If you hit a wombat - think very large groundhog - it can actually flip your car. It's like hitting a rock.
And the spiders - there are a few here that are deadly, but in the main they are just big and scary. In fact, they think that some fatal sole car accidents with no obvious explanation are because someone has flipped down the sunvisor at 100 kilometers an hour and ended up with a large hairy brown spider in their lap. There is one called a Huntsman that is harmless but really scary looking. We were in our kayak on the lake when one suddenly crawled out of the hull compartment behind Debbie's back (but in front of me, as I was steering). I watched it start crawling forward and as soon as Debbie was apprised, the world was less one Huntsman, Half of him went into the lake, the other remained in the boat, and she needed to rinse her oar off. However in my defense, I have caught in the house and released outside about a dozen harmless spiders since we got here. They keep the insects down and I'm getting close enough to eternity that on Judgment Day I want a cheering section on my side.
Australians are very protective of their birds and they are not that crazy about people letting their cats roam. In fact there are some places (not Canberra) where you HAVE to keep the cat inside - there's even a special cage you can buy that lets the cat go outside yet keeps it confined. Apparently between feral cats and a specific type of aggressive Minah bird which goes after eggs, most of Sydney's songbird population is gone.
For that reason our two have been kept inside. There is also a real feral cat problem and having spent big buck to get the kitties here we're not interested in our cats getting any exotic diseases from feral cats.
The birds are beautiful - cockatoos - the big white ones with the yellow crest - are wild here, as are all kind of parrots you would only see in a pet shop in the States. We even saw a lyrebird - it has long feathery tail feathers that curl up at the ends - on Tasmania (ran right in front of the car and all three of us - Debbie, brother Jim, and I - simultaneously said "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" as it disappeared into the trees). Think roadrunner-crossed-with-a- female-peacock-kinda looking. Apparently we were very lucky to see it.
Anyway, here are some pictures of critters we have encountered/avoided (if we saw them first).
And I make SURE that the windows are rolled up on the cars in the garage.
A wombat that has ceased to be,
expired, joined the choir invisible, etc.
What they look like when they're
not "sleeping."
They actually carry those little metal bowls
around with them in the wild.
Juuuust kidding...
OK! OK!
The obligatory koala shot.
A flock of cockatoos
in the neighborhood.
And boy are these things loud!
For some reason, many Australians' dream is to retire to the country and raise alpacas. These were at a bed and breakfast and the owner inherited them from the previous owner who didn't know what to do with them either.
But then they have this miniature
pony to keep them company...
Yeah, I thought he was with the wombat, too. But actually he's the guard dog at the Joadja vineyard in Berrima and let's just say the tour groups were being just a little too free with their samples.
Jim and a brush-tailed opossum in Tasmania. He REALLY liked Jim's foot. Ahem.
This one was determined to get in the campervan with Debbie, who objected strenuously.
A pair of pademelons - (a kind of wallaby or small kangaroo) momma and her joey join us for breakfast. They also liked Debbie, who forbade us to go off to the bathroom and leave the van back door open ever again.
If they got any cuter I don't think I could stand it.
A wallaby. Looking bored.
On the right, a Tasmanian kangaroo.
On the left, Ohioanis Smokeraticus.
Both apparently awaiting feeding.
Yup. A Tasmanian Devil. These little
guys (not this one) are suffering
from a virus that causes
a facial cancer that slowly kills them.
All over Tasmania they are sequestering
the healthy ones until they can get it
under control. It's killed perhaps 80% of them.
That's a King Parrot.
It was hard to get him (Jim, not the parrot) to stand still for this.
A joey in the rumble seat.
It was tragic that this guy was being slowly eaten by Tasmanian devils while we watched.
We don't show his face to spare his family the anguish.
"Wrong-Way Joey" will probably
never recover from the merciless
teasing he receives from the other
kangaroos...
Emu and Debbie have a faceoff.
Guess who won.
Wedgetail Eagle. This one was a rescue, having flown into power lines
and was no longer able to fly. He and his two buddies have a nice little
bachelor pad enclosure with a view of the ocean.
"Don't feed the birds" I said.
"What harm could it do?" he said.
This is about three seconds into what became a mass feeding frenzy a la Alfred Hitchcock. The one on his head is the leader. I swear I saw him giving wing signals - he looked like a third base coach signaling a bunt.
These are lorikeets at Port Arthur in Tasmania.
I had to climb a tree to get Jim back.
Gaaaahhhh! That's your Huntsman spider in somebody's garage. I caught a smaller one of these in the house and sent it out into the neighborhood to make its way in the world.
