Hello Bugman!!
my name is phil and i live in a small town called wondai in QLD australia and i found this spider on a dirt road in the bush on one of my long walks, it was about 5 cm in diameter, was very low and close to the ground and was really really fast. What is it?
We thought this looked like one of the American Fishing Spiders in the genus Dolomedes. Some research we did indicates, according to Wikipedia, that there are several Australian species, but we have been unsuccessful in locating any images that will corroborate this. If this spider was near a body of water, that is additional support that our speculation is correct. Perhaps our faithful reader and contributor Grev will have more luck with an exact identification.
I like This
I believe that this is an elusive Bark Huntsman (Pediana sp., probably P. regina). See http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_spiders/BarkHuntsmanSpider.htm