Grampians (Warning: explicit roo photo)

Warning: the second picture is an explicit photograph of kangaroo mating ritual. don't worry, it's science.

The Grampians

Being part of Arcadia's study abroad program, we are all entitled to one free weekend excursion. When I heard that we were going to Grampians National Park (which I had never heard of), I was really disappointed. I really wanted to go to the Great Ocean Road or Phillip's Island. "Grampians" sounds like "grandpas" so clearly this logical association meant that the excursion would be just as exciting as a nursing home. I went because it was free.

It was incredible.

The Grampians is a beautiful national park filled with gorgeous flora and fauna, awesome rock climbing, and rich aboriginal culture. During this trip I did many things for the first time. I went on my first bushwalk (genuine Australian hike), my first real rock climb, played a didgeridoo, painted and threw a boomerang, and saw wild emus!

Here are two stories from this weekend.

Sexaroo

Let me start by prefacing that kangaroos are comparable to deer in the Northeast U.S.. They're cute to look at, but locals hate them. Simply put, they destroy people's gardens if they aren't roadkill first.
We Americans ran outside upon arriving at Acacia Campgrounds in the Grampians to take pictures of the fifty kangaroos across the street. I tell my friend Gwynne that I wonder what sound they make. She replies that she wonders what a kangaroo penis looks like.

Within a mere thirty seconds, we both received answers.

Kangaroos roar. I know that because I heard them roar at each other. There was one kangaroo who had some size insecurities. He was the tiniest one, yet he was going around punching, yes PUNCHING, the other kangaroos in the face as if he had something to prove. The victims included males and females alike, all of whom were minding their own business at the time. He did not punch any joeys, because he only picked on kangaroos his own size or larger. When the other kangaroos left him he punched the air. Poor schitzo.

Shortly after this fiasco, I heard one of my friends shrieking. A male kangaroo was preparing to mate with a female, though she ended up rejecting him. Where was the Planet Earth camera crew?!

False Alarm

Vocabulary words to know

Bush: Australian fauna

Bushwalk: a walk through the Australian bush

Bushbang: an off-trail run through the Australian bush

During our morning bushwalk I asked Lyndon (our leader) about venomous snakes. This is how that conversation went.

Me: Lyndon, are there any poisonous snakes here that we need to worry about?

Lyndon: Not unless you're going to try to eat one.

Me (frustrated with his wit): Lyndon, are there any venomous snakes here that we need to worry about?

Lyndon: Yes.

Me: How can you tell if a snake is venomous?

Lyndon: If it's a snake.

Great. I learn that nearly every snake here is venomous (probably 9 out of 10), and the only way to tell them apart is by counting the scales on the snake's head. But if you're close enough to count the scales, you're probably a goner.

Not long after this conversation, I'm rock climbing and I'm the first to go up so I'm super excited. I'm doing better than I thought I would and I get a little over confident and reach my right fingers over a ledge just within my reach. I feel something shoot out across my fingers and I see a black head with white spots looking down at me. I scream. People on the ground freak out because I am the first on the cliff and they all think something has gone wrong. I pull myself up slowly to get a better look at the situation I'm in and to find a new place for my right hand. Just then, I notice the tiny legs beneath the body of what I thought was a deadly snake. I announce to everyone that it's just a lizard and nothing to worry about. Few people cared, but I was relieved.