A sunny almost-winter afternoon. I’m taking Nora the dog for a walk. We’re heading down to the bush at the end of our road. Would you like to come too?
I have to warn you: I’m a fast walker. And how do you feel about running up a steep hill? Will you dash across a playing field with me? Sound a bit energetic? We’ll be able to catch our breaths when I stop to chat.
I want to tell you about bushfires, koalas, and lyre birds. Perhaps I’ll ponder why anyone would choose to take up a challenge that hurts. I’d like to show you some banksias. I’ll also show you the wall and freshly painted doors which featured in my daughter Imogen’s latest music video. Will I stand in front of them? Will I sing? Hopefully not! If you come with me, you’ll receive an invitation. Will you want to accept it? Probably not!
So are you ready to go for a walk with me and my behind-the-camera girl Sophie? Would you like to see where we run and where Sophie and I stroll as we chat while walking the dog? Put on some flat and comfortable shoes. And let’s go!
Show Notes
Imogen
Video: The Sound of Silence
Imogen’s Youtube channel
Imogen’s new Facebook page!
My blog post
Misconceptions: Children Will Choose Not to Do Difficult Things
I made this video for Alissa because she wanted to see our bush. If you’d like me to show you a place or talk about something in particular, please ask. I love receiving suggestions for blog posts, podcasts, and videos!
I was excited to watch but unfortunately it says private so I am unable.
Alissa,
I'm so sorry! I have no idea what happened. The video was originally public because a few people left me a comment about it on Facebook. I must have changed the setting by mistake. I'm so glad you let me know. All is fixed! I hope you will now be able to enjoy walking through the bush with me!
Thank you! The ground reminded me when we lived in Florida. It's a mix of sand and dirt not like here in Iowa. We love the outdoors and hiking so it was nice to see what it's like someplace else. We typically come across deer, turkeys, and racoon on our walks. It's neat to think animals that are strange to us something like kangaroos are typical to you. Our trees are a bit wider but the background isn't terribly different than what I saw. It's however just going into summer here. Thank you again for taking your time to show us. I like the new music video as well and now we see where it was shot.
Alissa,
I am glad you enjoyed the bush walk. I would love to walk along your trails in the hope of seeing a deer or turkey or racoon. Racoons sound especially exotic! You might have guessed we like the outdoors and hiking too. We are fortunate to live close to nature. Thank you for watching my video and Imogen's music video too!
We loved watching you and Sophie on your bush walk. It is so nice that your the bush tracks are that close to your house. We all thought the same as Alissa, how strange to see kangaroos and koalas on a bush walk. We live in Tennessee just over the Alabama line in the US and some animals we have seen nearby that weren't already mentioned are armadillos, beavers, shrew and voles.
You mentioned that you could walk to the village. We would love to see it; maybe you could do a video and show us the village.
Wendy,
Once when I was running with our dog Nora, a big kangaroo hopped out of the bush onto the path in front of us. Nora got very excited and wanted to chase it. I had to struggle to keep her under control. So I usually hope we don't see any kangaroos while we're running! It is a big thrill though to see animals such as kangaroos in the wild. Of course, we can see plenty of them in nature parks but that's not the same.
I have never seen an armadillo or beaver or shrew or even a vole! They sound like very exotic animals to me and I'd love to see them. Maybe one day I will visit your country!
A walk to the village? Oh yes, I think we could do that! It's lovely that you want to see where we live. Thanks for asking. And thanks for coming with us for a walk through the bush!
Wendy,
That run was far too exciting! The kangaroo ignored us. It hopped in the opposite direction and was soon out of sight. Nora wanted to chase it even though she could no longer see it. She sprinted, pulling me along on the leash. I had to dig my heels into the ground and pull hard to get her under control. My biggest worry was that I'd lose hold of the leash and Nora would disappear into the bush. I knew I wouldn't be able to catch her once she did that.
Usually the kangaroos we see, move off into the bush whenever we see them. There are mobs of kangaroos at such places as our local monastery. They are usually happy to stay in a group within sight of people. Even if we drive past in our cars, they don't move. I guess they are used to us. If we were to approach them, I think they'd hop away. The kangaroos at a holiday cottage we visited were happy to stay near us. I think tourists feed them even though they aren't supposed to and so they are hoping for food.
Although I've never encountered an aggressive kangaroo apparently they can attack people. I found this PDF about kangroos and how to act around them:
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/nature/kmp/20100968Livingwithkangaroos.pdf
The article makes kangaroos sound rather scary creatures to be near. I haven't experienced this. As I said, the kangaroos we have met usually move away from us. They have never looked aggressive. Kangaroos in other areas might be different. We sometimes meet kangaroos while driving and then they are dangerous. One hopped out in front of Andy's car and he couldn't avoid hitting it. The car was damaged beyond repair. Another time, a huge kangaroo hopped in front of Imogen and she missed hitting it by centimetres. Oh my, that was a frightening experience! We've had other new misses.
Most of the kangaroos we see are grey kangaroos. We also see wallabies which are smaller.
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/animals/KangaroosAndWallabies.htm
I am imagining armadillos waiting to cross the road. Our native animals don't know about waiting. They just head out into the traffic without looking! Oh, I don't think I'd like to find a dead shrew or vole inside my shoe! I'd love to see your animals but I think I'd prefer to see live ones!
Our village does have a few shops: a newsagency, doctor's surgery, chemist, general store, post office, hairdresser and cafe/bakery. Usually we travel to town to do our shopping (or shop online) but it's good to have a few local shops too. It only takes us a few minutes to walk to the village. Yes, I will make a video and show you!
So good to start my day chatting to you. Have a good week!
Sue,
Oh my that sounds like quite an exciting run! How did the kangaroo respond to Nora? Are the shy when they see people? What kind of kangaroos do you have there? I hope you don’t mind me asking so many questions, but I love learning about other countries and we are studying Australia right now!
We see armadillos quite often, usually at night on the side of the road, waiting to cross and when the farm field next to us is overgrown in the winter there are lots of shrew and voles living there. Our cats love to catch them and leave them for us to find in our shed and sometimes in our shoes.
We look forward to the video of the village; how nice that you can actually walk to do your shopping!
Thank you for the pages you included; we enjoyed looking through them! From the looks of the first one you were lucky that Nora didn’t agitate the kangaroo. I’m glad that Andy and Imogen were not hurt in their encounters or near miss encounters with kangaroos!
Wendy,
I enjoyed finding the articles for you. I'm glad you enjoyed reading them.
This morning on the way to Mass, two kangaroos hopped across the road in front of us. We were driving quite fast and Andy had to swerve between the two animals. Then one of them fell over and had to struggle back to its feet before continuing on. I'd never seen a kangaroo lose its footing before. For a moment, I thought we'd hit it and that was why it was lying on the road, but there was no impact. The kangaroo hopped off. It perfectly fine. And we drove on. Two near misses and the day had only just begun!