A Hong Kong mother had an unexpected extra delivered with a package of household items from Australia - a deadly spider.
The venomous redback spider leapt out of some wind chimes which arrived along with other items on Friday at the Sai Kung home of ballet teacher Tina Eldridge.
The spider, small but potentially deadly, sped towards the deliveryman. Luckily Eldridge's partner, Holger Eichstaedt, had lived in Australia, where the redback is common.
'The deliveryman didn't realise what it was,' Eldridge said. 'Holger shouted, 'Put the wind chimes down,' but he wasn't bothered and just carried on. So Holger grabbed the wind chimes and we hit the spider with a shoe and then sprayed the wind chimes with Biokill.'
Eldridge said the spider had been packed up about six weeks ago and shipped with items belonging to Eichstaedt, who recently relocated to Hong Kong from Perth.
'If you get a bite in Australia, it is OK because there is anti-venom,' Eichstaedt said. 'But here in Hong Kong, it is not OK because there is no anti-venom - which is why we flattened it.'
