Advertisement
Published: February 4th 2010
Edit Blog Post
I know the subject of this blog sounds exaggerated but its actually close to how Kailey, Cody and I have felt a few times this past week. Don't get us wrong, we're still having the time of our life. We just don't think huge spiders and ginormous flies need to play a part in it.
Late Sunday evening as I was about to rest my weary bones I looked up and saw a furry eight legged beast on the ceiling trying to make its way over. Kailey was in bed already but apparently didn't notice this creature of nature. I asked her if she saw what I saw. "I can't see anything, its just blurry to me".......my response "Kailey, put your glasses on"..................... "OH MY GOODNESS." We jumped out of bed and scrambled to think of a plan of attack. This beast was NOT kicking us out of our room. Kailey got crafty with a kitchen utensil ,commonly known as tongs, in hopes that it they could be lethal. To inflict the most pain on this hairy arachnid, Kailey wrapped the end of the tongs in another common household item, toilet paper. (Folks, you too can make this weapon of
spider distruction) We figured we could squeeze the daylights out of it or if we for some odd reason were overwhelmed with guilt, could carry it outside................No guilt!! Just squish the bloody thing!! Before continueing with the execution, Kailey tried to prepare herself mentally and physically by wrapping herself in protective armour a.k.a a hoodie. Just incase any of you were wondering where I was during this enounter, I was holding up the doorframe. I was not getting anywhere near that mamouth spider. Cody was a few rooms down sleeping blissfully as were the rest of the Morrison clan. Sadly, us damsels in distress, were on our own. As Kailey approached our furry new roommate, her adrenaline ran high. She was ready to pounce. As she grasped the spider between the tongs it tried to escape causing us great distress. Kailey screamed, I screamed, the tongs (with the spider) were up in the air, we ran screaming from the room. We can laugh now but at that moment we were terrrified. The tongs landed on my side of the bed (how convenient of Kailey). No WAY was I going bed. EVER! We both got shoes on and started inspecting EVERYTHING
in the room. Just waiting for the spider to jump out at us and eat us alive! We never did find the spider and were proud to say we stuck it out and slept in the bed that night. But all the boys heard it from us the next morning. Thanks for the help gents!!
Now this next encounter included myself, Kailey, Cody, Eric, Elden and the whole entire horsefly population. We set out to camp on Fraser Island, the biggest sand island in the world. All of us were excited to "rough it" for a few days and have a good 'ol outback experience. We got that and then some. I doubt any of us will forget it. We got to Fraser Island around 3:30 when the tide was still out so we could drive along the beach. I kept thinking we were breaking some law but nope, this was the way to go. It was pretty fun riding along with the waves beside us. Our first stop was Eli Creek, a fresh water creek that tourist can wade in. This was our first glimpse of the horsefly here in Australia. Fellow North Americans, they have us beat.
They are HUGE! I wouldn't mind them so much if they didnt bite, but they do. They seemed to want to feast on our flesh in fact. More so than our misquitoes back home. We made it through, with minimal flesh wounds. Executive decision was to head up a little further to find a place to set up camp. The first place we found was a bit too windy so we headed down a little bit more. This stop had too many flies so we pushed our luck (or our curse depending on who youre cheering for in this round) and moved a little further down. Each place we tried ended up with swarms of flies attacking our vehicle. We eventually had to surrender due to the setting sun and the incoming tide. The simplest tasks such as walking or getting something from the cruiser become life threating. The flies were EVERYWHERE and attacked EVERTHING! Eric, covered in horseflies, warmed up some soup for dinner as we set up our tents. You just had to keep moving (more or less dance, jump, wiggle, jive, hop, shake, etc. etc) to keep the flies from landing and feasting. The soup was ready
and hot so we all had our bowls ready. We all had built up quite an appetite so we were excited to eat. So were the flies, apparently they like chunky beef and vegatables as much as we do. Each of us attempted to carry a bowl full of hot soup to eat in peace by the ocean. I didn't go more than 3 steps and spilled hot soup down my leg thanks to the flies. Kailey thought she'd have better luck sitting down to eat but in the process spilled half her soup on the ground. To top it off she had a fat juicy horsefly divebomb her soup. It was not going to be a good night. Cody was the only one to make it down to the beach. Kailey and I quickly crawled into the tent to finish our supper. It took us awhile to get up the nerve to face the "march flies" (as they're known in Australia). This is where mental toughness is essential to survive the outback. We kid you not, all of us Canadians were on the brink of insanity. I think Kailey was about to just run away never to be seen
again. We all had branches that we used as fly swatters but I think we ended up whipping ourselves more than the flies. They're quick, meaty flies!! We escaped with only some bites. The rest of our time on Fraser Island was awesome! Lake McKenzie was breathtaking. Bright blue water that was so clear your could see for days underneath. The sand was so white it was blinding. It made up for our fiesty fly fiasco!!
We have 6 more days in Australia then we are off to New Zealand. Who knows what kind of creatures await us there!! Until next time, be good!
xoxo
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0414s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Raymond
non-member comment
Flahs and spah ders
Well, now you know what your Grampa has been talking about all these years. WE live in the best place on earth. Laraine's cousin's wife over there in Melbourne shakes out her nightie EVERY night before putting it on as spiders Looooovvvvvveee nighties. And stripey PJs too, I hear.