Isn’t she a beauuuty!
Since our arrival Down Under, one of my goals has been to run across some of the exotic wildlife for which Australia is famous in their native habitat. Until this weekend, my wildlife encounters have been limited to spotting cockatoos, rosellas and the occassional pigeon from a distance and a couple of unidentifiable furry blurs crossing the roads at night. Well, that all changed this weekend as I got up close and personal with some of the local fauna.
We headed out for a drive on Saturday with some friends. We took off south out of the Adelaide suburbs into the vineyard laden Fleurieu peninsula. For the first couple of hours, my only encounter with any local animal life was this handsome fellow at the restaurant in Yankalilla where we ate lunch. Ever the optimist, I remained to the passenger side window, eyes keenly scanning the passing fields as we headed toward Victor Harbour. I knew that you can occasionally see koalas high in the branches of eucalyptus trees, but I thought that may challenge my aging eyes. Instead I focused on the much less elusive Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). As we drove on past more and more kangaroo crossing signs with no sightings I became increasingly disheartened. When Dr. O’C misidentified a goat as a kangaroo for the second or third time, I had about lost faith in the whole search.
So, I think my skepticism was understandable when Dr. O’C spotted this mob (isn’t that a great term for a group of animals) of kangaroos several hundred meters away from our moving car just minutes later. It was nice to see the critters from a distance but I wanted more - I wanted a close encounter.
It didn’t take long for that, as we rounded a curve on the way down to Waitpinga Beach we ran across a pair of gorgeous greys. One of them was kind enough to let me get within about 15 yards of him, with suspiciously gun shaped camera in hand, before he hopped off up the hill. This was the kind of wildlife experience I was looking for here in Oz. Ironically, for the rest of the trip every time we rounded a bend there was another mob of kangaroos. By the time we got home I was pretty much bored of kangaroos.
But our closest encounter was back at the house. Timmins discovered this beauty and tried to inform Dr. O’C whilst she was on a telephone interview, an alert for which she wasn’t entirely grateful. He’s a blue-tongued lizard and I’m hoping that the garden hose as a scale bar will convince you that he’s a fairly hefty fellow. The dog was obsessed, but this particular reptrile’s defense mechanism - hissing and puffing up his body to about double it’s normal size - seemed to be an effective deterrent. Your narrator - fully whelmed.Still on the list - koala, platypus, wombat, dingo and all manner of madly toxic critters. A not-so-close encounter with the latter will be just fine with me.
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The only exciting part of my day is that I missed the train and was late for the first class of the week. (and if I dont get offline soon my second as well).
But I am not so sure how I would react to the wildlife, though your lizard friend is indeed most awesome (and I think the huffing and puffing is more effective than my iguana’s “if I close my eyes you go away” routine) the thought of spiders in your new chosen land makes me want to cry. The fuzzy over sized beasts that lived in Japan were admittedly a factor in me deciding not to renew my contract. (That and it was in my sweater for some close personal fuzzy contact).
Just not a spider fan. Bring on the lizards, but not the spiders.
26 May 2008 at 3:31 pm
It blows my mind that you are in a place where you spot kangaroos the way we do deer. You were brave to get out and photo him, too. I wouldn’t have. I once tried to get a semi-close range photo of a Canada goose, and it totally attacked me. Chased me for a full five minutes. That one instance pretty much ended my career in wildlife photography.
And the lizard?? Ew! I can’t believe you were happy to find that thing. Next you’ll be posting Steve Irwin-esque videos of you in the outback.
Jessica K’s last blog post..No Whoppers Needed
26 May 2008 at 4:35 pm
I hope you got a chance to look at his (her?) tongue!
RichM’s last blog post..Links for 2008-05-25 [ma.gnolia]
26 May 2008 at 4:54 pm
Seems like you got pretty close to that kangaroo! Personally, I would have been worried that it would have started boxing against me. That’s probably some exaggerated kind of myth about kangaroos, but it still would have been enough to make me keep my distance.
Jason’s last blog post..Exemplary food in not-so-exemplary locations
26 May 2008 at 4:55 pm
Oh yeah, and happy Memorial Day to you guys!
Jason’s last blog post..Exemplary food in not-so-exemplary locations
26 May 2008 at 4:55 pm
It would’ve been WAY cool if you could’ve put Zach in one of the pouch of that kangaroo.
26 May 2008 at 5:10 pm
BTW, that wuz sum terrble english.
26 May 2008 at 5:11 pm
I cannot imaging driving down the road and seeing all those kangaroos. But I am going to do without imagining finding one of those lizards in my yard. Ewww.
26 May 2008 at 9:06 pm
It’s always feast or famine, isn’t it? Searching like hell for something and then being inundated to the point of boredom. Glad you finally got your ‘roo fix taken care of. Otherwise, how lame to be in Oz that long and not have actually seen one.
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26 May 2008 at 11:46 pm
The first time I went to America (aged 17) I got so excited a seeing my first squirrel that I made a complete fool of myself. I whipped my camera out of my bag and started taking photos, much to the amusement of the locals.
Kangaroos are to Australia what squirrels are to America. They’re everywhere, and you get bored of them.
(I should clarify - they’re not sitting on fences, eating nuts, in the city. But if you live anywhere near the bush then you’ll see them everywhere. )
Trish’s last blog post..I’m gobsmacked.
27 May 2008 at 12:19 am
It would be a bit disturbing to see a kangaroo perched 40 feet up an oak tree…
27 May 2008 at 1:32 am
You saw kangaroos! Awesome!! I wouldn’t have gone into the yard with the lizard, though.
27 May 2008 at 1:46 am
Equally disturbing to see a 6 foot tall squirrel.
Are you calling me a fool, Trish? Thems fightin’ words in my neck of the woods…
27 May 2008 at 1:48 am
The quality of your pictures are amazing… What kind of camera do you have?
27 May 2008 at 3:52 am
Very interesting photos, Chris — especially that huffy-puffy lizard! Now, the fact that you referred to these critters as “exotic” is telling: You are still in the earliest stages of adapting to your new home. Once these critters no longer seem so exotic, you’ll know you’ve really arrived. (Here where I live we’re used to tourists who exclaim, “Isn’t that unusual?!” about so many things — to which the local response is, “Not for here…”)
Bobbie’s last blog post..WW #35 - Schooling Barracuda at Sipadan Island
28 May 2008 at 7:17 am
1) It would be equally disturbing for the kangaroo to be up an oak tree.
2) We have two blue tongued lizards in our backyard and two years ago we had a snake.
I win that hand.
3) I secretly still get excited by Australian wildlife, unless they are bouncing off the bonnet of my car and that is another story…..
arizaphale’s last blog post..News From the Salt Mines
28 May 2008 at 8:29 am
I saw that blue-tongued lizard on Attenborough’s ‘In Cold Blood’. They mate as a pair for life, apparently, or something like that. That’s all I have to add to the matter.
28 May 2008 at 5:43 pm
[…] despite my pessimistic inclinations, this weekend has turned out pretty damn well. I wrote a few days ago of my obsession with the local fauna here in Oz. Well, we ditched Zach for our first trip into the […]
01 Jun 2008 at 12:03 pm