If you’ve been to Australia, how often did you see spiders?

[feelingstifled]

Hi all. Going to Australia for the first time this year. I hate spiders, so I’m slightly panicking at the thought of encountering lots of big ones. So if you’ve been there, how often do you think we will be coming across them? Thanks !

Literally never. And I've been 3 times!

Hardly at all - saw far more cockroaches than spiders 😩

I went for a month all over hobart/melbourne/brisbane/sydney/adelaide and canberra l.

I saw a couple up in the the trees think daddy long legs style without the wings but they were 8 foot in the air and I didn't see them.

In the rainforest, too much for my personal comfort. Around rural towns and villages? Never. Not even on Hamilton Island which is where I saw everything else.

Back in 2001 I came face to face with one as big as my hand in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney but we were in Sydney again in Oct and only saw a dead one, although it was very big.

Depends where you go and how much you look for them!
I've only been confronted with a massive hairy one once, at Uluru.

I've been several times. The only time I've seen spiders was when a tour guide lifted up a rock to show us the ones hiding underneath it!

Never....but I did have a taipan snake cross my path when I was out in the bush with a tour group.🐍

@feelingstifled I lived there for 2.5 years and had only 2 memorable spider encounters, both involving Huntsman spiders, which are big and scary looking, but the locals will tell you they're harmless. One was in my kitchen. The other was in my car (and nearly made me crash).

As others have said, the cockroaches were a much worse problem, and the flies (which make a beeline for your sweaty face on hot days - hence the stereotype of the dangling-cork hats).

I’ve seen more snakes and lizards than spiders.

Spent five weeks in Australia, saw two spiders, one in the outback, one in a city (both Far North Queensland). Both where huntsman but pretty small. No snakes either, except in the zoo. I was pretty gutted to be honest. 😂

Ahhh this is comforting thank you! I have visions of finding dinner plate sized spiders in our bed or in the car etc! I have no issue with snakes or lizards (actually love lizards!). We will be going to Melbourne and Sydney and doing a road trip between the two. Not doing the outback or anything like that.

One massive one landed on my face as I left the plane. Honestly no, just enjoy your trip! You’ll be fine

OMG, I thought you were serious for a minute. That is the kind of scenario I keep imagining!!

I've been 5 times and still never seen a spider. You'll be fine.

I’ve always assumed it’s overrun with loads of massive spiders!!

Nah. More so in the proper bush/rainforests but really try not to worry about.

If you're planning on walking through any forests I WILL warn you about leeches instead. Fucking everywhere 😩

I was more worried about snakes and sharks than spiders. But I still didn't see any (not wild one anyway). I was VERY worried about snakes actually. I stayed in a shearer's hut on a huge farm one night and the hut had gaps to the outside. I barely slept a wink as I was convinced the snakes were going to get me during the night. They didn't. 😂

Ha at this

Op I feel the same and rarely see them there, although I have and hope to avoid when we go again

I spent a month travelling around Australia, and saw no spiders at all. Not even in the rural public loos with tin roofs and concrete floors.

But I did see 2 snakes up close in the wild. One in a beach carpark near Adelaide, and one in rural Victoria. Both times I was pretty alarmed, but the snakes weren't interested in me, or any other humans, and just slithered away.

Depends where you go. I lived in WA for two years and only ever came across one red back. It met my thong/flip flop. Sorry not sorry.

We had a massive massive huntsman wander into the kitchen. Never seen anything like it. But they are harmless. Also saw a couple around the house etc and in some outdoor toilets at parks etc, but like you’d expect here. I was slightly more nervous though not knowing if they’re poisonous or not!!!

I Iived in Sydney, so that's where I saw the 2 Huntsman spiders. We lived in quite an old property - you're much less likely to get spiders and cockroaches in modern apartments/hotels.

We had to keep our kitchen scrupulously crumb free, lock away food, and have spray handy for the cockroaches. It was common to see them running under the tables when dining outdoors (as common as seeing stray cats hanging around in some parts of Greece). We once visited Perth and stayed in a room over an old pub and there were so many roaches that I used a mosquito net overnight. I found a couple of dead ones in my soap bag the next morning - they must have met their match on my shampoo or whatever it was they found to eat in there.

Was there a year

Didn't see a spider

I've never been to Australia and this is one of the things that puts me off. I have however been to South America and didn't think twice about spiders in the run up. Of course i then spent my entire trip jumping out of my skin (and an embarrassing amount of time crying) at the various terrifying ones that caught me by surprise. So you have my sympathies but from this thread it sounds like you should be fine!