A picture of a scary golden orb spider chilling in front of a family’s garage quickly went viral.

The large critter nicknamed Martha was noticed by Patrick Berg while he was enjoying a barbecue at his sister’s house.

Mr. Berg, who took the photo, said to Daily Mail Australia: “I’ve seen some big ones before but not like that. She was an absolute monster.

“We were just going to have a barbecue and a couple of beers and I saw it as we pulled up in the driveway and just went “holy dooley”.”

The photo shows Mr. Berg’s brother-in-law’s hand behind the huge spider.

“He was holding his hand five to ten centimetres away from it. That was the closest he wanted to get to the beauty,” he shared.

Female golden orb spiders are usually bigger than the male ones and can grow up to more than 12 centimeters or five inches.

Mr. Berg continued: “The actual length of the body in the photo was about 7cm and as thick as my thumb. With the leg span the spider was probably 17cm big.

“I wasn’t scared, I was amazed and struck by the beauty of it. I think they’re a gorgeous creature.”

He added: “We just left it and took some pictures. They don’t live very long and one day she was gone

“They’re quite common, especially in Buderim, there’s some big insects and lots of natural forests and rainforests.”

One internet user commented: “I know this species doesn’t typically grow that large, but I’ve seen some yellow bum ones that easily had the leg span of a dinner plate.”

Another wrote: “I have a pic somewhere in the archive with my dad holding his hat directly behind one and it was no joke the same size as it.”

A third added: “The thought of that just makes my skin crawl.”

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