8 Legged Friends

Just a simple update before I sit for my finals. Here are 2 venomous spiders I saw a few days ago. One was actually squatting in my room. I caught it without knowing it was mildly venomous. Nothing personal. It just wasn't supposed to be there, so I released it after observing it for 3 hours in a cookie jar.

Black House Spider. It's bigger than it looks here.

It took me some time to ID that one. I knew of Black House Spiders but I couldn't remember what they looked like. Shingun helped a lot, mainly by providing close-up images of specimens on the internet for comparison, and warning me to never, ever, ever, ever catch another one again.

Black House Spider bites give you headaches and make you nauseous. Non lethal. Just troublesome.

This next one is the lethal one.

The famed Red Back Spider.

This Red Back was found around Janet's house (her life's always very interesting). The only reason I had the guts to take this photo was because the spider and I were separated by a layer of glass.

You may remember that in a previous posts about spiders in Australia, I wrote that the Red Back is a cousin of the Black Widow. A Red Back sting and put you into a coma, cause paralysis, and eventually kill you. Fortunately this spider hasn't killed a human in 50 years because the anti-venom is now widely available.

I believe I deserve some congratulations for surviving thus far in this hostile land...

Perth Royal Show

It's now finals time, so I'm employing the usual technique of posting pictures and letting them do the talking. Not much time to type (read: lazy to type). And the pictures always do a better job than me anyway. A picture paints a thousand words. Except when it comes to being utterly random. That I do better.

Did you know Hitler was rumoured to have only one testicle?

Entrance.

They actually have pigeon shows in the royal show.

 

And more than pigeons.

If you're not into birds, go see the dogs.

Big dogs.

Oh, and puppies too!

Of course, you're more interested in them than they are in you.

Yup, more proof.

There are other things to see of course, this is a deep sea diving suit I think.

And you get to try your hand at filtering gold (notice that massive gold nugget at the back?)

If gold's not your thing either (seriously?), go see the performances/magic shows.

Or enjoy some rides!

Rides...

Or you can play games and win plush toys. 

Desserts/cakes exhibition!

Sugar always looks pretty.

And check out this wedding cake!

Toys for boys.

At night, enjoy the light show.

The fireworks were worth the entrance fee of the royal show. 15 minutes of pure awesomeness in the sky.

I must say, my phone did a respectable job of capturing the fireworks. Exceeded my expectations.

And the day is never complete without everyone trying to squeeze into a group photo.

Spring!

One day some time ago, I found myself with nothing to do. This was rare considering that here in Perth, I almost always have something to do, from laundry to cooking to studying, and more laundry.

So I decided to take a walk around campus and the road in front of my hostel and snap some photos of springtime flowers blooming.

The petals feel like paper.

Tiny yellow flowers all over.

This one was found in my hostel compound.

These are the maple trees in uni. I like maple trees!

Odd looking plant.

This is an artichoke plant. An Aussie veggie that I have never eaten before.

Bottlebrush-like flowers.

Spring is not only about flowers. Hehehe

Oh and speaking of spiders, I recently caught one pretty large one in my room. Judging by its appearance and the way it weaved its web, I suspect it might have been a Black House Spider. That of course, isn't good news. Black House Spiders are found all over Australia and are mildly venomous. Their bites cause nausea, headaches and dizziness. Don't worry, I did not get stung while catching it.

Moving on...

Curtin has ducks. They spend time wondering around a dry pond.

A random bush flower.

Pink bell-shaped ones growing wild.

Close up.

Another random bush of flowers.

So what people say is true. Spring is pretty! =D
...save for the horde of flies that keep buzzing above the fields. Don't ask me why they love fields so much.

Peacock

This is a short video taken by Abba of a male peacock trying to woo a female. The peacocks were found in University of Western Australia (UWA). Yes UWA has peacocks in it! How cool is that?!

Notice the part where the little kiddie frightens the female peacock and it jumps at the camera.

Interesting, eh? Oh, and nice one kiddo. ;)