Underfoot, the soil is a reddish ocre, dotted with the glistening, silver, filigree creations of funnel-web spiders, so shiny that a couple of times I almost kneel to pick one up, mistaking it for a discarded chocolate wrapper. Inside, the tiny black spiders twitch nervously as I pass. The guide gestures downwards. Hard to spot, dark grey against the leaf litter, wolf spiders are waiting to stalk their prey. A Brahminy skink, teddy-bear brown with jaunty white go-faster stripes, slithers across our path, quick as a whiplash. A buff-coloured centipede darts away into the undergrowth.
Wow. Your writing is always such a treat. Thank you!