Our last guest

This little fella was on a rug that we had stored during our rental and uncurled on our last night. On first poke, we thought he had suffered a similar to fate to the funnel web spiders we had found in the house, and died. But as it turned out, I think we had just woken him up and he wasn't too happy.

Despite the bad photo, his curled-up tail makes it obvious that he is a scorpion of about 3cm in size. Apparently he is a marbled scorpion and his sting would be painful, but not fatal. Lucky really as we were padding about in bare feet when we found him. There are apparently hundreds of different types of scorpion in Australia, yet very few people see them and very little is known about them. This type however are occasionally found in homes, hiding behind furniture.

What I did find out however is that scorpions fluoresce brightly under UV light and this is a good way to find them at night, when they are at their most active. They are also arachnids like spiders.

I've become slightly obsessed with spiders and other creepy crawlies since being in Sydney. I have always been scared of them but realised that this was futile in an environment where they are everywhere. My dear sister bought me a book for Christmas and I have been avidly studying and identifying the different types as I find them, boring the pants off anybody who will listen as I rave on about their green and yellow colours and strange behaviour. I am surprised how few Sydneysiders have actually seen or know anything but the huntsmen - stuff of nightmares who are actually like baby giraffes, all legs and no idea what to do with them. This was our last guest in our Pittwater pad so perhaps this is a sign that we will be seeing less of his type in our new Surry Hills place. I almost feel sad. M, on the other hand, is delighted.