The Bugs of Australia

Hey everyone!

So, it's been nearly two months away from home and it's week seven of being in school in Australia. Spring break is right around the corner and the weather is great. Spring is finally here!

So I thought that the last cockroach that I would ever see would have been in Fiji. Sadly, they are in Australia as well. I woke up this morning and there were roaches crawling out of my shower drain in the bathroom. I went and got Philip and had him try to kill them. It's pretty much impossible to kill a cockroach so we just turned on the scolding hot water and forced them down the drain. I left the water running for a few hours until the administration building was open. I marched down and let them know that this was not okay and that it needed to be fixed. I told them how disappointed I was. Someone came to my house within ten minutes of me getting home, and they are completely re-doing my bathroom. They are also having an exterminator come out and 'cockroach bomb' my house. They said just to be sure that the cockroaches in the drain don't come out or have laid eggs down there, I have to keep the shower running on hot for 30 minutes everyday. I miss Michigan bugs.

I am taking a biology class and we go to Hornsby on Tuesdays for our practicals. We 'bush walk' through the temperate rainforest and count plants and identify them (exciting huh? lol... I actually like it.) In the rainforest I see all sorts of bugs. The ants are NUTS. I'm not exaggerating, the ants here are the size of a nickle. They are larger than the biggest Michigan spider you can think of. They have fangs and can hit bone when they bite. And they love to bite! They love blood.

So anyways, I'm just doing my business counting plants and such, and out of the bush jumps this huge ant with fangs and pinchers and the whole thing. They were everywhere. The one that landed on me climbed up a tree and jumped down onto me. I screamed and ran. I was with my teacher and other Australian students (I'm the only international student in my classes.) They laughed at me and said that they are not poisonous but they just hurt. My teacher proceeded to tell me about how one of these ants bit his ankle and he couldn't walk on it for a week. WHAT?! From an ant?! Oh my gosh that's not right.

I wasn't the only one who got mauled on our rainforest adventure. Some people got Australian ticks (which are horrible to get out) and others got leeches. Ugh. I don't know which I would rather. I'm so thankful I only had an ant problem and that I didn't get bit by anything.

Wolf spider, Sydney Funnel Web, Sydney Red-back Spider, Hunter Spider... need I go on? If you stinking get bit here by a spider you have 3-15 minutes to live. And they are everywhere! In the Blue Mountains we saw hundreds of the Sydney Funnel Web (the worlds deadliest spider.)

Lesson learned. Australia is the perfect temperature for me, but it's also the perfect temperature for everything including HUGE spiders, killer ants, 8 of the 10 worlds deadliest snakes, and nasty cockroaches. I absolutely love Sydney and Australia and I love being here, but you need to be aware and be careful.

I've always hated Michigan, but since I've been away I've really come to appreciate it. You never know what you got until it's gone. I've also come to realize that spiders and bugs back at home are WONDERFUL and I miss them. (I know you're probably thinking I'm a freak right about now, but I miss small bugs. Not ones that are the size of your hand.)

Am I home sick? No. Do I want to go back home right now? No. I love it here. I get sad when I think about coming home to 'reality'. I just hate the bugs here. But that is a relatively small price to pay for such a beautiful country.

Love you all!

Brittaney