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Published: August 16th 2009
DAY 282
Warning !! Do not go and taste a Kangaroo without Killing it, then cooking it, as they will get very annoyed and are liable to punch you, then kick you in to next week, and we do no condone the mistreatment of Kangaroo’s in way.
We woke up to a beautiful warm morning, the sun was doing its bit, and our day was getting warmer. Sitting around having brecki and looking at Kangaroojack’s web site we were pleased to see that this month we have had nearly 100 hits a day.
We spoke to our neighbours who were packing up; they are from Launceston in Tasmania, one of my favourite places. They also had been star gazing last night and had enjoyed the evening, we told them about the software program we use, Stellarium, and they said they would down load it and give it a go. They were on their way with only a month left of their trip and we wish them safe travels.
We decided we wanted to go and have a walk and better get our skates on as if yesterday’s temperature was anything to go by then it was
going to be a hot one. We did not want to do a long one as Caroline was unwell yesterday and neither of us ate very much so we didn’t really have the energy, but nonetheless there is a part of Australia here that needs exploring.
On with our boots, hat and sunnies, Caroline grabbed her camera bag and I got our day pack and put a first aid pack in just in case, well if Caroline is out walking then anything could happen. Oh nearly forgot the most important part of the hiking kit, water and plenty of it!! The area we are in is huge, and sensibly you have to register when going on a walk, and you “must” to stick to the tracks.
If you remember a week or so ago when we saw the dead Taipan on the road, well this was nearly just out side the entrance to Undara, which is only 15k’s down the road to the main Highway, so it may be possible to come across a snake that may spoil your day quite easily.
Steve, the snake man at Bedrock, said the Taipan was the most venomous land snake
on the planet and the longest time to death recorded was an hour, so prudence is “our watch word”.
We registered in the visitors book and set off, the heat on the day at 11.00 am had started to rise.
Our chosen track was the Bluff Circuit with modifications as we were going to detour up to Basalt ridge, walking along the edge of the swamp. Before we left Dagmaar had said our intended route might be good to spot Birds, Butterflies and possibly Kangaroo’s, so we walked in hope.
The rainbow Lorikeets were out in force today, we had earlier seen three of them grabbing hold of the stand pipe sipping the water, their colours are quite extraordinary, so vibrant, there were just dozens flying around making a racket and landing in the orange bottle brush.
Red tailed Black Cockatoo’s were busily squawking in the tree’s making mischief, there is no getting away from it whatever a Cockatoo does they always seem to be up to mischief.
We got to the intersection on the main track and turned right toward the Basalt Ridge, it was only about a kilometre each way detour and the
swamp look fantastic, little ducks were lazily bobbing up and down on the ripples and we wondered if the roo’s would hop down to the waters edge as it is a good source for them.
A couple of Blue Winged Kookaburra’s flew past and landed in different tree’s and made their distinctive sound, their blue feathers are just so fantastic.
Arriving at the ridge, we could not go any further as the track had petered out, so we took a swig from our water bottles, turned around 180 degree’s and started back.
When walking my mind wanders, it is nice to be able let your mind just drift, thoughts of wandering through the bush and meeting a snake kept creeping in, thinking about what kind of snake it may be.
We get back to where were started to detour and carried on, along the swamp track and it was quite evident the end of the swamp was nearly adjacent to us, the grass was so green, obviously irrigated form the water still in the swamp we stood and looked over at 5 Roo’s that were just grazing, A mother and Joey were grazing together, one was
just lying under a tree, and the big male stood up right stretched his neck, turned his big ears forwards and focused in on us. As we moved he watched, you do realise that these creatures are far from daft, they know you are there, whispering is pointless, they will watch you for as long as you watch them, in many respects they watch you for longer.
He is probably saying under his breath these are my girls, and you just bugger off.
Research taken from the Internet.
Social Order
Kangaroos travel in mobs of about ten or more males and females. The leader of the mob, called a "boomer", is a male determined by age and size. The boomer has access to females in his mob for mating and will wander around the mob intimidating any other males who try to mate with his harem This big Kangaroo kept his eye on us all the way along the track, though we were 50 Meters away it would have only taken him a couple of bounds and he would have been on top of us in a flash. If we had posed any kind of threat, he
would have indicated to his harem to bounce off.
What noise do Kangaroo’s make? This was a question I posed to Caroline, we both thought for some while and agreed that we had not ever heard a Roo make a noise, not knowingly anyway.
I did a bit of Internet research to try to solve this question, and this is what I found: Kangaroos don't make too much noise, they make grunts, small barks, and coughing sounds. Females may use a variety of clicks and clucks to call their babies, but normally they communicate by thumping their feet We walk past and out of site of the first five; our eyes are tuned in looking in the lush grass for more Kangaroo’s and by the time our walk was over we had seen 14, the most we have seen (alive) in one go in quite a long while.
Arriving back at the reception we sign ourselves back in “Safe and Sound” and wander back to our camp for an easy afternoon.
It is an easy afternoon, the usual tea, Sudoku, Mahjong, I had a nana nap, which I just love, we fed the birds the
Undara Tent Set Up
You can have a pre set up tent, which are nicely off the ground if you have a nervous disposition.Pied Currawongs were trying for capitalize on all the bread but this little black and white bird (Pied Butcherbird, blind in one eye) could catch the balls of bread I was rolling in my fingers in mid air, it was fascinating.
Caroline tells me that she was watching this Pied Butcherbird this afternoon, it came into camp under the awning and fluffed its feathers out to bathe in the sun, she realized it was blind when it tried to reach its head right round to watch her, as she took photos of it.
The rest of the afternoon whizzed by and after our showers it was time for some dinner, as we hadn’t had anything for lunch. We had a pack of Kangaroo steaks in the freezer (kindly given to us by Darryl and Sarah, they were keen for us to try it), which had been taken out to defrost, so I boiled potatoes and sweet potatoes, Caramelized an onion, and did carrot batons, we soon rustled up an excellent meal. While I cooked a Rufus Betong was hanging around the bushes behind our camp.
I got the feeling Caroline was not that keen on the idea
of Kangaroo steaks, but she did clear the plate slowly (was also the first proper meal after being unwell yesterday). I will say that I don’t think it quite has the rounded flavour of lamb or beef but I did think it was good.
Caroline was worried about being interrogated by a Kangaroo whilst out on one of our walks and being asked if we had eaten one of his mates, though this has never happened with cows or sheep that we know.
Some interesting Kangaroo facts: Kangaroo is 98% Fat Free, High in protein, iron and zinc and low in saturated fat, High in Iron and Gluten Free, good for you and the environment, also contains linolic acid which reduces blood pressure. Methane emissions from farm animal’s account for 15% of Australia’s green house production.
Way back when we were in the UK, I heard on the radio that 11% of Methane Gas in Australia was produced by cattle, Kangaroo in fact only produce 3% Methane Gas and if Australians ate more Kangaroo meat it would be better for the environment. Apparently there are 40,000,000 (40 Million) nomadic Kangaroo’s in Australia. I have never heard a
Kangaroo “f*rt” so who ever the “clever dicky” is who (A) has counted the Kangaroo’s and (B) heard one f*rt is a better bloke than I am (or stood there and measured the f*art)
Kangaroo’s need less food than sheep or cattle, and are better adapted to drought and are far less damaging to the fragile topsoil than their sharply hoofed sheep or cattle counterparts.
I am a huge meat lover and always being very partial to beef, lamb and pork, and was interested in trying a “bit of Roo”, the strange thing is, is that I am an animal lover as well, is this Hypocrisy?
We had a couple of important e-mails and Skype sessions to do and with all that out the way it was soon 10.40pm well past our bedtime.
The night was warm and we snuggled down in to our sleeping back, Caroline said she heard the Rufus Betong in the night but I certainly didn’t.
So until tomorrow bloggers, should we be spared?.
As an after thought we had passed huge wind turbines in the Atherton Tablelands which is an absolutely beautiful place, and I don’t need to point
out that these turbines do spoil the landscape.
So surly then it must be possible to power some kind of generator with the Methane gas that Cows produce.
Equally it would be no good to have the Generator powered by Sheep or Roo’s, as their Methane production is that much less.
Just a thought
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Mum and Dad
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Kangaroos and Emus
Hiya. I must say that I think we should be eating kangaroos as well as emus which we did eat in South Africa and found it to be delicious. Wasn't so keen on their biltong though. It would all be very good for us on our cholesterol lowering diets. Happy Wedding Aniversary for the 18th. Lots of love Mum and Dad xxxx