Kangaroos: The Unofficial Symbol of Australia

Roadkill!  Since our arrival in Australia, as we drive we anxiously continue to scour the landscape for sightings of kangaroos. There are 34 million kangaroos in Australia, so there are almost 30% more kangaroos than people living on this continent, and we thought it would be easy to spot them. Not so. 

  

Since kangaroos are only native to Australia and some places in New Guinea, they are a novelty and a desired sighting to most foreign tourists.  We have learned their hopping transportation has evolved, because spring hopping takes less energy than walking.  This is an adaptive mechanism for their survival, as most of Australia's vast land is poor in nutrients---and at times it is a long way until a kangaroo, or for that matter any animal, might find vegetation to eat. So interesting and worthy of a question for Tuesday Trivia Night!

So we were disappointed that numerous roadkill kangaroos were our first sightings of them.  There were at least 20 of them splattered on the road, as we drove out to Fitzgerald Bay, outside of the city of Whyalla on the Eyre Peninsula, to mountain bike on the trail to Point Lowly Lighthouse.  Our awareness of the danger of hitting one of these beautiful creatures has been branded into our consciousness.  Just like trying to drive defensively in deer country, it is important to slow down and avoid driving at dawn and dusk. But kangaroos are even more unpredictable than deer for two reasons.  

First, not only will they bounce across the road but many times they will cross the road pivot, and run back on the road again.  It’s as if they are saying, “Let's play dodge ball. Dodge me if you can.” Oh my, there are new rules to this driving game!  

Second, the roads are lined with tall dense bushes that seem like a linear fence, which provide hidden habitat for the kangaroos to literally jump out of the bushes. They must love the bush habitat, most likely due to the shade they provide during the summer heat, as sightings of them are infrequent, for the number that call Australia home.  In Montana we see way more deer and antelope during a day's drive than you would see kangaroos. 

Hypnotic Habitat Road in the Gawler National Park

For drivers these bushes along the roads provide another motor road danger, as they go on and on and also are a hypnotic landscape.  Many times  while we are driving we find ourselves fighting to keep our eyes open.  There are numerous state highway signs that state, “Drowsy Drivers Die.  Rest Every Two Hours.” Isn’t that an attention getting sign?  It worked for us.  We will be driving with caution, eyes peeled for bouncing kangaroos, switching drivers every couple of hours, and avoid dawn/dusk driving.   

Gawler National Park, South Australia

We now more fully appreciate why Mike's employer RDWA said we needed a heavy SUV for our driving vehicle, due to the danger of colliding with a kangaroo.  And we all just thought they were cute!

However, our first sightings of live kangaroos were from our mountain bikes as we pedaled along the ocean path to the Point Lowly Lighthouse.  Treasured moments! I thought, “This is surreal, it seems like a movie scene. Please no cuts." And I must advise, a highly recommended movie with a five star rating!