hippity, hoppitty and just plain ungainly!

[ucci]

We all have been well over exposed to captures of 'tame' roos innocuously posing in parks earning their keep by encouraging tourists to visit and help keep the cash box full.
So how many get to see 'roos using one's driveway as a thoroughfare on a regular basis?
Thanks for stopping by to have a look at what is a pretty common sight here. We have to drive carefully and give right of way especially when driving in at night. They are definitely road hogs and I suspect prone to a hissy fit of road rage if their right of way were to be challenged by us.
And as for all the carry on about the overwhelming snow, freezing rain and gale force, bone chilling winds being so catastrophic up in the Northern hemisphere? Kid stuff. If you want to know about serious catastrophes let me tell you about ours. We wanted a simple upgrade in phone and internet service. Piece of cake we were told, all up and running in a the swish of a fan dancer's fan. Yeah! Well, we were without house phones and internet for nearly two weeks, two bloody whole weeks, before they got it right. Now that is what I would call a disaster of major magnitude! Thank goodness it was considered merely a minor hiccup quickly remedied. Image if it had been classified as a serious major service difficulty. Bitter wars have been fought over less!

[FootLoose]

Nice shots, Ken. It think I have seen that last one on a coin.

[IzzieK]

Beautiful ones, Ken...Do you have "Kangaroo Crossing" signs over there? I am asking because I have never seen one. Here in the US we have "Deer Crossing" signs. My stepson encountered a deer accident and it nearly totalled his little Subaru. Call came through at around 1:30am about an hour from North Dakota area. That is about 15+ hours from where we live here. I have never heard of a "Kangaroo accident"...

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[flashback]

Well, at least in Oz you expect to see these critters. Imagine seeing one...well, for example in Northeastern U.S.

I was working a job one day, motor vehicle accident. One of the cops on scene was dispatched to a local country club for a animal complaint. When he returned to the MVA scene he was laughing, and told us some of the grounds people said they had seen a kangaroo hopping across the golf course. We all had a good laugh at that, cleared the scene and that was the end of that.

A month or so later my nephew, coming home in the wee hours of the morning, told friends and others that he saw a kangaroo cross the road in front of him (remember, this is Connecticut, New England, Northeast U.S.). Needless to say everyone came to the same conclusion regarding his 'seeing a kangaroo.'

Flash forward a couple of months; police respond to a motor vehicle vs. 'animal'. Animal was identified as a red kangaroo. Turns out, someone in CT had been keeping a 'roo as a pet, it got away and roamed the countryside for a few months before it met its (un)timely demise.

My point? When you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras. You're in Oz, kangaroos are an expected traffic hazard. In Connecticut, not so much.

All the above being said, great pics and exactly where I'd expect to see them. Just imagine coming up your driveway and running into a White tailed Deer. Now THAT would be a story.

[TonyW]

I know lots of people who have had their cars damaged by hitting a kangaroo and in the country areas there are often dead ones on the road. Talked to a roar train driver once who said that when he hits a kangaroo he does not notice but if he hits a cow he feels a slight bump. The road trains are like big semi-trailers with two extra trailers.

Ken, you should have started a book on that lot. Anyhow, they are nice pictures. The one on the left in the last picture looks as though it just stood on a bindi-eye.

[wilgk]

Oh now now, not to worry, I'm sure the dude who gets us all up and running on a nice fast national broadband network, will get a knighthood & all these woes will be forgotten...
now as for the pictures, terrific work in particular the last is really alive! well done

[IzzieK]

You mean...the folks at Telstra? My eldest son used to be a programmer there. Now he is with WorkSafe Australia. They pay better too.

Good idea about a book on the roos Kay...Ken has a little one he is taking care of right now. The last one grew up and left his care...I wonder how big (tall) that baby is now, Ken...???

[NorthernFocus]

Ungainly and then some. It really is amazing that an entire nation of seemingly intelligent folk can be proud of such creatures. For they are clearly born of unnatural acts carried out between deer and rabbits originally imported by early European settlers. Subjected to living in an inverted geometry and fed on the biproducts of distilleries, they interbred. It's no wonder you teach your children revisionist history to cover up such scandalous doings. Evolution indeed!

[ucci]

Ungainly and then some. It really is amazing that an entire nation of seemingly intelligent folk can be proud of such creatures. For they are clearly born of unnatural acts carried out between deer and rabbits originally imported by early European settlers. Subjected to living in an inverted geometry and fed on the biproducts of distilleries, they interbred. It's no wonder you teach your children revisionist history to cover up such scandalous doings. Evolution indeed!

You could be probably right on the money here with your hypothesis Dan. And I will agree that when scrabbling around feeding roos are a not a pretty sight, being very ungainly, as you say. But see them fully extended in flight, bounding across an open field, and they are pure poetry in motion.

And as for your ancestral denigration of their evolutionary pathway, we have quite a few big bucks here who stand over 6 foot and who have expressed a keen interest in having a face to face discussion with you on this matter.

As a totally irrelevant point. Two animals are featured on the Australian Coat of Arms. One is the kangaroo, the other is the emu. And they were chosen for this honour specifically for making the point that they, and us I guess by inference, are not capable of moving backwards, only in a forward direction. At least in the case of the roo and the en]mu this is true. Not to sure if it applies to the rest of us Down Under

[NorthernFocus]

...And as for your ancestral denigration of their evolutionary pathway, we have quite a few big bucks here who stand over 6 foot and who have expressed a keen interest in having a face to face discussion with you on this matter...

Well that's not good. Considering we already have tickets for another visit. I guess we'll avoid Victoria.

If it will help I can go into a dissertation on the geneology of moose

I completely agree regarding the transformation in appearance when those rascals get in a hurry. They really are unique creatures.

[FootLoose]

Yes, the Europeans had the world completely figured out. There was a place for everything and everything was in its place. And then they came to Australia, where the wildlife hadn't heard of Linnaeus' System Naturae and completely confounded all the categories. Giant Hopping Fawns, beavers with duck bills, trees that shed their leaves in summer and, of all things, BLACK swans!! But of course, we up here in the land of Oz all know that the flora and fauna down there in the northern hemisphere are but the degenerated descendants of the pure stock in Australia.

[IzzieK]

.....As a totally irrelevant point. Two animals are featured on the Australian Coat of Arms. One is the kangaroo, the other is the emu. And they were chosen for this honour specifically for making the point that they, and us I guess by inference, are not capable of moving backwards, only in a forward direction. At least in the case of the roo and the en]mu this is true. Not to sure if it applies to the rest of us Down Under

Ken that is a very nice thought...

Dan, Victoria is a very beautiful place that is why I chose to live there instead of Sydney. I wasn't sorry. Ken my house is in Sandringham across Beach Road pretty much across the marina there. My youngest son is taking care of it but I will be staying at MacLeod this time around because of my grandchild.