Kangaroo tails

 

The nightscape at the Peron homestead

 

The hills are alive out the back of the Peron homestead.  You can find red dust, bush, goat skulls, a heck of a lot of wildlife and an old Bilby enclosure only 300 metres away.  This was a successful program ran by DpaW as part of Project Eden. There is now proof on camera that the Bilby population is bouncing back from near extinction at Francois Peron National Park. We were told that there are several Bilbys still hanging around the old disused enclosures overlooking the homestead.

 

The old Bilby enclosures

Enter Mars and Jules – those semi-grey nomads that love the wildlife. ‘Let’s go Bilby spotting tonight!’ they say.  Armed with two massive torches we climb the hill in that eerie Australian night-scape and discover for ourselves how smart Bilbys are and do not appear when you want them to. Their ears are huge and they must have heard the virtual ‘boom-box’ footsteps of ours from miles away. Disappointed, we returned down the hill where we strolled past the goat enclosure. This is a fenced off area with two gates – it is there to capture and remove goats from the national park.

 

The goat enclosure with emus that just don't understand.

 

Shining our torches into the enclosure we spotted a mighty Euro kangaroo with bulging muscles sitting on the edge of the trough having a casual drink. Even though we were standing there for quite some time, at the entrance it was not noticing us at all. Suddenly it got spooked and hopped very fast toward us. I stepped forward and with arms in the air, I yelled ‘Whaaaa’!!!! This big missile jumped sideways very quickly and missed crashing into us by a mere whisker. As we are still thanking our lucky stars we soon realised we were under fire again, as a second, but smaller Euro flew towards us at breakneck speed missing myself by a hairs-width, but cannoned into Julie’s legs. Julie was scooped up into the air and for a couple of seconds was awkwardly-perched, balancing on top of the head of the briefly halted torpedo and gently slid down landing with an undignified thump to the ground while letting out an eardrum splitting squeal. Julie was obviously shaken but miraculously unhurt. While the Australian bowling champion hopped off into the darkness, I did the only thing a man (a nervous man) could do in this situation – have a really good (unappreciated) belly-laugh.

 

 





A kangaroo at dusk contemplating the next move

 

Please note the following story may be disturbing for some readers.



Fast forward two months where we are campground hosting for a couple of weeks at Canebrake Pool  near Margaret River. It is an early Saturday morning and we are driving to Busselton to participate in the Geographe Bay parkrun. We are both in a terrific mood and laughing about a Dutch couple we met the previous day who were very taken by the ’28 parrots’ that are common as mud in the south-west. Dutch accents are flying around in the car and when hilarity reaches its crescendo the grey back of a Kangaroo suddenly appears in front of us for a split second and immediately disappears with a “clonk” underneath the car. I pulled over straight away in a daze and remembered to switch on the hazard lights. My heart sinking as deep as it will go. I can hear Julie starting to sob uncontrollably “Oh, no, it has broken its leg” she said choking on the words. I think;  I can’t do this. I stepped out of the car and walk across the 20 metres of red slightly corrugated dirt track towards this amazing creature. She is on the ground writhing in circles trying desperately to get up.






I made the decision very fast and looked for a rock. After I found the right size (how do I even begin to know what the size should be?) I returned back to the car and turned all rear vision mirrors away from where Julie, who by know was seriously distraught, would not be painted a permanent brain image of her “man?” brutally killing a harmless, undeserving, native being. I walked back the 20 metres as if it was my green mile and stood over her. I placed my foot on her shoulder to turn her head sideways but I am surprised about the animals power as she struggles free. I can’t do this. The next image has been burned into my memory ever since. The roo is facing me now with her front paws extended towards me. She looks at me with those dark eyes and almost manicured eyelashes  straight into my soul as if to say” you are going to help me, aren’t you?” In my mind I violently steel myself to ignore this look and manage after several attempts to pin the roo down with my foot.  I can’t do this. Slowly my arm rises above my head. I look up at my hand and the white knuckles that are squeezed around the rock. I can’t do this. This is it Mars. I look at the side of her head and aim to kill for the first time in my life.

The end.

Dear reader, I have to interrupt this story and turn away the rear vision mirrors for you the same as I did for Julie. I hope what I ended up doing was the right thing for this exquisite animal and do not think it is necessary to describe the events any further.  


Grey Bits

 

I was driving seventy five kilometres per hour. Way below the legal speed limit when the car hit the roo. There was no time to avoid her. 
 
There is more risk when you are driving at dawn and dusk to hit our native wildlife. Try to plan your trip accordingly, please. 

Please check the pouch of a female Kangaroo for Joeys after an accident.

Give the pouch a good inspection
 

Do not put a wounded Kangaroo in your car. They are very strong and can easily hurt you or your family.

Do not corner a Kangaroo or Emu. They have an inbuilt fight or flight sense that triggers them to run in random directions. They will run straight into you as Julie can vouch for or they may hurt themselves sometimes fatally by crashing into walls, fences and cars. 




Emus panic too

  
We have bought sonic animal devices that emit a high frequency pitched sound that may prevent wildlife running towards a moving vehicle. You can purchase these whistles from any Auto shop.
Kangaroos cannot see very well but their hearing is sharp. Try yelling something when you want a Roo to take note.  Maybe a few profanities in roo lingo may do the job.

How would you feel if you had to kill a Kangaroo given the same situation? Are you prepared to do the job required? Do you know the best way to kill a kangaroo as humanely as possible? Would this be a life changing event for you?




A joey in full flight

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Walking with sharks: Day 1

 



 

 

I would love to explore planet Mars. What an exciting frontier and new landscape this would prove. Imagine walking in a weird gravitational floating movement. You could see rocks and craters no one has seen before. Would there be water or flowers or alien like animals. Unfortunately Jetstar has no scheduled flights to Mars and it may take a fair chunk out of your life to get there. Maybe it is better to come down to Earth.

On our planet most frontiers have been inundated with so-called civilization, most oceans have been navigated, land has been discovered and mountains have been scaled. To be ground breaking on this planet may take some lateral thinking and something off the wall.

How about walking around the Peron Peninsular? Lets say I walk from Denham to Monkey Mia but round Cape Peron for good measure.





A handy map of Francois Peron National Park

For two weeks I have discussed the idea of this hike with some of the prominent, knowledgeable people of Denham. The news is good. My local source has told me that there is no memory of such a hike ever been attempted. I am immediately warned that there isn't any car access in many of the parts of the national park. I will be on my own out there, must carry my own water and phone reception will be scarce. Right!!! This is the hard man Bear Grills hike I need to do .........

"and fast"

This is the story of a semi-grey nomad's attempt to circumnavigate the Peron Peninsular, hiking mainly on the beaches from Denham to Monkey Mia. 


Day One: Big Lagoon to Little Lagoon. 




A bearded dragon spotted on the way

"Yer got to walk to that third dune on the left." I was told with a pair of binoculars pressed to my face. Precious information from someone who has walked these parts on many occasions. "Middle bluff is hard to get around as there is thick mud and lotsa mangroves" said my source of information in ocker 'Strayan'. After a warm "goodluck" I set off for Little Lagoon on a ridge overlooking its bigger brother Big Lagoon.





"See that third dune on the left?" 

The first couple of km's I spend finding my way through shoulder high bush on kangaroo trails. At times I had to go back and find another trail to go towards that third dune. Sometimes there was no way forward other than to push through some of these low scrubs. Branches were cracking, snapping underfoot and brushing past my legs. As I am a novice hiker in this area I did not recognise the scrubs that had sharp thorns. The long trousers I was wearing soon were punctured several times scratching my legs till they bled.

An untouched round birrida

 

 

 

A small birrida or clay pan appeared at the foot of a hill and gave my legs some respite from the assault on my legs as birridas are flat and only low scrub grows on them.





A flower growing on a birrida

After two arduous kilometres I arrived at the tidal inlet where walking became easy on hard flat sand. Rather than walking way-around a large lake I thought it was smart to cross the tidal stream that flowed into it. I leapt up high, far and with camera in hand and landed beautifully at the other end. My foot stomped into the other shore as it should, however, the supposedly hard expected sand wasn't there. A smelly, grey, muddy mess squirted up with force and covered most of my legs, outstretched arm and camera. I spent the next half hour cleaning up my camera with the inside of my shirt, the only part not covered in sulphur smelling goo. Literally a semi-grey nomad I continued to battle more bush and dragged myself over some dunes to finally hit the beach.

 


The point of entry to the beach

The beach was like a walk in the park. That lovely solid summer breeze of Shark Bay was blowing freely into my face. It was low tide which left me with a wide strip of hard sand to get into cruise mode walking style. The shoes came off and I walked some time through the cool, refreshing, ankle deep water. Suddenly I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Only metres away from me.........a shark??!! Wait a minute - there is another one - and another. When life returned back to my extremities and my mouth had closed again, I quickly stepped back on to dry land and gave my camera a fair work out.



A shark only a couple of metres away

While I continued walking some of the sharks stayed next to me.

I am walking with sharks. Priceless!!!

These sharks, I was later informed, were nervous sharks. They were a maximum of a metre and a half long and shot away as soon as I came anywhere near them. Because I have lots of time when hiking I attempted to count the amount of sharks I spotted that afternoon but gave up after one hundred.



All these black spots are sharks

After a couple of hours walking over tremendous beaches, the tide had reached its lowest point. In the distance I could see the golden sand dunes of Dirk Hartog Island. An Emu was strolling, pecking at bush tucker along the beach coming towards me. When eventually the bird spotted me it became panic stricken and in a flap, sprinted past me on the empty mudflat bringing some much needed comic relief from a hard day at the office.






Flight of the flightless

All animals are nervous today.

 

I turned left off the beach and followed the tidal river to and around Little Lagoon. Another little gem in this harsh land. Julie was waiting at the Eastern side of Little Lagoon and in the car to take this weary hiker home. As I sat down she immediately pulled up her nose when she smelled the semi-grey mud covering my clothes. Eaah. You smell!!

Just another day's work for a nomad.

 

 

Grey Bits


Little Lagoon is a great picnic spot and great for walking short distances. Crossing the tidal river here is not recommended due to stonefish lurking in the shallows. 

 

Please note, that this hike around the peninsular is through very wild, uninhabited country. In my opinion it is not advisable to attempt this hike without a support team or proper communication devices like a satellite phone or  EPIRB. Hiking experience is a must.




TDugong bones I stood on accidently

The opening photo is of Big Lagoon and Middle Bluff.

Let the Department of Parks and Wildlife  know where you are going to be and when you plan to return. Phone (08) 9948 2226 or click on the following links www.sharkbay.org, www.dpaw.wa.gov.au for more information of the area.

The best time to walk around the Peron Peninsular is at low tide. You can check the tide at www.seabreeze.com.au