This slideshow requires JavaScript.

After the morning ‘flap’ with the petrol I loaded up on my latest travel soda favourite and a well deserved Ice Cream (it was already up to 26C outside the car), plugged in the iPad to the car and kicked off the country music. When I had asked for directions to the Grampians the tourist office gave me just one direction. “After the petrol station, just take that road”. Yes?…”for 2 hours”. That’s about 200 Kilometres I was thinking and my maps in the car were very sketchy. Oh well, I am on the road now and if I don’t hit civilisation by then, I will turn around and come straight back.

The outskirts of town although showing the ‘Beware of Kangaroo’s’ signs quickly turned to farm land. Huge fields with thousands of Sheep and Cattle. I stopped counting the sheep until I fell to sleep…not really. But I was a little disappointed at first, not for the landscape and the trees, which I think demonstrated all of the scenic qualities of the UK Counties I have ever seen, but for the fact of my logic. Cattle need to be penned in by fences, Cattle can’t get out, therefore Kangaroo’s can’t get in. So was it likely that I would see Kangaroo’s in the wild? …hmm. Small Townships passed by every 40 to 50 kilometre all named after great leaders of the past, but one thing stayed common was the farming. It just kept going and going. The ground was scorched away from the coast as they were still having a drought out here, but something must be working as things however parched kept growing. Each town must also have a development council that was trying hard to get the tourist to stop off. One that I passed through had a ‘Cheese World’…sadly I didn’t stop. I plodded on at a steady pace and when there was someone behind me I pulled over and when I was thirsty I had a drink, but it was nice to see the landscape and just to be driving out here, mainly by myself.

As I hit the Grampians, I passed through the first large town and headed for what I was hoping to be my restplace for the night, Hall’s Gap. I knew that I was getting closer to something when the speed limit dropped from 100 to 80 to 60 to 40. On the edge of town I caught out the corner of my eye a Roo. It looked different to the Wallabies I had seen before, but I turned around for a photo. In fact I had been looping back for the previous 30 Kms as the trees were playing tricks with my eyes thinking there was wildlife there that I was missing. The Roo’s were definitely Kangaroos and wild ones, munching on the grass lawns of a Motel. There were two of them. Due to the absence of Roo’s on my visit I would call this a ‘flock’, seeing two.

Off to the Tourist Office, again, they gave me the low down on 3 Motels. It wasn’t a large town and I went with my gut feel for the ones with the Kangaroo’s on show. By this time it was 4.30pm and I was in need of a cold beer so headed up the drive of the ‘Grampian Motel’. It had wide long lawns on both sides of the drive and the Rooms had their backs to the one side of the Rocks and looked out on others where the shadow and the setting sun was racing quickly uphill as daylight was coming to an end. The Reception was right in the middle with a small terrace with tables just in front . In my head I was already thinking through my introduction and request. ‘Nice place you have here, I spotted the two Roo’s from the Roadside, do you have a room for the night’. Very Biblical if Jesus had opened his Eye’s to a Roo. Ironically, the receptionist’s name was Christine. I digress. Words going through my head as I walked up the 5 steps to door and I wasn’t focussing on anything but the location of the door handle, when…boing…a 5 foot Kangaroo raised up by the side of me and just stared. I let out an expletive that should not be repeated and took a step back. “G’day, I see you’ve met Lemon Tree” cheerily Christine greeted. Kangaroo’s are not small. They have tiny Heads and short Arms (guess that why you never hear of them buying a drink) but from the neck down they are big, propped up by massive feet and a menacing tail. Lemon Tree’s claws were about 2-3 inches long, you wouldn’t want to pick a fight with one.

I checked in and ordered a beer. Lemon Tree moved back a table and lay down on the grass, staring at me. The reason for his naming was that his first encounter with the owner was as he was picking Lemon’s from a tree at the motel and the Roo scared the life out of him.

The view was quite amazing. The temperature in the shade was falling quickly and everything at that moment was perfect. My table photo really caught the moment as I remembered it. My eyes started spotting more and more Roo’s on the lawn, but keeping in mind where the big one was at 18 feet to my left. At that point his mate, known locally as ‘Mother’ sat down just behind me, which looked to me as though she was sitting in conversation on a small wall. She was looking at me, like I was looking at her. ‘You’re a Kangaroo’, ‘You’re a human, aren’t your feet small?’ They both hung around for a while before bouncing off.

The Motel was a draw for wildlife, White Cockatoo’s squawked their way up and down the valley, Emu’s came out in the dusky evening and bright coloured birds flitted from tree to tree.

In the evening I stayed for dinner in the restaurant and despite my David Attenborough tributes, Kangeroo meat was on the menu so I tried another portion. This time it was done like medallions of fillet steak, in a jus of Garlic and Red Wine. As I finished off my meal, which was delightful, I looked over my shoulder to see Lemon Tree staring directly at me. He might have known what I was eating or it could have been that I was directly in line with the Bread Basket. Christine slid one of the large Dining Room windows open and he pop his head in. She fed him a few slices of bread, but I still think that he was staring at me.

I bashed on my iPad for a while before leaving the restaurant, keeping my eye on Lemon Tree, or the lack of him as he had bounced off. I said my goodnights to Christine and walked straight out the door into Mother. Mother was a timid looking thing. I guess a number of people have said that just before getting a kicking. Christine came outside and coaxed Mother back up to the terrace and to give her a treat. I was clearly going to have to watch my step or move to something else on the menu.

So enthused by the Motel, I booked immediately for a second night. Roo’s on your back lawn? what more could I want.

I caught up on my blogs in the morning of the next day before heading out into the Grampians to get some views and some more fresh air. These are low level hills/rocks, but give some excellent views. And the area was really quiet. I must have past 5-6 people in 4 hours of leisurely driving. Heading up into the hills and then back down and out until it went flat again. This was a quite relaxing couple of days.

The Roo’s kept coming. The name for a group of Kangaroo’s is a ‘Mob’ which for me sits nicely with Lemon Tree and Mother from my short experience.

As I leave early on my way back to Melbourne the Roo’s were everywhere. I must have spotted 200 Kangaroo’s before leaving Hall’s Gap alone. It was a beautiful sunrise and with the hazy dust over the road, I had to have my eyes peeled for the bouncing bollards, as my car was quite small and they were quite big. I remember Newton’s laws of physics. It goes something like “…and the little object gets creamed!”.

So my check list of things Australian was getting smaller. I wasn’t in a rush to see a Crocodile and the only encounter with a spider was in Port Fairy as I quickly arranged its demise. Now for some different wildlife, I am off to Sydney.