Exmouth Australia – the kangaroo encounter

A young female on a beach at dawn in a celebratory pose. Exmouth town beach, Western Australia (Philip Hill/Phil Hill)

 (Philip Hill/Phil Hill)

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It occurred to me recently that I have lived out of luggage for the past 3-4 years, transferring my possessions from holdall to suitcase, car to train to plane. Still, I have a lot of fun doing it, I still do it, and I am doing it again.

Not quite coming to terms with calendar holidays south of the equator, the best way was to get back on the road up to Exmouth Australia, the non Devonshire Western Australian version, that they insist on pronouncing ‘Ex-mouth’ for anyone from the UK.

Situated on the northwest cape of Western Australia Exmouth and established very recently in 1964, to support a United States naval communication station there. Now of course, tourism is the reason most find themselves in the area, experiencing both the fantastic Ningaloo Reef (second only to the Great Barrier reef) and Cape range National Park. If you are lucky enough, at certain times of the year is the Whale Shark migration swelling the local population of 1,800 to 10,000+.

It was impossible to overcome the 1200km from Perth in one day, instead we stopped first at Geraldton, waking the next morning in a beach car park surrounded by brilliant white sand dunes, though no time to enjoy it, we pushed on through the road houses, passed the road trains, and into the Tropic of Capricorn.

Essentially, Exmouth is home to the best of Western Australia I have seen so far, it’s all pretty amazing mind you, this place just sits at the very top. 

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I urge you to visit and explore all the little coves that populate this small peninsular, Turquoise bay should definitely top that list and make time to stop at Oyster Stacks for some impressive snorkelling.

The kangaroo encounter – not long after I arrived in Australia the conversation about the realities of driving and what to do if you hit a kangaroo.

Apparently, if the poor animal remained in the road after being struck, the courteous thing to do (for other road users) is to pull it off to the side so not to cause a hazard. Unfortunately, I was told that if still alive (and kicking?) then the only kind thing to do is finish the poor creature off. Tools of the trade in this instance are the trusty tyre iron, though I have heard with the apparent regularity of hitting kangaroos people actually carry a pair of heavy-duty gloves and a sharp knife ‘to do the job properly’. I have since read that it is a good idea to check the pouch for a Joey, which maybe still alive and possibly rescued. The very thought of this prospect made me wince, definitely not something I would expect back home, the odd stray pheasant is the worst I could ever expect on the roads without ever having to go back and ‘run it through’.

I had the talk with the kind of attitude that “this could never happen to me” until unfortunately, it did.

Driving along at a medium-slow pace because of this very threat, talking about the eggs we wanted to buy for pancakes the next morning, it was any normal nights drive.

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It happened really fast, literally out of nowhere, the first I saw the unfortunate victim of road kill was when it struck the right headlight, sounding like dropping a pile of porcelain plates on a concrete floor as it smashed. Out the corner of my eye the Kangaroo was flung back over the side of the road it had made the bad decision to hop out from. The funny thing was that, as a testament to the Australian Ford motor company, our Falcon although obviously damaged, barely flinched, even after ploughing into a 3ft roo.

Ok, we have to stop, swinging the car onto the shoulder. What the hell just happened? We hit a Kangaroo, oh shit, really? Getting out to see the extent of damage. One smashed headlight and indicator, front bumper was hanging off and the wing behind the headlight was now dented and pushed in. To be honest cosmetic, we were lucky, what about the kangaroo?

Getting back into the car my immediate thoughts were of that conversation, do you think it’s still alive? We can’t just leave it. We turned the car, slowly made our way back up the road to the scene where we found it gasping a few last breaths unable to keep its head up, eventually resting on the ground. I am sorry to say that I 100% could not bring myself to physically put down the animal by way of bludgeoning it over the head, I definitely could not leave it either. Not wanting to go into all the graphic details, we made the decision finishing things with the car, something I am sure many Australians are used to, something I hope not to do again.

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Signpost telling people they are passing into the tropic of Capricorn in Western Australia. The Tropic of Capricorn, or Southern tropic, marks the most southerly latitude on the Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. (Philip Hill/Phil Hill)

Termite mound nest in Exmouth, Western Australia. (Philip Hill/Phil Hill)

Sunset on the beach at Coral Bay in Western Australia (Philip Hill/Phil Hill)

White Cockatoo in Exmouth, Western Australia (Philip Hill/Phil Hill)

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The way back –  We had arranged to make a stop at Coral Bay on the way back and go on a Manta Ray swim boat trip. A small town just south of Exmouth, there purely because of tourism with a spot of fishing on the side. One of the best places to view whale sharks and manta rays, the beach was as amazing abundant with sea life that literally swam around our feet at every step.

The inevitable time came to get back to Perth and another 1200km lay before us.

Pulled into Babbage Island, Pelican Point in Carnarvan. Technically not allowed to sleep there, though many others had the same idea passing each other north or south. Luckily although randomly, a local was on hand dealing out small local knowledge insights to weary backpackers and generally making sure we all broke the law in the safest and most successful way possible.

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The Australian Government in its wisdom realises that Australians love to break the rules, so have created more petty and ridiculous stipulations in life that you cannot walk the streets without being told off. The funny thing about this lay-by and the many others is it has full facilities: toilets, showers etc. Who else but a group of transient backpacking van drivers are likely to use it. We did sleep there, just as long as we hit the road by 6am the next morning, Don’t get caught sleeping by the ranger or she’ll book the lot of you, he seemed to know her personally, she is nice enough but cracks a heavy whip, he told us before heading off. Gone by 5am we made an uneventful trip down the highway, passing the time planning a new trip further north to see if this could be bettered.

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You can view more images from Exmouth, Australia via my archive

 
To commission this or any of my work please feel free to email me at: 
philhill@philhillphotography.com

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Exmouth town beach at dawn (Philip Hill/Phil Hill)


  1. January 8, 2013

    […] in a full 11 hours of driving on the first day, ending up in Carnarvon, a place notorious for ‘collaborator’ locals aiding and abetting backpackers sleep rough and not getting caught by the rangers! Not an awful lot […]

  2. December 31, 2012

    […] Exmouth, completely unlike its UK namesake, a paradise like peninsular in north Western Australia, fringed by the underrated Ningaloo Reef (overshadowed by that one in the east no doubt) populated by a few locals and very large number of transients, not to mention countless Kangaroos. […]