When I visited Costa Rica a few years back I was determined to see monkeys. No matter what I did, where I went, or when I did it, not a monkey was to be found. So I left monkeyless. But I was determined to see a bona fide wild kangaroo before I left Australia.
So the hotel in the Blue Mountains told me where to go. Wait until dusk or dawn (I chose dusk), go up the highway, turn left on this, right on that, keep going until I reached a gate and couldn't go any further then kangaroos! Voila.
I'd gone for a hike that day, and as anyone who knows me fairly well will tell you, I am (some say compulsively) well prepared. Earlier that day I'd taken all my safety stuff, flashlight, first aid
kit, good boots, water, spare food, the works. I came back to the hotel envisioning a car ride to
kangaroos and back and changed into my G-Star jacket and fancy shoes
and off I went on my merry way - also forgetting my cellphone. Not a
flashlight or sensible piece of clothing anywhere in sight for my
"kangaroo hunt".
Off I went. Turned left, turned right...and 20km of switchbacks to the valley floor later and about 8km of dirt road I reached the aforementioned "gate". The more dirt road I discovered and the "duskier" it got, and the fewer (I mean none actually) people I saw the more I wondered if I was going to become a made for TV movie. But did I turn back? Hell no, that would've made too much common sense. Effectively I was driving out into the bush in a Hertz Toyota Camry rentacar on over 8km of dirt road into the middle of nowhere. Did I mention it was getting dark, that I really didn't know where I was going or what I was doing? But I wanted wild kangaroos and was on a mission. I am subsquently going to have to explain why the car looks like it has been on a desert rally when it wasn't supposed to leave the tarmac. I was able to get a short video of some kangaroos near where I parked the car.
There were two gates to go through actually that you had to open and close behind you. At the second one I got out, expecting about another 2km (according to the last sign) to the place I wanted to be with the "kangaroos".
As I approached the gate three fucking kangaroos (which I later found out were wallabies since they were smaller with black faces) took off like bats out of hell from right behind it scaring the shit out of me and took off up the hill to my left. Once I finishing crapping my pants I turned around and looked for them and proceeded to crap my pants some more. The hillside was spotted with probably 20 kangaroos (and they were kangaroos since they were BIG) all sitting up on their hind legs, ears in the air, staring at me. Me! It reminded me of "The Hills Have Eyes" or something. I wasn't sure whether to jump back in the car or what. But they just stared me down for a while, then took off up the hill.
So of course I turned back having seen wild kangaroos. Not! So through the gate I went, a few more kms I got to the end of the road. And low and behold there were a whole bunch more kangaroos hanging out grazing until I disturbed them.
I parked the car (or rather abandoned it) and decided to walk into the brush for a bit down a
trail - like I hadn't already driven down a long dirt road as it was getting
dark, I was now going to actually walk into the bush in my fancy shoes - I
have a lot of common sense apparently. I disturbed yet some more kangaroos who took off and then watched me from up in the hillside. They are actually incredibly hard to spot when they are standing still, which they do a lot. So I planted my butt behind a tree and waited to see what would happen as it got darker. Some tiny bats started flying around which were very cool. Mostly what happened is that I got more freaked out. There were snaps of wood breaking behind me, and rustles out to my left, then some cockatoo's took off screaching and some more pant crapping occurred. At which point I decided that I should get back to the car while I could still see my hand in front of my face.
By the time I reached the car it was full-on dark, and some thump, thump, thud, thud, rustle sounds told me that a bunch of kangaroos took off. Once in the car I noticed how dark it was, that I was at the end of over 20km of switchbacks and dirt road, that I hadn't seen a soul in a LONG time, so I locked the doors. I guess I thought I was going to get car-jacked by a wallaby who wanted to joyride in a rented Toyota Camry.
The one thing about being out there is that it is so dark the stars are easily visible. This southern (I think) star popped right out before it was even dark, very cool.
On the way back I startled a wombat walking by the side of the dirt road minding his own business, who gave me a dirty look for a few seconds then seamlessly reached the lower branches of a tree in my headlights in the blink of an eye. He sat there watching me, and he was SO cute. They are very nice to watch. I tried to take a picture, and against what I would normally do with an animal, I used the flash. Bad. So you'll see a very dark picture with two little eyes staring back at me.
I reached the hotel safe and sound. Operation Kangaroo - Mission Accomplished.
