I was bit by an Aussie spider, and lived to talk about it...

Since Wednesday, about mid day, I've been having the most bizarre bursts of stabbing pain in my upper right leg, just below my hip area. When it first started, I thought that I had something sharp that had gotten stuck in my pants and was stabbing me every time I pulled up my pants, or they rubbed that area of my leg, and got really frustrated that I couldn't figure it out that whole day while I was at work. That night, I had a shower and changed into my pjs....and to my dismay, I still was getting the sharp bursts of pain. I was awake half the night worried about what was going on with me, mostly because I couldn't think of an explanation as to what the cause of it was.

All day Thursday and Friday the pain continued. It was suggested to me to go to a doctor to check it out, or to talk to a chemist at a pharmacy...but I wasn't even sure what I could tell them as there was no marks on my leg, and I wasn't exactly sure how to describe the pain that I had be experiencing.

Today, however...a mark has shown up. I decided to take another look at my leg, as I've been checking it at least 5 times a day since the random pain started..and sure enough, bite marks. To be more specific...spider bite marks.

Wednesday morning at work (which is a day care that I spent the week at, working with toddlers), it was my turn to serve the kids their morning tea. So we were all sitting at the story corner on the floor, where I fed the kids their fruit. After a few moments, one of the 3 year olds pointed and shouted that he saw a spider. I turned to see that he was right..and that a HUGE spider was dangling just inches from my face. I remained calm as I didn't want to freak out the 10 kids I had sitting in front of me, and slowly started to move away. But before I could get myself into position to get a shoe or another object of destruction...beautiful courageous 2 year old Stefan, gave a huge swat to the spider. And literally...it disappeared. It was just gone. I looked everywhere, with the help of a few of the curious children (I even thought I felt it in my hair a couple times)...but to no avail. It was just gone.

After the kids finished eating, I told the lady who I worked with that a huge spider had shown up, and I described what it looked like to her. She said, "oh don't worry, that's only a daddy long-legs. There's only one spider in Melbourne we have to worry about, and that's not it." I thought that she was ridiculous, as I know what we in Canada call a daddy long-legs, and they're about half the size of the spider I had the privledge of meeting.

But..to conclude this wonderful tale...I have since put all the pieces together and have realized that either by just landing on me and getting a good bite in through my pants, or by *shudder* actually getting into my pants and giving my leg a taste...I was bitten by the spider that came to dine with us at morning tea. I even googled some Australia spider images, and sure enough, I was bitten by a daddy long-legs....just not the kind of daddy long-legs that us Canadians would have pictured in our minds.

Here's a bit of a visual for you...(Di this is for you lol)

And seriously, no exaggeration...this image is pretty much the exact size of the spider I met. You can check out some fun facts by clicking here.

So I guess if nothing else from this lovely experience...I can say I've been bitten by an Australian spider, and survived. Good times.