• @[email protected]
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        57 hours ago

        Financial or education? I’m mostly dreaming, I have a deathly fear of drop bears giant spiders that has absolutely nothing to do with little cousins throwing dinner plate sized arachnids at me for the lols

        • @flueterflam
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          26 hours ago

          I grew up elsewhere but lived in Canberra (the capital in ACT) for about 4 years. I heard about all the scary, deadly things and was a bit worried also. Long-story, short - it’s very unlikely to be an issue unless you live in certain areas.

          The big funnel-web spiders are mainly an issue in an area north and a bit south of Sydney and reasonably close to the coast. I never saw one of them while living there (except in photos). My understanding also is that the spiders tend to live outside of the urban areas and more in the suburban/rural areas.

          You’re more likely to get into a car accident with a kangaroo than have an issue with those big-ass spiders, from what I was told. They’re somewhat like deer in the US. But less of a joke because they are known to slash people with velociraptor-like foot naila/claws after being hit by cars and assumed to be dead by drivers who get out and check. Death by disoriented/injured kangaroo is scarier than death by spider in Australia for most, and I say this seriously!

          The scariest spider stories I had… 1. out of town for several months and my bicycle had a black widow-looking (the redback, I believe) spider under the seat. and 2. one day, there was some sort of spiders born and sailing on the wind event where little spiders where everywhere (but they weren’t the Sydney funnel-web or redback spiders, luckily).

          • @[email protected]
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            16 hours ago

            I grew up in a place with black widows, giant huntsman, and bafflingly large golden orb weavers. I’ve been moving further north and away from large crawlies for my whole adult life lol

            I’m angling for a conservation job, I enjoy collecting data in the field, so I would likely be spending loads of time where all the scary things live

        • @RapidcreekOP
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          26 hours ago

          I love Australia, if it didn’t have 4 of the 5 most deadly snakes in the world.

        • @[email protected]
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          27 hours ago

          Everything scary down there is bigger than your hand. Hand sized spiders? My heart is racing at the idea.

          And, both? Are you in a job that is desired? Medical, technology? Something highly skilled. And, are you at least $100k in the black? In cash?