So genuinegirly bumped this thread, and I glanced through some of the pictures. Upon doing so I realized that I'd missed the spider picture posted above. I don't know how.
You may have already come across this information, but that little arachnopodian friend of yours is
Nephila pilipes, the golden orb-web spider. She also goes by the rather apt name of the giant wood spider, and she spins the largest known webs of any spiders, which may measure as much as 5 feet across. She feeds on large flying arthropods (and occasionally small birds) but is essentially harmless to humans.
The male of the species has a body length of about half a centimetre.
A picture of the very closely related banana spider, with a male for comparison:
