Busting Australian Myths

My grandson Zach feeding a few friendly park Euros. (a small type of scrub roo)


What everyone wants to see, a baby still in the pouch. Yep, thats his feet hanging out above his head, if youre thinking he's too big to be still in the pouch you'd be right...lazy sucker


Me patting and filming at the same time, she's hoping for food which is why she's straining to sense food coming. (she's out of luck...and fat enough already)



The humble Kangaroo, you will have seen the ‘Boxing Kangaroo’ in TV and theater productions but that is far from the norm, sure they will kick the stuffing out of you IF you annoy them long enough, but the Kangaroo is generally a friendly and gentle animal. This makes it a much loved icon of Australia.
Personally I really love the Kangaroo, we’ve raised a few joeys over the years (car crash survivors) and I've had a bit to do with our local wildlife park. They make great pets (believe it or not) and can be house trained quite easily.
Female Roos are always gentle creatures IF you don’t threaten them or corner them. Because they cant move backward they hate being confronted head on where they see no escape route, if you approach them side on so they can leave if they want, you will find they will stay most times.
The males however are a different story, they sense when a female is menstruating and that is their signal for breeding. The problem is that they cant tell the difference between female Roos and females of the human type. Female humans accompanied by male humans are fair game in their eyes and the male human will be challenged and beaten up. (Can you see where I’m going with this?...good, cause I’ll stop here then)
I made the mistake of gently pushing a male Roo off a picnic table we wanted to use one day. Because my wife was on her period he took that as a challenge and proceeded to attack me. Those of us used to handling Roos know that all you have to do is grab his tail and keep moving him slowly backward to prevent him getting the upper hand. Weight for weight I had a few pounds on him but he had great stamina and forced me to drag him around for nearly an hour before I managed to drag him into a toilet block and lock him in. By then I was pretty much knackered.
I never did find out what happened to the next guy that made the mistake of opening that loo…



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Down on the farm

There was a Texan farmer here in Australia for a vacation. Randy, up and goes to see an Aussie farm.  There he meets Glen, an Aussie farmer and the two farmers get to talking.  With pride the Aussie shows off his big wheat field and the Texan says, 'Oh yeah.  We have wheat fields that are at least twice as large as that.'
Then they walk around the station a little, and Glen shows off his herd of cattle. Randy immediately says, 'We have longhorns that are at least twice as large as your little cows.'
Feeling a little insulted the Aussie farmer takes the Texan to see his best and tallest trees. Walking through the thick forest the Texan looks around a little and states ‘In Texas the trees grow twice as big as these twigs’.
The two wonder on, the conversation has, meanwhile, almost died when the Texan sees a big mob of kangaroos hopping through the field. Taken aback he asks, '...And what are those?'
The Aussie replies with an incredulous look, 'Don't you have any grasshoppers in Texas.'

Glen Forest

One of my favorite places is Glen Forest Farm near Port Lincoln in South Australia.
It’s a tourist farm that specializes in close encounters with native animals and I’ve been bringing my girls here for many years. These days my girls are mothers themselves and we still like to visit now and then to expose the grandkids to the experience.
D3 (my youngest) took her own son recently for his first visit, as you can see, he had the best time. We also took her daughter (miss 2) who didn’t like the animals one bit….It will be better next time. She did provide many good laughs though as she freaked every time an animal came close. At one point a huge, nasty, vicious Budgerigar landed on her knee which had her convinced she was in danger of her life.
I’ve known the Kangaroos pictured since many of them were joeys themselves and now they have their own young. These are Wallabies or Euros which live in scrub or bushland and are similar but smaller than the much larger Red and Blue desert Kangaroos. As you can see they’re really quite friendly as are most Roos, so long as you don’t corner or threaten them.
Kangaroos have a sweet tooth and we always bring some dried fruit mixed with grain and animal pellets, this ensures you get plenty of new friends. The fences you see are to prevent the Roos following you around all day, not to lock them up in any way. They have safe places they can retreat to if they feel uneasy or threatened. (Usually by unsupervised children)
Of course you will be familiar with news stories of Roos kicking the shit out of people, but this only ever happens if they are mistreated or cornered. Kangaroos can’t hop or walk backwards so if you get in their face or surround them they panic with unfortunate results.
The aviary at Glen Forest is huge to say the least, about eight years ago there was a huge fire in the area with many people lost to the flames, smoke suffocated the parks thousands of birds before they could be released. It’s taken a long time to breed up the birds again and there is still a long way to go but what birds there are have already become friendly. The parrots you see all prefer the dried fruit mix and are happy to land all over you to get at the food treats. With a full belly they sit and preen your hair for ages, parting the strands and untangling any knots with great dexterity.
D3 has loved the aviary since her first time here when she was four (18 years ago) and she’s happy to sit for hours with the birds making friends and feeding them. Many of these birds are still quite shy, but in the end they all come to her for a feed.
There are many more animals including Emu, Dingo, Koala, Bulls, Cows, Buffalo, Camel, Peacock, Rabbits etc, etc. A more complete set of pics can be seen at my Flickr site if you’re interested.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28816913@N08/



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