Everytime there's a spider thread I have to post one of these guys:
Huntsman spider, quite common in Australia. My first experience was when one about the size of my hand took up residence on the ceiling of the livingroom in the hostel I was staying at. Even the men were terrified of going anywhere near it.
One day it came down and you could hear it's feet "tsktsktsk" across the linoleum in the kitchen.
After a while, wierdly enough, you get used to seeing tennis-ball sized spiders hanging out everywhere and become very aware of the "don't put your hand anywhere you can't see" rule.