Just as an update on Australian wildlife for overseas readers. Kangaroos (and Wallabies) are not the warm fuzzy little creatures they are portrayed to be. As a matter of fact, they are the Adventure Bike Riders arch enemy here in Australia, mainly due to their erratic behaviour.
Most riders avoid riding at night in particular, as this is when roos are most active. Morning and evening are also a dangerous times, as the roos are still feeding before the heat of the day sees them move off to find a shaded spot.
Even small roos are dangerous and most riders tell tales "Heart in Mouth" near misses. On a recent ride, on a particularly deep sandy trail, doing my very best to maintain momentum, I had three roos run out from the bush on my left. The first just avoided me, I hit the second hard with the front wheel and the third hit me square on, as he attempted to jump over me. He ended up straddling the bike and on my lap, before dropping back and running parallel with me, all the time whipping me with his tail....I ended up with some pretty severe bruising but fortunately managed to keep the bike upright and the power on!!!!.
Cursed myself for not having my helmet camera mounted, as, typically I received zero sympathy from my fellow riders, who though I made the story up!!!
Next day, I had a similar situation with a group of three small roos who decided to cross in front of me from the right. Probably doing around 80 K's at the time, and fortunately this time on a gravel road, so it was easier to back off to avoid them. Luckily I had my Drift Ghost Helcam mounted and the "Tag" feature enabled.....
Below are some frames of the close encounter... These are only little guys, but they can generate amazing speed and really hurt when they hit...Take a close look at their legs.......
I consider myself lucky that I have never had a close encounter with a really large roo to date, but have had several near misses with groups of Emu's....Now those guys scare seven shades of crap out of me..!!!....
