Spiders!

So my last post was a snake, now for the other venomous creatures here, the spiders. There are plenty of them but I have only got pictures of the non venomous guys. One of which gives a nasty bite though.

The spider I see mostly is the rain spider or huntsman spider. This guy can grow quite large for a spider,  over 3 inches. They are called rain spiders as they generally come out after the rain. He can give you a nasty bite but nothing with venom. They can still give you a shock when you find them. 

The other guy is a velvet spider of species i'm not sure, there are over 100 of them. I have only see the one. He was on the underside of a log when we turned it over during some alien tree clearing.

Holey Moley

Last week after the floods Chris came around carrying a bucket. He had been to check on the mud by the cottage and on the way back had found something on the driveway. The rain had washed a mole rat out of its underground system. He was a very ferocious guy challenging us with his sharp teeth. Since they live in family groups we released him back into the garden where he promptly burrowed away under a flower pot hopefully to meet up with his family again.

Stuck in the Mud

With all the rain in the last few weeks the roads around Blue Hill are becoming muddy. One by the house leading to the cottage has become a mud pool. The water runs off the hills and has built up behind the cottage. When Chris tried to drive that way he churned it all up. The landcruiser got sucked into the mud. It went in rather deep as you can see from the images which follow.

Eventually the landrover towed it out of the mud pool but it goes to show how much rain fell if a dry patch can become a mud pool.

Blue Atlantis Escape

So some exciting news. It rained in the karoo. And by rain I mean rain. So much rain fell in six hours that the rain gauges here overflowed, and they hold around the 10% of the average annual rainfall for the area. So what fell in the whole 48 hours I do not know.

The extent of the flood

Roads have been swept away, power lines and phone lines toppled, people cut off for days including myself. The two access roads to the Blue Hill where swept away and turned into rivers. The river crossings where river rapids clogged with trees and other debris.

The river crossing

The river in the photos is usually just a trickle. I have no comparison images yet.

More flood

Along with wind was rain and a huge branch from a tree snapped off and narrowly missed the hilux vehicle.

The large branch

Luckily we had only just stocked up on food so for the few days we had been isolated we had enough supplies to stop us resorting to cannibalism. On the way out the full extent was seen. Many streams where raging torrents. All the way to Cape St Francis where I am now safely sitting in nice weather the rain had taken its toll aswel.