Shooting Wombats

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Blog Day – 967

Yippee it’s Saturday and some hard earned downtime awaits us. Except that as usual Saturday brings with it a flurry of activity that we need to do in order to prepare for the week ahead, so once all the chores are done, the washing is hanging, the groceries are bought and stacked away Andy came up with the bright idea that we should go and shoot some Wombats.

Last weekend Andy popped out to the Brindabella’s to meet a friend of his who was spending a long weekend in “the cave” (those of you who have read Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars may be familiar with this term).

Andy drove out to the Brindabella’s and found them; however that is not all he found, there were wombats in abundance.

He was so excited about the Wombats when he returned that of course we had to head back out there, but the timing had to be right, it was late afternoon still daylight, so with a flask of hot water, plenty of teabags and some sandwiches off we set into the Brindabella’s.

Not to mention of course that we had to make sure we were suitably attired for the very cold weather and it would be cooler up in the Brindabella’s.

No sat nav or map required, we know exactly where we are headed and wind our way out of Canberra and up into the mountain range. The ground got wetter and there were infrequent tiny amounts of frozen snow on the road side, the view was different than the last time I was up here, probably more than a year ago when we came into Canberra to see Susan.

Then it was hot, bone dry and very very dusty. There were still trees up to the track line, but now most of those trees had gone revealing the incredible view across the Brindabella’s and not to mention the long drop off the edge!

Along the way, we round a corner and startle a kangaroo, it is a big one, but it bounds straight into the bush a few more corners and another kangaroo is startled but this one just bounds down the track, we follow, it seems unperturbed by us and eventually turns off.

Sometime later we turn into Brindabella Valley Road, we see the river where the mist is already rising creating a somewhat mysterious atmosphere as it creeps across the field in the opposite paddock.
Andy explained about the Bull that was fast asleep on the side of the track when he drove past last week, thankful that he did not disturb it, Bulls can be upset easily and will have no issue charging a vehicle and writing it off.

Within seconds I shout at Andy to stop, I think I see a wombat, but the now low light conditions could be playing tricks with my eyes, it could be a bush but he slowly reverses back and there it is a single wombat standing just on the other side of the fence, very still. I wonder if he thinks we have not seen him if he does not move, almost frozen on the spot. We make a move to walk away and he soon scurries down the very large wombat hole, one of many in a small spot!

Further down the track we drive, the terrain looks beautiful, albeit low light, it is so tranquil, there are a couple of houses nearby but far enough away to make this area quite private. We proceed down a small slope in the track, there is another wombat, we pull up, I slide out of the truck with my camera,

Andy has a torch, the wombat duly obliges and stays perfectly still near the entrance to his home. I capture a couple of shots (with my camera of course – you guys should know us well enough buy now – we wouldn’t really shoot a wombat!) as usual we both stand and stare in awe of nature.
After a while we decide that we should leave him alone and look for another wombat.

The low light easily plays tricks on one’s mind, but a shadow catches my eye as it seemed to belt across the dark landscape. Sure enough another wombat, this one was running fast and there was no way we were going to be able to observe. So we move on again.
Its amazing, a creature, probably weighing in excess of 40 Kilo’s with such short stumpy legs, can run so fast.

We suddenly realise that there are a good few wombats hanging around the landscape, but these do not want to stay still. We park up next to the river, the night is cold, the dark has descended leaving a cloak of shiny stars in the sky. Both feeling hungry we break out the sandwiches and watch the landscape, very difficult of course as it was pitch black out there, but we listened hard and apart from the babbling river we heard nothing.

Sitting in the truck, every now and again, we flick the spot lights on just briefly to see if any more have walked across the landscape.

Eventually we head on and this time we see two wombats, one of which runs away and the other stands still. Again I grab my camera and with stealth I slide out of the truck, followed by Andy and we watch this spectacular huge creature, a few photos later he disappears into the large wombat hole.

We think he is gone, but we wait a while and then we see a little face appear at the top of the hole, this cheecky wombat is spying on us, and there he stays not daring to come out and greet us. We do the decent thing and switch the torch off, standing in the pitch black for a few moments we hear a noise, Andy flicked the torch back on and we find that our wombat has snuck past us and is heading up the slope on the other side of the track and is doing a runner!

Ok, so we have been fooled by a Wombat, but it is time to head back home and get warm, back in the truck we make a slow retreat back down the track looking for likely suspects on the way, but by then the only ones we see are the cows, the wombats have vanished.

Back up the mountain road keeping an eye out for wildlife and very soon we hit the bitumen and were back in Canberra.

We were both pleased that we had seen several wombats and of course lucky enough to get some good photo’s. At home we arrived in time to see a film that we had seen originally in Darwin nearly 2 years ago “The Boy in Striped Pyjamas” so we settled down in the warmth to watch it.

Sunday morning, is as usual busy again, Andy is preparing the truck as It goes in tomorrow, (Monday 4th July for the new winch to be fitted.

We load our bikes on to the back of the truck, tie them on and head to lake Burley Griffin, where we want to go and have a cycle.

Boy its pretty cold, but we complete the circuit, re load the bikes and grab a coffee before we head home.

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Photos

Here looking at you
being spied upon by a Wombat

Brindabella Wombat
The prettiest creatures