Saturday 25 January 2014

Australia Day

Tomorrow is Australia Day, a commemoration of the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney on January 26 1788. In celebration I thought I'd show you one of our most famous national symbols.

Recently I took my nephew out one morning to show the visiting city boy some kangaroos.  Even though I see kangaroos quite commonly, I still get a thrill whenever I see them. I'm moderately certain that these are all Eastern Grey Kangaroos, but I'm not a kangaroo ID expert.

I drive past a mob in this paddock quite often
there was only one in photo distance this day

This next mob lives in reasonable proximity to people as you can see, so they are reasonably comfortable around people and you can get quite a good look at them. They are wild animals, and the big males are really quite big and powerful, and some do attack people at times (although I'm not aware that any of these ones ever have), so we kept a respectful distance. They moved when they felt the need to.

A large male demonstrating his unique anatomy
He was clearly boss, and kept a careful eye on us. 


We didn't see any joeys in the pouch this day
but there were big and small





Saturday Snapshot is a wonderful weekly meme now hosted by WestMetroMommy

14 comments:

Sharon said...

We will have to come and visit again Louise, I would love to see all these kangaroos in the wild. Also koala's. Love your photos.

Louise said...

Anytime Sharon! You're well overdue. There's heaps about. We don't have koalas near here though.

Brona said...

I've lived most of my life in country NSW and I still get a buzz out of spotting roo's in the bush. They look quite regal in these photos.

skiourophile said...

"Mob" is such a great collective! Enjoy your Australia Day.

Esme said...

I always enjoyed seeing the kangaroos. They are such a cute little animal.

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

Kangaroos. That's exactly what I think of when I think of Australia.

I just read a new Steve Jenskins picture book to some of my classes this week. It tells a little about the first day of baby animals. I wish he had included the kangaroo's first day. I'm very curious about kangaroos. I suppose I should be happy that he did include a kiwi.

grammajudyb said...

I learned a great deal today. I had forgotten the collective "mob" and I didn't realize about the different joeys at different stages. Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

Jackie McGuinness said...

We are thinking of visiting Australia later this year!

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Thanks for sharing the kangaroos...they are such amazing creatures. And thanks for visiting my blog.

Anonymous said...

Great photos. I've never been to Australia, so these are exotic. They look huge, compared to the deer we see often here.

westmetromommy said...

I'll have to show these pictures to my daughter. She recently saw an animated Kangaroo on her favorite TV show (Wild Kratts) and is now obsessed!

Paulita said...

I can't imagine seeing kangaroos in the wild. Although I don't suppose they're any bigger than the deer that run wild here. Great pics. Here's Mine

gautami tripathy said...

They look huge. I wish to see them from near..

Thanks for sharing!

Here is my snapshot post.

Leslie (Under My Apple Tree) said...

What a magnificent sight it would be to see a group of them. When I visited Victoria I saw lots of road signs warning of Kangaroo Crossings but few actual Kangaroos. I suppose they could do a bit of damage to a vehicle, similar to our deer.