Travels around the world – Coogee & Sydney

Just around the coast from the world famous Bondi Beach is a small town called Coogee.  The beach here is quieter than Bondi but is pretty sizeable.  The town itself has plenty to offer and has one of Sydney’s live music venues.  From the outside you would never know that behind the double doors next door to a pub there lies a venue that can easily house 1000 people.  When I went to a concert there I was stunned by it.

I ended up going to Coogee quite often during my time in Sydney.  I had somehow found out that Gillian, a girl I had met in Brisbane, was staying in Coogee so I would go and visit for nights out and would end up sleeping on her sofa.  She lived with Kim and I always had a good laugh with them both.  I think we had the same sense of humour.  Nights out usually meant “The Coogee Bay Hotel” (http://www.coogeebayhotel.com.au) there was always something going on and normally plenty of people there.  The outside patio was easily big enough to get lost in and with it being next to the live music venue it was the ideal place for people to go to for Pre show or post show drinks.  It was also the place to spot minor celebs. This was mainly soap actors from Home and Away or the new show that had just started “Heartbreak High”.  The biggest “Star” I spotted in Sydney was Jason Donovan.  I actually came face to face with him as I got out of a taxi and didn't realise who it was until he had gone past me.  There were always rumours that Kylie was in town but I never managed to bump into her.

One of the things you need to bear in mind when in Sydney is one of its lovely indigenous creatures.  The “Funnel Web” Spider.  It is commonly known as The Sydney Funnel Web.  For reasons best known to the Spider it only lives within 100k of Sydney and as the name suggests it builds a web shaped like a funnel.  Unlike most spiders it lives in communities so if you have a funnel web spider in your garden then it stands a chance that you may have several.  As if this wasn’t bad enough news it also has a liking for cool, dark places as it is a burrowing spider.  Luckily for most of the year you can get away with wearing sandals or similar footwear but when it becomes colder then you need to start making the habit of checking your shoes before you put them on or you could be in for a treat.  There have been reports in the past that the Funnel Web Spider jumps.  I watched an Australian nature show about this species and it doesn't jump but as it strikes its prey it has a tendency to raise the front part of its body and lower it quickly to get a better hit with its fangs so it could appear to be jumping.

Funnel Web


One day in the House in Fairlight I was chatting to David in the bedroom and he started edging towards the door and pointing at my pillow.  I had no idea what was going on but I turned to look in the direction he was pointing and saw a fairly decent sized spider.  I didn’t really think much about it as I have never really been phased by spiders so I leaned over and opened the window and intended to lift up the pillow and tap the spider out of the open window. David saw the intention and, with a hint of panic in his voice, asked me what I was doing.  I explained my intentions and he just said “That could be a Funnel Web, if it bites you – you could die”.  It’s amazing how quickly you can develop arachnophobia isn’t it?  As it turns out it wasn’t poisonous.  After the initial scare I used a Tupperware container to scoop up our unwelcome house guest and took it to our neighbour to see if they knew what type of spider it was and it was a harmless common spider. It just happened to be a big, scary looking, one!