West Auckland achievement badge: first letterbox wētā, which I carried almost all the way to the recycling bin between the Woolworths specials and Dan Carter for Chemist Warehouse.
Sleepy from being in the fridge, but in the warm kitchen it unfolded like the alien from Alien.
I took the pix, tweeted, then rehoused it in the pungas in the backyard. Hopefully it thrived.
I once went to get into a lift at work and the guy already in it pointed to his umbrella and said "You might want to rethink that." I looked at the huge wētā on his umbrella and agreed.
Waiting at the station for the train one day. It was summer, and I was enjoying the sun on my legs until I felt something grab me from behind. It was a weta, and it took a lot of persuading that there was nothing under my skirt for it to be interested in.
I have to go back over there one day to see one of these buggers in the flesh. Although I’d rather have advance warning rather than just discovering one on my leg.
One thing worse: dreaming you can't get into your house because tall cutty-grass is pulling at your hair and clothes, and waking to find a weta is caught in your hair.
I can imagine.
One of my bedrooms when I was a kid was overrun with huntsmans, which didn’t generally bother me, except for the one I found in my bed. That one got moved.
Went to visit SIL today and she had a spatula waiting at the door so Mr could get the weta out of her letter box and place it into the bush area nearby.
