Thursday, 11 November 2010

An encounter in the mist

I went out on my early morning weekly walk through the local conservation park.  Usually I find myself walking in bright sunlight, but not this day.  The cloud level was hovering around 600 metres and as I gained altitude I found myself walking in an eerie misty environment.

Mt Lofty Trail in the clouds 

Interestingly, the camera picks up more detail and gives a clearer impression than my own eyes did at the time.

At one point I was walking up one of the lesser used trails when out of the mist I could see a kangaroo in front of me

Female Kangaroo

I took this photo and then walked a few steps closer to take another.  That’s when I realised she had a ‘Joey’ in her pouch.

Mother and Child

I was about to take another couple of step for a third photo when with a crash, father kangaroo bound from the bushes and placed himself on the track between me and his mate.  And he was considerably bigger!  I wasn’t looking for a fight, so I waited until they both bound into the bushes at the left of the trail.  Mum was obviously curious about me because she didn’t go too far before stopping to look back.  Her colour, texture and markings make it hard to see her unless you know where to look.

hiding in rhe bush 

Can you see her?

hiding in rhe bush2

If the native animals remain still in the bush most of the time you will not see them.  Ten minutes later I was back on the main trail being used by numerous weekend walkers and never saw another wild mammal during the remainder of my walk.

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