Spider Surprise

There are so many deadly things in Australia.  Snakes, spiders, cars, trains, trucks, people, diseases, and more.  Anyway, I was running (yes running) through the Mount Archer National Park a few weeks ago, and came face to face with the specimen shown in the attached photograph.

I was running downhill at the time I encountered this little beast, and with the kinetic energy, along with what I assume must be a Newton's Law of Physics (the one that says, "when a fat guy is running down hill, it is hard for him to stop!," this spider very nearly had enough food to last it's entire species a life time.  While I did not actually fall over, I came close to imitating a baseball player sliding in for home base.

Funny enough that i was running down the hill, funnier still that I had to stop in such a hurry, I then had to find a way past the stinking thing!  Every time I came close, it would rear up with its two pair of front legs and bare some vicious looking fangs in all their glory.  Needless to say I was a little unenthusiastic about fighting with this thing- whose web was strung up right across the path, mind you.

In the end, I succumbed.  I found a big stick and wiped away all the web I could comfortably get to, and squeezed past at a flying run.  I don't much like crawly things, and ones that bite even more so!  Anyway, I learned my lesson- and now will take a big stick on each run through the park I embark on.