I thought it was a mosquito bite.... until my skin started melting away. - Julia

I reference my flesh eating spider bite a lot - and I mean, a lot. If you have yet to hear me reference this, please educate yourself by reading related articles, which are conveniently under the Australia tab above - then circle back here.

I'm a pretty squeamish person. When I was little I would freak out about a stray hair in the tub - it was my hair. I would scream bloody murder and briskly exit the tub with a sprint so forceful that my little wet feet didn't even have time to hit the ground.

It's a miracle I didn't die at the age of 2 from head trauma.

Australia 2016:

Sometimes, I surprise myself. One of those times was when I boarded the plane to Australia - alone. Besides the usual thought of "OMG WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" and "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" I was calm, slightly cool, and for the most part, collected. I wasn't even thinking of the potentially dangerous, poisonous, or life-threatening creatures that I was about to become neighbours with.

When I first got to Australia, I was staying with a friend - who had a really nice house. I thought "there couldn't possibly be any creatures that could penetrate this fortress, right?" Wrong. I was in Queensland, one of the more northern states that is blessed with sun, sand, and beaches. I loved it, and apparently, so did the cockroaches.

My first encounter with a cockroach was when I woke up one morning to brush my teeth. I reached for my toothbrush, as usual, but I was surprised by something that looked like a short piece of hair, not usual. As I reached closer the hair moved - it wasn't a hair... MAYDAY MAYDAY! I had woken a slumbering cockroach which then proceeded to slither it's tiny, creepy, crawly body across my toothbrush. Naturally, as any sane human would, I panicked. I quickly ran to my friend's room and told her the horror story in which I had just been cast in. Her reaction did not comfort me. "They probably sleep there every night," she said, NOT comforting.

From that day on, I realized this was my life now. I had to co-exist with these creatures, whether I liked it or not. Sometimes they would surprise me by sleeping in my face cloth, which I would then use, and then in which they would crawl into my ear. On the more frequent occasions, they would visit me by flying into my bed. Yea. Did you know they could fly? No? Me neither.

Other than the cockroaches, I didn't think that I encountered many other creatures on a daily basis - until I looked up. As I was riding my bike one day, I decided to stretch my neck by looking up.

Stop.

Put two hands side by side. Raise them high.

That is what I saw, not human hands, but spiders the size of not one, but TWO hands above me in the trees - construction worker type hands.

Again, I panicked - naturally.

After this, I got even better at co-existing with these creepy, crawly, creatures. So, when I got a bite on my knee that burned I decided to leave it for a while. Clearly, it was just Mother Nature running her course.

The Bite

You may recall from your findings - if you followed the instructions at the start of this article - that I camped frequently in Australia to save money - I mean I camped for the views and to be one with nature.

During my 8-month long adventure in Australia, I took 2 straight months to travel. In those two months I camped for the very first time, and then I repeated it for another 59 days - give or take the odd day or two that I broke into a hostel or stayed with a friend. Whilst camping along the east coast, somewhere between Byron Bay and Sydney, I noticed a bite on my kneecap. Now, this bite was not out of the ordinary. I was camping, so of course, I was covered in all sorts of bites. But, this bite was different. I clearly remember scratching my knee and thinking "holy mother of pearl that hurts!" but, I was ride-sharing (fancy word for hitch-hiking) and so the show had to go on, literally. The next morning a small wound had appeared, somehow, this didn't seem to phase me. So, I left it. By the time the afternoon rolled around the wound had started to grow bigger and produce heat. Ew. Maybe I should worry now?

Since I didn't want to disturb anyone's trip and I didn't want to be the nuisance that made everyone go wait in a hospital to see what was going on with this counter-active growth on my knee, I decided to leave it. Bad idea.

We were gearing up to trek along the Great Ocean Road - I've inserted a map for your convenience - and the wound was growing, melting faster and faster. Looking back on it now, it probably didn't help that I continued to swim in the ocean and shower less and less.

I realized it was probably time to get looked at when it became painful to walk on it. I mean, that's always a sure sign that something probably isn't going well - when walking becomes an issue.

After hours of going from the doctors, to the hospital, and then to a special doctor, the diagnosis was confirmed - White tip spider bite. What is a white tip spider your ask? Well, it's a spider and when it bites you your skin becomes necrotic and essentially, starts melting away. Fun!

I was told that I was "lucky" it wasn't worse and that some people have lost appendages from these bites. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING JULIA?!?!?

After receiving a tetanus shot, heavy meds and paying a little over $800 AUD, I was free to go. Thankfully, with the lower half of my left leg still mostly intact.

Although this is a horrific time in my life that I like to occasionally subdue with humour, please take it from me that you should never, EVER, leave an open wound unattended, especially if your skin is melting - just a short PSA.

Okay, now for the fun part - not for the squeamish.

If I was you, I would be curious as to what these bites look like? Perhaps to diagnosis your own bite, or maybe you're just sadistic. Regardless, below are the pictures!

YOU HAVE BEEN DUTIFULLY WARNED! NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!