Comments

  3. erichoug says

    I say take off and nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

  4. David Eriksen says

    I thought the rain of spiders didn’t come until the 6th trumpet was sounded.

  5. rjw1 says

    We have a simple test in Australia in regard to spiders, if they’re so big that we can hear their footsteps, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8! (and the cat has disappeared) it’s time to worry, otherwise, no problems. Apart from the deadly venomous species of course, they’re often quite small.

  6. bonzaikitten says

    Ah, I have fond memories of teasing the trap-door spiders with bits of grass as a kid, so I could get a glimpse of them. This many spiders in one place would have blown my little spider-loving mind!
    I love this country sometimes!

  8. chigau (違う) says

    99%* will be eaten by something before they eat anything.
    .
    *made-up number

  9. rjw1 says

    @6 bonzaikitten,

    It must be really boring living in those countries where spiders are harmless.

  10. rq says

    Pure as the driven spidersilk… Doesn’t this regularly happen someplace in Australia?

  12. chigau (違う) says

    “It must be really boring living in those countries where spiders are harmless.”

    should be on a t-shirt

  13. RobertL says

    rjw1@9 I have British relatives who will not come to Australia to visit because they are afraid of all the critters that might kill them.

    They may have been influenced by some of my exaggerations, of course…

  14. Al Dente says

    RobertL @13

    Just tell them the drop bears don’t actually exist. Then mention that Steve Irvin’s death was a fluke and only happened once.

  15. chigau (違う) says

    Australians have Evolved™ immunity to all that venom.
    How else could they get by with the shorts and flip-flops?
    Foreigners are required to wear canvas undies and steel-toed thigh-high boots.

  17. rjw1 says

    @13 RobertL,

    You should tell them the truth, that it’s all CGI, unless of course you’d prefer not to.

    British tourist in Oz, to Tour Guide “I say, are there any crocodiles in this river?”

    Guide “Are youse English?”

    Tourist “Er yes, we are”

    Guide “OK, there are no crocodiles in the river”

  18. RobertL says

    I Visited Bullen’s African Lion Safari Park as a child in the 70’s. They had a sign out the front showing the entry prices and it quoted “Poms on pushbikes FREE”.

    What larks…

  19. Saganite, a haunter of demons says

    Aw, looks almost like snow. Can it be harvested? I’d like a spider silk shirt or something.

  20. says

    I’m an engineer and have friends in Oz who encourage me to come over. I could sail through the immigration process.

    However, there are all these little and not so little bitey things.

    My friends say that its fine, you hardly ever see them, more scared of you etc etc but then I see photos like that.

    So your call Australians , effective infrastructure or native fauna.

  21. Lofty says

    So your call Australians , effective infrastructure or native fauna.

    Australia has small bitey creatures that can be vanquished by a $5 can of bug poison available at any supermarket, the odd snake best walked away from plus an excellent free public hospital system. America has catholic hospitals, giant toothsome bears and gun nutters. I’ll stay over here, thanks it’s loads safer. Boots, a broad brimmed hat and stout trousers are all you need for exploring the bush in most parts of the country. Oh and a stick of fly repellent in summer. ;-)

  22. rjw1 says

    @20 Danny Butts

    “more scared of you etc etc”
    Yes, that’s true, however, that means that they’re more likely to kill you in self-defence. The good news is, that although Australia has the most venomous snakes and one of the most venomous spiders in the world, there are successful treatments and antidotes, if the victims don’t die horribly before they reach hospital. The bad news—the ‘not so little bitey things’ are huge and tend to eat people alive.

    So, come over and say “g’day”.

  23. gobi's sockpuppet's meatpuppet says

    We had a lovely little huntsman spider on our ceiling the other night – not quite as big as my hand…

  25. chrislawson says

    Australia deserves its reputation for venomous creatures overall…but not for its spiders. Apart from the funnel web spider, which really does belong in most people’s list of nightmare creatures, the rest of our spiders are pretty harmless. Even the redback, which is damn near ubiquitous on the continent, is extremely quiet and retiring, will only bite if accidentally sat upon or some such, and is only venomous enough to give people a very painful bite that lasts about a day — deaths were rare even before anti-venom was available. The sort of spiders most people freak out about in Australia are Golden Orb or St Andrews Cross spiders because they’re huge spiders that spin massive webs, but they’re really no threat to humans.

  27. says

    Hey Lofty, I’m a Taff living in Pomland so I don’t really have to worry about gun nuts other than the odd ruddy faced farmer and our bears are the duffle coat wearing, marmalade sandwich eating variety.

    A few more years of Tory government and we might feel lucky having anyone prepared to run our hospitals, so see you then cobber.

  29. ledasmom says

    I like spiders, but I was traumatized by “Kingdom of the Spiders” as a youngster. That movie ends with a shot of the town completely covered in webs. That may have been the last time I was too terrified to sleep in my own bed.

  30. Lofty says

    Aah, Danny Butts, Pommyland is indeed safer than America and one day I’d like to come and do some of your famous walks. I’m sure that stout boots and leggins will help here too. I’ll shake the spiders out of my boots before I put them in my travel case. I’ll pretend the webs are a new kind of shoelace design.

  31. says

    Even the cute animals are bastards.

    The platypus has a venomous spine and the chlamydia carrying Koala pisses on people for the shits an’ giggles.

  33. Lofty says

    I have koalas on our property and they’re really quite nice to say hello to. Their poo pellets are kinda medicinal smelling. Because they don’t drink much they don’t piss much either. I’ve not had a golden koala shower in the 20 years I’ve lived on my bush block, You can see the grumpy buggers up on a branch and walk around their target zone as well as their droppings on the ground are a dead giveaway to their presence. I do give the occasional brown snake a good talking to though. Two thumps on the ground of the size 12 boot and they get the message and bugger off. So long as they keep the mice down and keep out of sight I’ll tolerate their scaley selves though.

  36. Markita Lynda—threadrupt says

    Isn’t there someplace without birds that looks like this all the time, with the trees festooned too? Ah, Guam.

  37. busterggi says

    REminds me of the great gypsy moth outbreak around 1970, pretty much every tree had been stripped of leaves and the woods was covered in caterpillar webs – it was a walk through a serious horror movie setting.

  40. stultus says

    Reminds me of a story told on Car Talk® (NPR), where some woman had gone to her car and found it full of tiny white spiders. After some hesitation, she brushed them off the driver’s seat and drove the car home. Only later she found out that the little white spiders were baby black widows.

    She had called in to find out a safe way of exterminating them.

  41. spamamander, internet amphibian says

    I’ll just be on the NOPE train to OHFUCKNOVILLE

  42. machintelligence says

    I believe this happens in the USA as well. My mother saw it in western Minnesota in the 1940’s when trees and power lines were festooned with spider silk. She didn’t realize what it was, though.

  43. ledasmom says

    Purestevil:
    AAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!M!!M
    I somehow did not know Shatner was in that, maybe because of the TERRIFYING GIANT SPIDER WEBS.