The Flipside

I must admit that Australia has got to sound quite tempting, especially to all my cold Canadian friends. I mean who could resist the lure of salt water beaches, palm trees, and warm temperatures? Yes, we have been enjoying those things but today I wanted to focus on things from our experience that made me go "ick"and cringe a bit.

Last week when we were in Melbourne we took a walk around some of the parkland by the Yarra River. There we found colonies of fruit bats that hung in the trees during the day and every evening around dusk there is a mass exodus as they all head out to the suburbs to feast on fruit,..yes fruit. Well, from a distance these creatures do not look that bad. Once up close to the trees and looking at them you notice the size of them. They are nick named "flying foxes" cause they are about the size of a small fox and have a wingspan of a hawk. Slightly different in size than the bats in Canada that remind me of flying mice.
"ICK"
Now the reason I was able to stand underneath the trees was because we were in open air. If there was a roof overhead I would not have been sticking around long enough to take pictures.
Australia also has some interesting arachnids. There are four types of spiders that we were told about in our orientation. (Interesting how we found out about this after we signed the papers.) Three of those are poisonous and the fourth is not. It is called a Huntsman and made the list because of its size.

On Monday Cliff got down one of the coolers from the shelf in the laundry room. He brought it in the kitchen where he set it on the counter and then noticed this creature perched on the side of it. He called out to the kids "Look, I have found a Huntsman". They all came running and I wanted to lock myself in the bathroom. Instead, I put on a brave face and came out to the living room where I could see the kids taking pictures of a huge hairy spider the size of my hand. "ICK!!!"


Cliff ended up capturing it in a cup and letting it go outside. I can't say this spider would have had a similar fate if I had discovered it.

So, I am taking advice from the natives and am practicing the art of Looking. Looking before I step anywhere in salt water, looking before I go into the laundry room, looking when I pick up a rock or stick outside, looking at any spider I see to check if it is poisonous or not.
So through these little experiences in adapting to life in a tropical culture I have realized two things.The first that I will not be watching any movies like Arachniphobia and the second that when faced with a choice between living with spiders or living with black bears, well, give me a Black Bear anyday.