SPIDER BITE!

A single wrong move almost cost construction worker Adrian Main his life

- Diane Godley

It was unseasonally hot approaching the 2016 Easter long weekend in the Australian state of New South Wales. By mid-afternoon on Thursday, the sun was beating down and the clear blue skies showed no signs of the forecast rain. Adrian Main was doing what he loved, working outside in the rugged bushland that surrounds the leafy suburbs on the northern outskirts of Sydney.

Guided by his love of mountain-bike riding, Adrian had founded Synergy Trails, a construction company that specialized in installing narrow, winding dirt-bike trails in bushland for weekend and competition riders. It was dusty, dirty work at times, but with the trees providing shade and the only noise coming from his team and the local birds, there wasn't any place he'd rather be.

Over the years, the 40-year-old had encountered hazardous fauna while digging around in soil, including venomous arachnids and snakes, but he knew how to distinguish the non-threatening ones from the dangerous ones. Adrian was trained in first-aid, though he never seriously thought he'd need it.

With the clock ticking down towards the start of the four-day long weekend, Adrian had only a small digging job left to do. His shovel was in his vehicle, parked some 50 metres away. He considered getting it, but the job was small, and only a light dig was necessary to get beneath the shallow soil and leaf litter. So he used his hands instead.

Just as his fingers slid under the pile of leaves, he felt a sharp, deep pain in his left hand. Adrian quickly pulled out his hand to see a spider gripping his left index finger. The five-centimetre-long glossy black creature had its fangs firmly embedded into the skin, piercing through to his knuckle. The pain felt as if a nail was being hammered into his finger.