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I KILLED SKIPPY

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Fred Gassit

Joined Jun 2011
140 Posts | 0+
100-ish kph, despite how it looks on the vid ( helmets and goggles being the asset to peripheral vision that they are, and me looking as far up and to the left as I could....) I didn't see this little 10 to 20kg Wallaby until a ball of fur appeared at what looked like headlight height right in front of me.



Poor picture quality is due to water on the lens ( behind the protective cover) as it was pissing down when we started the ride)





Scared the .... out of me !!!.........split the front guard. Rolled to a stop as 1) did I still have a front rotor ? 2) would the caliper attempt to go 'round and round with the rotor if I still had one.



Horn is to let the bike in front know I'm stopping/stoped for a problem.



One split front guard, 1 badly corked, bruised and scratched underside of left thigh............one dead wallaby......no young in pouch.



It would appear the left fork got it behind the head ( broken neck, so the poor bugger didn't suffer) and right fork to the start of his fat little tum-tum. My foot is a size 12 ( a foot long
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)......body was 2 and a 1/2 foot long without the tail..............size of an small, fat Border Collie.



Don't ask me how I stayed on, as I don't know.



Lucky though. Those unharvested toothpicks are closer than they look on the vid, and after going to check on our soon departed marsupial friend, there were a multitude of 2 ft diameter stumps hiding in the bracken fern just on the edge of the track............right where I would have ended up.



The shadow at 1:09 in the slo mo bit shows me I wasn't delusional........his head ( shadow) is nearly level with my shoulder ( shadow)





The "...." isn't an angry ".... " like it sounds...............it's shock and amazment.





I KILLED SKIPPY
 
Its safe to say that will never happen to me here in Florida. A gator perhaps but never a wallabee. WTF is a wallabee any. It looked like a Kangaroo to me. Glad your ok even though the wallabee aint.
 
A wallaby gets to maybe three feet ( minus the tail) in body length, and has a head shape akin to a mouse. Kangaroo's are much larger, and have a head like a box.. Here in Tassie, the Wallabys and Possums are larger than on the mainland, and the Kangaroos (we only get Grey's here) are smaller than on the mainland.



.........go figure.



On the mainland,Red Kangaroos get bloody huge ( I am 6' 5".........and I have seen them bigger than me) whilst Greys probably top out at my height, and genrally a foot shorter than me.



We only get Grey's in Tassie.



A bloke I know of was on a trail ride and hit an 80kg ( whats that, 160-odd pounds ?) Grey at a similar speed to what I was doing. Died twice on the side of the trail, once in the rescue chopper and once on the opp table.



He's ok, but



........... he doesn't ride trail bikes anymore !!
 
Poor Skippy.
sad.gif
Glad you didn't take a tumble.





Many years ago I 'enjoyed' a very close high-speed miss with a deer. It was dark and out of nowhere the ...... came bounding out of the trees directly at me. The dumb things are startled by the light and noise and jump in a random direction. I had to pull over and take some deep breaths after that one.



A more recent miss was with a Gila Monster, of all things. (....... Aridzona!) I was going a little too fast and came around a corner to find him right in my line. I swerved and wound up halfway into the other lane, but managed to avoid target-fixing on the giant roadside cactus - that would have been painful!
 
yeah !!...........I hit something like the small rats in the background. I hate putting sizes to things, I was gunna say Reds get to around 8 ft tall........ but that'd be a wild guess.......all I know is, they're bigger than me.



The missus is a zoo-oligist/Zoo-keeper specializing in marsupials, Tassie devils ect.

She could tell me the sizes...but she's away at the mo'........hence being "allowed" to ride three times in four days !
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And yes, that's a grey alright, a bloody big grey !!!. Reds have got an even box-ier head, and much shorter fur.



All I can say is,.......thank .... the Roo's have 2.5 more brain cells than a wallaby (they tend go deeper into the bush, rather than a banzai mission across the front of you ), you can generally see them and get some warning,





.......and that wombats don't come out of the scrub at the same speed as a Wallaby.





Wombat = 2 Bessa Bricks (cinder blocks) covered in fur.
 
Geonerd said:
Poor Skippy.
sad.gif
Glad you didn't take a tumble.





Many years ago I 'enjoyed' a very close high-speed miss with a deer. It was dark and out of nowhere the ...... came bounding out of the trees directly at me. The dumb things are startled by the light and noise and jump in a random direction. I had to pull over and take some deep breaths after that one.



A more recent miss was with a Gila Monster, of all things. (....... Aridzona!) I was going a little too fast and came around a corner to find him right in my line. I swerved and wound up halfway into the other lane, but managed to avoid target-fixing on the giant roadside cactus - that would have been painful!
Click to expand...



Sounds like a Wallabys mental skills and unpredictable, erratic behaviour is exactly the same as a deer.



I would hate to hit a deer on a bike........or even in a bloody car !!!
 
Yep, our wildlife makes it interesting at times.



I have hit a wombat at slow speed - I lost - fell off, no injuries and the wombat looked at me as if I was a mosquito



Nearly hit a few wallabys in my favourite forests, gone close to a few roos, cattle and sheep - and all that avoids the true ruination of the off road rider - the gumby in the 4wd















Gaz
 
Yeah..Bloody fourby's !!!!!



As for wombats....interesting what you say.



I have observed that Wallabys and Roo's move slowly to the edge of the track, and then as you approach, at the last possible minute, they kick into warp speed and try to make the other side.



In contrast, wombats tear arse to the edge of the track, and at the last second, stroll out in front of you, at the same speed an 80 year old woman crosses the road, stare straight at you...........I believe you can hear them think.



"Go on, hit me.....I fucken dare ya !!...Bwaahaaahaa!!"



Barstards know exactly what they are made of, and how much they'll screw you up.



And it doesn't matter if you are on a push bike, a motorcycle, car or a truck...they care not, and will wreak havoc on anything that hits them.





"Sure, I may be injured or killed, but it's a fair bet you will be too......C'MON YA MUG.....HIT ME!!!"





bloody Wombats.



Seriously....two or more bessa-bricks covered in fur.
 
As you know Fred I frequent a road near me that is rife with wildlife. In 20 km you would see on average 5 Wombats, 6 Wallabies and 4 Roos O the bike you just have to stop as soon as you suspect you can see one ( can't afford going over the edge of the road there ). On the car I fitted huge spotlights, good out to 1km , I have not had one problem at night since then. Was thinking of fitting a couple of CRE LEDs at the front of the bike just because they seem to be noticed early by the wildlife, might be worth you looking into that too.



We take the bikes down the road at dusk and the other day we came across a huge cow with long horms over 1.5 meters across, I've never seen my son divert his path so much ever
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and the thing kept walking toward his light
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Also at night if you see a stump its likely a wombat.



But the best one I saw was midday and I came round a tight bend and there is the hugest Lace Monitor I have ever seen. I thought it was a croc. at first
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Nose to tail would have easily have been over 2 m and his body was like a branch 150mm in dia. When he scarpered he sent a minor landslide down the road so I was dodging rocks as I tried to pass as fast as I could ( I also scarpered
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)
 
I love when you get international visitors, and they ask all the "Have you ever seen/are there any ............
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to which you honestly reply, Yeah....heaps.
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Then the look of someone who has just been dropped into a pit of scorpions crosses their face.
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"How do you......what happens if...what do you........"
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Look, don't worry about it..they're either more scared of you than you are of them, usually if you make enough noise, they piss off the other way before you ever see it, check ya boots if they've been outside, lift rocks, logs and tin toward you and just don't swim /surf in the ocean at first light, or between 3 and 6 pm.....especially near river mouths. Or at all in South Australia.........



C'mon, she'll be right....we're all still alive aren't we ?
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Box jellies and bloody Funnel webs are about all that put the wind up me.





Oh for the internationals, if you ever have a Lace Monitor/Goanna (That Barry was talking about) run at you. LAY DOWN.....they like to run up the tallest thing they can see.



.........you could cut glass, or open a tin with their claws.



I remember taking a stroll out the back door one day, looked to my left, and there was a goanna hanging about 10ft up, in the sun, on the smooth, square section Gal downpipe.



Ri-i-ighti-o.......if you can do that........I'm keeping well clear of your mob.
 
toot.gif
LOL, Fred!





Everyone asks me "What about the rattlesnakes?" "What about the Killer Bees?"



Screw em!

The most dangerous thing in the Sonoran Desert is this miserable ....... plant!



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfjV4BbXfZU[/media]





The spines are barbed and needle sharp. ANY contact will cause them to become embedded in your flesh. Even if you're bright enough to avoid sticking your whole face into the plant
laugh.gif
, the 'knuckles' can break off and lay on the ground. You brush one with a foot and your next step impales the damn thing in the back of the other leg. I carry a small set of pliers with me....
 
Sorry about that man.



Random off topic question: Many years ago i used to go to Avoca beach.



My dad had a little house there. While i used to walk along the sea rocks (that was a pretty nice and long walk) i used to find these "carnivorous plants". (you could poke them with a paddle pop stick and they would try bite it off you)



Do those still exist anyplace in Oz?





Exageration used.
 
320IDave said:
Sorry about that man.



Random off topic question: Many years ago i used to go to Avoca beach.



My dad had a little house there. While i used to walk along the sea rocks (that was a pretty nice and long walk) i used to find these "carnivorous plants". (you could poke them with a paddle pop stick and they would try bite it off you)



Do those still exist anyplace in Oz?



Exageration used.
Click to expand...





Not the most helpful, unless you're a bottanist.
sad.gif


(It seems there are plenty.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Carnivorous_plants_of_Australia





Finger chomping monster!

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymnLpQNyI6g[/media]





 
320IDave said:
Sorry about that man.



Random off topic question: Many years ago i used to go to Avoca beach.



My dad had a little house there. While i used to walk along the sea rocks (that was a pretty nice and long walk) i used to find these "carnivorous plants". (you could poke them with a paddle pop stick and they would try bite it off you)



Do those still exist anyplace in Oz?





Exageration used.
Click to expand...



I live near Avoca, can't say I remember the plant you are thinking of? Was it a native? Since Avoca is about the demographic centre for Funnel Web spider habitat could it have possibly been a funnel web with a brain that was trying a bit of subterfuge
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Actually was the plant a shrub with two angled but symmetrically opposed leaves that when touched they closed up? Had one of those in the backyard. Wouldn't really call it a "bite" more of a dainty engulfing.
 
BarryMachine said:
I live near Avoca, can't say I remember the plant you are thinking of? Was it a native? Since Avoca is about the demographic centre for Funnel Web spider habitat could it have possibly been a funnel web with a brain that was trying a bit of subterfuge
<
<
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Actually was the plant a shrub with two angled but symmetrically opposed leaves that when touched they closed up? Had one of those in the backyard. Wouldn't really call it a "bite" more of a dainty engulfing.
Click to expand...





No not really, it lived in the puddles, under the water.



it actually looked like a mouth, or a hairy clump...more like a combination of both.



It's pretty hard to explain.
 
320IDave said:
No not really, it lived in the puddles, under the water.



it actually looked like a mouth, or a hairy clump...more like a combination of both.



It's pretty hard to explain.
Click to expand...





When you say "puddles do you mean seawater puddles on the rocks? Could be a Cunjevoi?



http://www.mesa.edu.au/friends/seashores/p_stolonifera.html



They are more known for their squirt, though they do grab stuff ...... especially fishing hooks and bait.







PS. Didn't the famous country singer, John Denver sing about them .........



"thank god I'm a Cunjevoi!"?
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BarryMachine said:
When you say "puddles do you mean seawater puddles on the rocks? Could be a Cunjevoi?



http://www.mesa.edu.au/friends/seashores/p_stolonifera.html



They are more known for their squirt, though they do grab stuff ...... especially fishing hooks and bait.







PS. Didn't the famous country singer, John Denver sing about them .........



"thank god I'm a Cunjevoi!"?
<
<
<
Click to expand...





No, but that was a damn good start.



I found it!!



http://www.mesa.edu.au/friends/seashores/o_muscosa.html



Edit: OK it's not a plant. My bad.
 

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