© Facebook/Kelli MaceThe giant earthworms rarely come above ground.
Kelli Mace posted a photo on Facebook of her holding the huge creature with two sticks after it emerged from the earth around Tamborine Mountain, Queensland, and it was soon picked up by Australian news outlets.
The area, which is covered in rain forest, is known for the massive species of worm, known as Digaster longmani, and which can grow up to 3ft long.
Usually they remain deep underground, but heavy rain across the Gold Coast area last week has driven the creatures from their borrows.
The region on the east coast of Australia saw particularly heavy rainfall on Friday when over an inch fell in 36 hours.
Paul Lyons, a member of the Tamborine Mountain National History Association, told the Couirer Mail that sightings of giant worms was becoming rarer.
He said: "They are about a bit over a metre in length, about 30mm in diameter and they live deep in the rainforest soil. They burrow deep in the ground and when it gets too wet down underneath they come up.
"It was quite common to see them but now you don't see as many as you used to because there are more houses."
For people living around Tamborine Mountain the giant worms are a sight they have grown used to.
One resident, Jules Dollins, said: "I have definitely seen them in the area and a few of my friends who live in North Tamborine have seen them as well and there were pictures of them throughout my Facebook.
"They were quite large, actually they almost looked like a small version of a snake, just round and a giant worm.
"They were bigger than my foot so probably about a foot and a half long, and they were at my friend's house just coming out of the ground."
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