January 8, 2008
It was six in the morning when they came thumping through the gum tree forest--quickly crunching over dead leaves and branches. Because of the speed, my first thought was wolves were running toward us. (I was tired.) I was re-packing, sitting cross-legged inside the tent and Leah was standing by the mesh door. Before I could react, four large, gray kangaroos jumped into view about 20 feet from the tent. We must have surprised them too, since a smaller one glanced toward us and veered into another (mama and baby?) before they all corrected their course, and just as fast, they were gone. We smiled to each other, speechless for a moment. Now we were definitely in Australia.
Before this encounter it was difficult to remember we were on the other side of the world. Melbourne was flattish, hot, dry, and overtly Western--it reminded me of home, not just the US, but Vegas. Hidden in a few Melbourne streets there are even casinos! We spent a few days readjusting from Asia and rediscovering clean public spaces, gardens, museums, clean public toilets (with hot water, soap and paper!) and massive supermarkets. Then, we went for a hike in the woods--specifically, along the Lerderderg river in a state park of the same name. And, here's the thing, until we saw the kangaroos, we could have been in any arid forest in the western US. Although, in fairness, there were plenty of new animals to discover.
In addition to the large gray kangaroos, there were smaller, dark brown kangaroos. And early on, we starting seeing stocky, white birds flying over, but couldn't identify them. On the second day I finally saw one close-up, perched on a branch. It was a cockatoo. I wouldn't have been more surprised to see a pack of wild poodles run by us. I had naively thought that cockatoos were only pets. Turns out, they're found in the wild in large flocks and extremely noisy. It was beautiful to see them free. There were other parrots and bugs and a monotreme called an echidna, basically a spiked football-shaped mammal.
I could go on, but wouldn't it be more fun to just look at our latest pictures:
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