Before we moved to Aus my wife was pathetic around spiders, jump up on the settee and scream if there was a daddy long legs on the floor pathetic. It was her biggest reservation about moving here.
In our first year here she was driving home with the kids in the car and my son told her that there was a big huntsman on her shoulder, she looked in the mirror, saw it, panicked and drove the car in to a drainage ditch.
After nearly 30yrs here she's calmed down and is ok unless it's venomous or within touching distance.