Ok so I'm planning to visit Australia but I have pretty much arachnophobia.
How fucked up am I?
If I'm in my hotel room in Sydney and I see a spider slightly bigger than usual I'm going to freak out like a homosexual.
I'm genuinely worried.
Arachnophobic in Australia
i went to brisbane a while ago and i don't recall seeing a single spider all the time i was there
i think the lizards ate all the spiders
Thanks man, good to know.
I guess if you live there for a while you will eventually see one, but if you visit for a couple of weeks and don't do any nature trekking or something you should be fine.
Stop falling for memes
Should I be scared of going to the US because I'm scared of cougars?
Should I be scared of going to Mexico because I'm scared of scorpions?
Don't be silly
believe me anon it's not cougars that people are worried about visiting the US
You'll be fine. Hotels don't have spiders unless you're staying in some scummy as place.
You're also not likely to see a spider in Sydney unless it's in some bloke's house
Nah, I've seen heaps of spiders in Sydney, even in hotels. Spiders don't take into consideration whether certain places are 'scummy' or not. They just get into buildings, especially the huntsman spiders. Even encountered funnelweb spiders a couple of times around parks in Sydney.
So yeah, they are there. I was wary of them too, at first, but after some time you'll learn to deal with them. Usually they'll run away from you.
Op if you're really afraid of this shit, I'd suggest working on this prior to going to Australia. You'll encounter them, cockroaches and other weird shit too. Could be good exposure therapy though
>Op if you're really afraid of this shit
I'm terrified tbh. I read some of them might be like 15cm, if I see that in person I honestly don't know how would I react, I might have a panic attack. I don't like cockroaches, snakes and so on, however I would be ok if I see them. It's just spiders, I think it could be an actual phobia.
I know the whole thread is really autistic, but then again this is SighSee, so that's why I asked here.
I would love to visit the country but I'm considering not to just because of this, which really pisses me off because I've always wanted to explore Australia.
I'm even considering traveling to New Zealand instead but I think they are also common over there lol (I don't know if that much though).
You're such a bullshitter kek.
OP he's lying. You're not likely to encounter a spider unless you go looking for them. Spiders typically hang out in your shed or garage. Occasionally they get into a house but that won't be a problem for you because you'll be in a hotel in the middle of Sydney.
Even when you're out bush you're not going to find a spider unless you're carefully inspecting the ground or intently staring at tree bark.
If the hotel is so dogshit that they don't even check the room for bugs then spiders should be the least of your problems and you should book another hotel.
There's spiders about, but like any other small animal, they'll tend to avoid you.
Any proper accommodations will be clean enough you won't see any inside, and you're not gonna see them just roaming the countryside.
Only place you'd really see them if you're not fossicking in foliage is public toilets in rural areas may have some in the corners.
I guess if you stay in central Sydney, and only move about during the day using main roads, you should be fine. Also, chances of arachnic encounters do tend to be a lot slimmer in decent hotels. I've encountered most spiders during the evenings and nights, and mostly in parks. They do get into houses, though, just like in Europe.
> I read some of them might be like 15cm, if I see that in person I honestly don't know how would I react
The bigger species tend to be harmless, so keep that in mind. I know fears are irrational, but still. Huntsman spiders are actually your friends
> I would love to visit the country but I'm considering not to just because of this, which really pisses me off because I've always wanted to explore Australia.
That's a bit of a predicament. You could technically go to Australia and take all kinds of measurements to prevent seeing spiders. This wouldn't be a real experience though. If you're really interested in Australia, I'd suggest somehow getting over your fear, or not go at all. Weird and dangerous wildlife is just part of the experience.
> I'm even considering traveling to New Zealand instead but I think they are also common over there lol (I don't know if that much though).
I've never been, but NZ lacks all of these venomous cunts of animals. Should be a nicer country to visit to, nature wise.
>This wouldn't be a real experience though. If you're really interested in Australia, I'd suggest somehow getting over your fear, or not go at all. Weird and dangerous wildlife is just part of the experience.
You're totally right actually, I didn't think it that way.
My biggest fear is to see them close to me though. If I'm in a park or something and I see one in a tree or whatever, I'll just get the fuck out and I'll be "fine".
But if I'm in my hotel room and I see one on the bed (I don't know if that makes sense), in the wall next to the bed, in the shower... Then I'm fucking dead.
You should probably be fine, then. No guarantees
Thanks mate. Let's see if I can think myself into it.
Spiders have a natural habitat, in places spiders live you will find lots of spiders, in places spiders don't live you won't find any spiders.
Enough Australians are arachnophobic, they survive. Australia is also full of steve irwinesque animal wranglers who will happily help you if there's a window spider in your hotel or whatever.
A few years ago I picked up an echidna to show some Chinese tourists who fled in mortal terror in every direction. If Chinese tourists mostly survive then so will you
>If Chinese tourists mostly survive then so will you
That's actually a good advice... I can let myself be worse than the fucking annoying Chinese tourists
>Way up north you get giant brown spiders that are basically big huntsmen, and bird eating spiders which are like huge whitetails
I literally felt sick just reading it lol. Can you find those in Cairns?
As I mentioned before, as long as I don't see them close to me I should be fine. What scares me the fuck out just by thinking of it is, for instance, opening s drawer and see one there, getting into the bathroom and see one in the mirror, grabbing my backpack from the floor and realising there was one chilling on it... I think these kind of things are unlikely to happen, specially if I just visit for a couple of weeks. However, if it does happen I think I could even faint, no kidding.
Then again, I'm a numbers guy, and I guess if I'm visiting Sydney, Melbourne and the Great Barrier Reef the chances of that happening are very low. Or at least I hope so.
And also, forgot to mention, I've already travelled to Mexico, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Brazil... And never thought about all the nasty bugs that you might encounter there.
Never seen anything weird in any of those countries (well, a small snake in Myanmar, but I'm not afraid of them). I'm freaking out that much about Australia and it would be probably the same thing there.
Black spiders live on windows, they don't hide and they don't move, if you see them inside it's just because the owner simply doesn't care that the spider lives there.
The kind that tend to scare people are huntsmens, big brown spiders that scuttle around eating small spiders, they don't have webs, run on walls. Harmless but nobody really wants to fuck with them, people are usually just vaguely aware which room they live in and most of the time they just stay motionless in their favourite spot. They're sort of like unwanted pets, you might catch them in a bucket and put them outside if you have kids or don't like them.
White tails are naggers, you won't see them in the day but at night they set up huge webs on pathways and places people walk and you can run into their webs in the dark. They have a painful bite and people often spray them with poison even if they're outside.
Redbacks are actually poison, though only a serious theat to children and the frail. They live pretty much exclusively outside in very dry places, so piles of bricks, plastic pots, trash around buildings. Everyone wears gloves to handle piles of dry shit. Redbacks aren't aggressive though, you'd have to inure them or accidentally squash them or grab their nest or somthing to get bitten.
Sydney has funnel webs, which live in similar conditions and spin a distinctive Web. They're more aggressive so you just poison spray their whole Web and hope the fuckers die.
There are jumping spiders, which despite the name aren't scary because they might as well be ants, they're tiny and if one was on you you wouldn't even realise. Children find them amusing, much like click beetles or lady bugs these are friendly insects.
Way up north you get giant brown spiders that are basically big huntsmen, and bird eating spiders which are like huge whitetails that don't bite people. They're actually so big that they're far easier to see and so nobody really has trouble with them
I have lived in Australia my whole life in QLD, I have seen like 3 snakes and a handful of spiders.
everyone over hypes the animals so much you barely see them (just stay out of the water up north lol)
Thank you, that helps a lot. I don't think the other anon is lying, maybe he just had some other experiences (he actually mentioned I should probably be fine).
Anyway, it's a relief knowing encounters are rare. My fucking phobia keeps me thinking I would see them constantly, getting in my backpack and my shoes, and so on.
I honestly hope you're lying, and if you're not, I really hope that happened in some rural area or at least not in a hotel in the center of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or whatever. If that happened to me I'm a 100% sure I would have a panic attack and PTSD after that lol.
I know I'm totally overthinking and overreacting, but then again it's extremely difficult to deal with a phobia. You read these stupid news of "A giant 8 fucking meters long spider breaks into a home in Adelaide, kills the man, rapes the woman and pisses in the son's Playstation 5" and you end up falling for the meme.
Also, I used insecticide spray while in SEA, Brazil etc. I guess it does fuck all with Australia's spiders, right? Or does it work? If you know one that actually works please let me know and I would cover myself in it.
from a local its common knowledge to check your shoes if they have been outside for a few days, worst case scenario you will see a redback but they are hidden usually under logs, planks of wood, dark spaces etc.
there are daddy long leg spiders everywhere but they are so small and un-spider looking that you don't notice them, they also are not a problem for humans. I would be very surprised if you came here and found a spider you weren't looking for tbh
>they are so small and un-spider looking that you don't notice them
Yeah I wouldn't mind about those. Thanks mate, I guess all of this is just as if I feared snakes and was questioning visiting Thailand. I was there for two weeks a few years ago and didn't see a single one.
Oh wow, you guys (assuming this is not samefagging) are so funny.
I'm not a samefag and I am serious, Sydney is not real Australia and you will not have a good time if you just stay in the city itself. I lived there for 27 years of my life.
>Sydney is not real Australia and you will not have a good time if you just stay in the city itself.
I'm planning to visit more places in the country.
On my trip to Australia, I left my sandals outside my hotel room and a giant huntsman spider decided to climb onto one. I went outside at night and didn't notice when I stepped into them.
SPLAT!
The top of the sandal looked like a crushed cadbury caramilk chocolate bar.... with 8 twitching legs.
>arachnophobia
time to grow up and stop being a homosexual anon.
>If I'm in my hotel room in Sydney and I see a spider
Don't bother coming here if you're just going to visit Sydney hotel rooms.
OP here. Isn't Sydney the most trans-friendly? I'm too nervous to meet trans women outside my hotel, but expensive hotels are more likely not to allow trans escorts, and cheaper hotels might have giant spiders. This is my dilemma!
I moved and worked in Sydney for about 15 years and can honestly say that unless you're a paki or a Chinese you will hate it. It's a filthy shit hole.
My wife first came to Australia and was doing gardening outside ended up bit by a spider. No issues though but hole in her leg is still there years later. Like a scarred hole
Lucky wasn't a funnel web at least
>My wife first came to Australia and was doing gardening outside ended up bit by a spider.
Well... I won't do any gardening.
I think I've made up: I'm going (well, in half a year or so). As I said I think all this paranoia is as if I didn't want to go to Thailand because of the snakes.
I'm not going to do any trekking or anything in the countryside so I don't think I'd step into one, and if I actually see one it will most likely run away from me (as you guys mentioned).
It seems stupid but this thread really helped. Thank you lads.
>made up
made up my mind*