Scots Taffer on 3/1/2006 at 00:03
Goddamn, it's hot. I mean, it's crazy hot. When they say it's 30oC here, they mean 30 degrees when you're inside an igloo, or inside a fridge freezer, cos they sure as shit ain't talking about in the shade much less in the direct sunlight (where you can actually hear your skin sizzling like bacon).
I've been to hot places before, even hot humid places. I've been on a week to Greek islands where the temperature rarely dipped below 35 degrees, and I enjoyed my few days stay in Singapore where the humidity is akin to a sauna.
However, in Europe the weather tends to peak around midday with the morning and afternoon being cooler than the advertised temperature - NOT SO IN AUSTRALIA, Brisbane gets hot from around 6am and seems to stay at the peak temp for most of the goddamn day 'til around 7pm at night. I'm just bloody exhausted by the end of most days.
Of course, I'm still totally loving it.
There's not been many big changes other than the weather one, oh and the fact that people are so friendly. We've never been offered help so many times, or offered coffee and advice, etc, so we feel really comfortable here and are quite certain that we're going to settle in.
So that's an update on all things antipodean with me. Aside from the jawesome fireworks celebration at the South Bank and enjoying the amazing variety of cheap food that's available (who knew they'd have food courts exactly like Singapore hawker centres - that taste just as good too!), there remains only one final thing.
The spiders.
Sweet holy jebus, the spiders. OH GOD SAVE ME THE SPIDERS.
We stumbled into a lane the other day which was literally filled with huge fucking spiders. I'm pretty sure they were harmless and they were high above us, they spun their webs between the power cables and upper branches of trees. They were cruel looking bastards though, with white and black splotchy bodies and reddish looking spindly legs. They are really common... hence I'm hoping they're not deadly.
I'm sure I'll find out.
Jakeyboy on 3/1/2006 at 00:07
Dude! Sweet!
Best of luck settling into your new life! I might even join the australia brigade in a few years :p
SD on 3/1/2006 at 01:08
Quote Posted by Scots_Taffer
We stumbled into a lane the other day which was literally filled with huge fucking spiders. I'm pretty sure they were harmless and they were high above us, they spun their webs between the power cables and upper branches of trees. They were cruel looking bastards though, with white and black splotchy bodies and reddish looking spindly legs. They are really common... hence I'm hoping they're not deadly.
I'm sure I'll find out.
From the description of the spider and its web (and it's a pretty good description - you wouldn't believe the number of people who say "I saw a bird/beetle/ant/insertcreaturehere" and expect you to be able to identify it from size or colour alone) I'm 99% sure they were (
http://www.usq.edu.au/spider/find/spiders/116.htm) Golden Orb-Weavers. Dead common in Southern Queensland. And more or less harmless.
Good to see you made it in one piece Scots :thumb:.
twisty on 3/1/2006 at 01:24
Glad to hear your enjoying yourself there mate. I used to live there a few years ago myself actually.
As far as climate goes, it's probably one of the better places to live in Australia once the humidity dies down a bit. I can remember some winters where I barely needed to wear a jumper all year; just so many perfect days.
I haven't followed to see how long you've been there yet, but if your suprised at some of the insects now, just wait until you see what nature brings in with it after some of the spectacular lightening storms there! Those spiders that your talking about probably include Wolf Spiders and Huntsmans as well - big hairy bastards, and the huntsman is bloody fast as well. They're not dangerous as such, but you can still get fairly sick from a bite (and from an Orb Weaver's one as well). The ones to watch out for mainly are the Funnel web and Redback spider, which can kill you if you don't get some antidote.
Shug on 3/1/2006 at 01:52
We get redbacks under the pool bricks; apparently only the female ones are dangerous and a bloke the size of Scots would only get a bit sick unless he had a Goblin-gets-his-leg-chewed type of redback episode.
Anyway here's hoping Scots has a camera for TTLG Brisbane meet up :cool:
PigLick on 3/1/2006 at 01:55
just fyi, a redback is highly unlikely to kill you, unless you are a small child or have a very weak heart. You'll probly think you are GOING to die, but adults will generally survive a redback bite. Also, the weather in Australia is really fucked up at the moment, the eastern coast is having unusually hot and dry weather, while the west coast is cool and mild, we havent had one day over 33 degrees this summer!
shug beat me to it
Tocky on 3/1/2006 at 02:24
The problem is you don't have enough water moccasins, diamond backs, and copperheads to keep the spider population down.
As far as the heat goes, you just need more mosquitoes to distract you.
Glad to hear you are settling in. You aren't a real Aussie until you milk a croc though. Get back to me on that. I want to know what croc tits feel like.
Scots Taffer on 3/1/2006 at 02:33
Yeah, StD, I'd already looked it up but wasn't 100% certain - glad to know they are harmless; from the bulbous arse on some of those bastards I thought they'd have enough venom to kill THE WORLD but that's probably just an egg sac to give birth to about another billion per square inch of Australia.
Shug: I most certainly will have a camera to catch all of the Aussie-bearded and Scots-paleness action. Now I'll need to search for a thread about Goblin getting chewed alive, although it does sound vaguely familiar, and satisfy my morbid curiosity.
And Pig, it's not especially dry here, very sticky as per the humid situation. Liking it though, it's better than sub-freezing and grey skies and rain.
Tumbleweed on 3/1/2006 at 02:49
You were warned.
Agent Monkeysee on 3/1/2006 at 02:55
Quote Posted by Scots_Taffer
The spiders.
Sweet holy jebus, the spiders. OH GOD SAVE ME THE SPIDERS.
We stumbled into a lane the other day which was literally filled with huge fucking spiders. I'm pretty sure they were harmless and they were high above us, they spun their webs between the power cables and upper branches of trees. They were cruel looking bastards though, with white and black splotchy bodies and reddish looking spindly legs. They are really common... hence I'm hoping they're not deadly.
I'm sure I'll find out.
Why any of you live in that god-forsaken land I'll never know.
