave it, take off the dangerous parts and make it taste like shrimp and I'll try it..      

  :biggrin:

Hmmmm, with having an cullinary adventurous dad, over time I have tried:
ox tongue - not bad
tripe - yuck
sheeps brains/liver/kidney - gag and retch
eel - quiet tasty
crocodile - great in a stir fry
kangaroo - lovely medium rare steak
venison - as above
quail - bit fiddly
snake - bit like chicken

so.....i will reserve judgement on the creepy crawly snacks, only cause medications make my tummy really sensitive.

Oh and I have also had my brothers omlet for which you need a cast iron stomach!

Squid is also quite good ;-)

Fried Squid! Absolutely!

Squid is also quite good ;-)

which they called 'callimari' until you had eaten it....;^)

BBQ'd with a bit of oil, herbs and sumac! lovely!

Where I come from sumac does the same thing to you as poison ivy.  (Mo. usa)

Where I come from sumac does the same thing to you as poison ivy.  (Mo. usa)???

Here Downunder, it is a commercially packaged,  middle eastern fruity spice, sort of like paprika. I havent had any adverse reactions to it.

BTW, if you have callimari, try soaking it for half an hour in milk first so it is plumper and then fry/crumb or whatever.

I'm sure your sumac and ours is different...lol

Poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix or Rhus vernix) is a woody shrub or small tree growing to 7 m (20 ft) tall.[1] All parts of the plant contain a resin called urushiol that causes skin and mucous membrane irritation to humans. When burned, inhalation of the smoke causes diarrhea and other internal irritations.

Poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix or Rhus vernix) is a woody shrub or small tree growing to 7 m (20 ft) tall.[1]All parts of the plant contain a resin called urushiol *that causes skin and mucous membrane irritation to humans. When burned, inhalation of the smoke causes diarrhea and other internal irritations.

I'm sure your sumac and ours is different...lol

I sure hope so!!! :ohmy:

Tip o' the day:
Don't use Poison Sumac (or Ivy) leaves for toilet paper when out camping.

I hope that is just general info and not a personal experience tip dvlenk6? :crying:

Another tip...make sure there is no poison ivy or sumac on the campfire wood.  lol