Yes, it's a hard life.
I'm parked under a native fig tree.
During the day it's frequented by numerous birds, fig parrots, minas, doves, and some others I only hear, and they're too tiny to see.
By night it's bats - stinkin', noisy, squabbling fruit bats or flying foxes for the pedantic of us. Add to this the night song of the curlews, and it's a zoo out there.
The mess they leave on the roof and the ground is then cleaned up during the day by the above mentioned visitors.
Nothing life or laundry threatening though.
Why on earth would horses suck freshly washed clothes? Perhaps they needed their soap fix. Or maybe they just sucked them because they were clean. Nice change for the horses.
Clothes that don't smell horsey.
It may just be similar to the nico and caffeine fix.
Good luck with the soaking. Cheers Chris

Reminds me of a rabbit shooting trip with my son several years ago.

On the way to the Texas Inglewood area we picked up a very large bag of Stanthorpe apples straight from the orchard.

We set up camp & went off next morning to get a few bunnies.

On our return we thought that a nice crunchy apple would go well .. couldn't find them, only the empty plastic bag!

It seems that a 'retired'  kids pony was running in that paddock & had reached in through the unziped tent flap & consumed every one with leaving as much as a thread of saliva.

The clue was the hoof print on my brand new, now flattened tea billy beside the campfire.

The kids ponies get very cunning over time!

JRH wrote:

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We spent a week at a caravan park in Busselton WA and had the Possums (Dear little darlings) jumping onto the caravan roof, run across it wearing hobnailed boots then sliding down the awning onto the ground, back up the tree to start all over again, kept it up all night, most nights.  Ended up going home for a rest.

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I put up with the furry feet for 9 years in the Broome park.  I only fed them occasionally and not by the van, but up in a nearby tree.  They lived in the ceiling of my ensuite. My old van had a tropical roof, but did they run over it?  Oh no!  Across the van roof came the rumble in the night, then across the annexe roof.  Even when they made new possums it was on my roof.
Nibbling electric wiring isn't very good for them though.  The stench from the ceiling became overpowering in the February heat.  She'd bbq'd herself, but after investigating the stink, syrup of possum came trickling down the walls. The poor maintenance man sacrificed a lot that day, including his breakfast.
The next evening a soggy, furry smaller version of its mother was huddled next to the annexe wall.  The wildlife carers came to the rescue.
They certainly are cute, but do they stink when they're dead!

 

BATS are the worst, unlike snakes they don't run away and the No2's are akin to a large scoop of chocolate icecream that if left on the car will strip the duco right off!

Shags are another of natures creatures to avoid, we were at a beaut spot about 50 km north of Mackay staying at a sort of "bush Camping Resort" (Cape Hillsborough)  right on the beach and the usual know it all, who new more than me; suggested a walk through the mangroves on a boardwalk to a spot where he said the oysters were dinner plate sized and "might have pearls in them" (OH YEAH) so off we set as a group to see these oysters....... We had to dismount from the boardwalk and walk thru the mangoves to the edge where there was a stone wall. Then it started raining fishy smelling drops of white stuff, the know all had led the rest of us non thinkers straight into a Shag rookery and their defence when threatened is to crap all over their enemys. Oh god the stench, even the thunderboxes smelt better.....
Cape Hillsborough is a nice spot to stay though.

Mate and I had a couple of days off so we flew down to a billabong not far from Darwin I knew would produce a nice catch of barra , Setting up the tent between two trees about 300 yards from the water that avro . Did a spot of fishing and then into the cot about 10 after a few beers and a fish feed . About 3 in the morning the mate decides that nature is calling so unzipped the tent and on hands and keen started to crawl out.

Without warning there is this blood curdling scream like nothing I had ever heard , like a shot I'm up , rifle at the ready to take out anything that moved . (Had only just returned from my second trip to Vietnam and wasn't completey de-tuned from the hyper alert status you develop in the weeds )

As I pushed him out of the way to get a clear shot at what ever was there this giant wet tounge and big beautiful eyes appeared in the moon light ,it was a big female buffalo and calf.
just dropping in to say hello or ask what the f### are you doing here.

To make things a little more scary the mates blood curdling scream set off a herd stampede and the ground , tent and we both were left shaking , I thought this is it, put your head between your legs and kiss your bum goodbye we won't get out of this one.

In the morning we noted that we, more correctly I , had set up camp on the path to the water hole and during the night the herd came slowly down to drink while grazing as they came and had surrounded us . I reckon they must have had slippers on because I never heard them coming, maybe the anesthetic in those king brown bottles I had that nigtt did the job .

Later that day while flying back out we found the grazing herd of around 60 so we were lucky not to get trampled in the rush or get our transport damaged . My dirty undies are probably still hanging in those trees and I very much doubt if the buff has never given birth again.

Great life that bush camping, Christ i miss it

Has anybody spent a night on the black soill plains of central NSW, and how quick did you jump on the trailer when you awoke in the morning to see hundreds of scorpions running around your swag,
Or in those days it was a blanket roll with hessian
scared the bejasus out of my boy

It wasn't really a creek bed as such.....more your flood plain but I guess we still could have got wet. We did keep a very keen eye out on the weather and forecasts etc. so we figured we were fairly safe.

Your little episode could have ended in disaster. Talk about lucky!! Be a good feeling to have the snakes and wombats climbing up your legs trying to get above the water?? A hell of a way to wake up at 6am in the bush. LOL

We do take some chances sometimes though don't we?

there were three couples camped up there with us for a week, one of them had that tenty thing coming off the top of his nissan as well from memory, wouldnt want to fall out of bed, but anyway there was no rain for miles and no warning, she just came down,

we struck the same thing just up by hookner which is around hawker, we walked along a creek chasing firewood and heard a hissing behind us

we turned expecting to see a snake or a goanna but it was a "mini" flashflood about 6" high slowly creeping down the creekbed and it was almost full width we walked along with it for a while but then it got bigger and bigger until it was a roaring flood so we very quickly vacated the premises

the scorpions live in little "eye" holes, about an inch and a half long by 3/4" high, solitary I think, they dont even like each other

dont know how they tolerate each other for the purpose of mating

bit like the old echidna joke I guess

question "how do echidnas mate"

answer "VERY CAREFULLY"

actually a damn good point for the unitiated there two bob, big old gum trees drop big branches for no apparent reason

seen some monsters dropped and heard some tails, wouldnt want to be near them when they do

What great advice you blokes have shared!
For the newbie nomad it would do you well to take every word as gospel. It will save your life, or at the very least, it will save your gear and a lot of heartache as you watch your much loved vehicle sailing down stream.
While it's "common knowledge" out in the bush, the townies and city slickers taking on the big outback, should heed the warning.
Australia is beautiful, but it can be savage.
The reason we don't hear these things all the time is because no one really lives out there. The stations cover a lot of country, and no one gets out in the big paddock until mustering time.
So be warned, it's all true. Chris

    Hey Gary

If Napisan can get rid of the "other" stains from the whites then surely a bit of grass isn't going to worry it??           :)   :)

Cruising Granny wrote:

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Yes, it's a hard life.
I'm parked under a native fig tree.
During the day it's frequented by numerous birds, fig parrots, minas, doves, and some others I only hear, and they're too tiny to see.
By night it's bats - stinkin', noisy, squabbling fruit bats or flying foxes for the pedantic of us. Add to this the night song of the curlews, and it's a zoo out there.........

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Now stand back everyone while I step up onto my soapbox and take my roll as defender of the most misunderstood underdog of this beautiful country!

As a trained bat & flying fox rescuer and carer, I must defend my sweet, much maligned, super intelligent little natural wonders. The grey headed and little black f/fs are rapidly approaching extinction, believe it or not. I could go on and on regarding habitat clearing etc etc, but I will not; having lived for 5 years just 15ft from a large colony in Iluka NSW I have found these creatures fascinating and underappreciated. They do not smell, except maybe the males urine around breeding time or during times of stress eg. starvation. A healthy wild bat has a lovely rainforesty smell. Their poop does NOT lift car duco, unlike magpies or parrots. Mostly what you will see (that brown gooey stuff) is spat out pulped fruit. The bats masticate the fruit to get the juices then spit out the pulp; this also does not hurt duco, I have done plenty of tests while living next to the colony so you will just have to trust me J

For all of you out there who love traveling this beautiful land of ours, especially the forests remember that without the flying foxes our woodlands and mountain forests will eventually be no more as they (the f/fs) are the major pollinator and disperser of seeds not birds or bees as is incorrectly believed.)

Enough! I am getting mad L and I do not want to offend anyone but really if you do not want to interact with Australian wildlife stay home. And as much as I luv ya Granny, next time dont camp under a fig tree my darlings just love the fruit and will make noise and mess.

Following just two pics of babies I have rescued, creched and released.

dave06 wrote:

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oh now theres bat **** all over the soapbox, ..............

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........to accompany the usual bull****  ??????? 

 

Akuli wrote:

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Rolly wrote:

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dave06 wrote:

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oh now theres bat **** all over the soapbox, ..............

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........to accompany the usual bull****  ??????? 

 

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don't even think about it!!! or I will invoke the wikka bat revenge spell

 

 

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Hey is there a ball involved here somewhere.  Is that why our cricket team is going downhill fast?