Backyard encounters: 7 crazy Australian animal stories
If there’s one thing that Australia has no short supply of, it’s crazy bugs, mammals and marsupials.
The craziest of course if Kev the Koala, but he’s crazy in a good way. What we want to talk about in this article are the critters that give us the heebie jeebies and animals that popup in the most unexcepted places.
Given that Australia is home to a wide range of diverse creatures and four-legged beasts, it’s not uncommon for us to have an encounter with them every once and a while. This can happen in the house, in the backyard or, god forbid, while you’re in the car speeding down a highway at 100 clicks an hour.
Yep… everyone from Oz has a story about finding animals in strange places and in terrifying situations, but below are some of the craziest Australian animal encounters that we’ve ever heard of. Check it out now and remember, the only dangerous animals you’ll ever come across at Fair Go are in 2D.
Koala in a Christmas tree
It’s always fun decorating the Christmas tree with ornaments once that time of the year rolls around. We have tinsel, globes and the angel that stands watch over the presents, but for a family in South Australia this year there was one ornament they weren’t expecting – a koala.
After leaving the house for the day, the McCormick family returned later in the evening to find their dog sniffing around the base of the tree and some Christmas decorations on the ground. When they looked up, they noticed there was a fully grown wild koala also perched in the tree, tangled in the lights and trying to eat the plastic leaves.
At first the matriarch of the house thought it was a joke and that the koala was actually a toy bear. Her initial thoughts were quickly amended though when it began to blink and move. Apparently, it’s not uncommon for koalas to rest in the trees outside of their home. This was the first time that they’d ever had one enter the house though.
Reflections of a roo
Kangaroos have a reputation for being somewhat docile and more or less familiar with human interaction. This can lead people to forget that they’re actually wild animals. Most kangaroos will of course flee if you approach them, but what happens when a kangaroo stands its ground and instead approaches you? Or more accurately… what happens if a kangaroo tries to break into your home?
This is exactly what happened to a lady living in Templestowe, Victoria. Upon hearing something banging on the front window, the lady proceeded to pull back the curtains in her sunroom, only to be confronted by a large and very buff looking eastern grey kangaroo. It immediately reared up onto its back legs and began striking the window in an attempt to break through.
This went on for some time and the lady managed to film some of the encounter. To put it mildly, that roo was not a happy camper. It eventually left after bashing its claws against the glass for more than 10 minutes, leaving both the lady and the window rattled.
It’s thought that the reason why the kangaroo lashed out was that it caught its reflection in the window. This prompted it to square off and do its best Rocky Balboa impression while the lady watched helplessly from the other side.
Eight-legged shower mate
Spiders. They’re probably the most polarising animals in all of Australia. Some people find them to be a cornerstone of our cultural identity, others see them as just another bug to be squished.
As lovers of both animals and humans though, we like to think that man, woman and spider can all coexist on this giant continent. Heck… there’s enough room. The problem is that spiders have a tendency to appear in the most unexpected places when your guard is well and truly down.
Take the shower for example. Spiders love to hang out in bathrooms due to the humidity in the air and the easy access to drinking water. So it really shouldn’t come as a big surprise when you find one of these eight-legged creatures in your shower. The problem is though that showers are generally pretty confined spaces, which means that if there’s a spider in your recess you’re more or less going to be face to face with it.
One bloke in Oz got a nasty fright not long when he found a massive huntsman cleaning one of its legs inside the shower door. Of course, all huntsmans are non-venomous, but their menacing appearance can startle even the most seasoned spider lover.
The fact that they can grow to have a leg span that can reach the edge of a dinner plate might also freak you out. Our advice is to check to see if your shower is occupied before you climb in. Either that or you could just stop showering all together, which may be an option for members with arachnophobia.
Goanna’s gonna goanna
Not too long ago a photo was taken of a giant Australian lizard climbing the outside wall of a suburban home. Many people thought it was a hoax. They said that lizards haven’t been that big since the time of the dinosaurs. Well folks, we hate to ruin your day, but that ginormous lizard is 100% legit.
Called a lace monitor, these lizards are actually a type of goanna that are common to just about all areas throughout Australia, but especially so in warmer climes. In the perfect environment that can grow to nearly two metres, whereas this one was only about 1.5 metres long. It should be noted that this is still long enough to make you faint from sheer terror if one was to ever cross your path.
Lace monitors in particular are proficient climbers who use their giant talons to grip onto a multitude of sloped and vertical surfaces. Upon reaching out to a biologist for more information about this lace monitor, the scientist was reported to say that (and we quote) “is one big ass lizard”.
Fortunately the owner of the house never came into close contact with the lizard, but we’d wager that he quickly sold the house and moved somewhere far, far away after witnessing it.
Python pool fight
Since summers in Australia can get hot enough to melt road signs it only makes sense that a lot of people own backyard pools.
Nothing refreshes the mind and the body like a quick dip after a long hot day at work. There’s also nothing quite like floating around on a warm day listening to the cricket in summer while sipping on a cold libation. The following story, however, might make you think twice about diving into your pool this summer.
Homeowners in Brisbane posted footage of two pythons fighting next to their backyard pool. It’s thought that the male snakes were competing for the attention of another female python in the area during breeding season. Their display was decidedly aggressive with plenty of hissing and biting. In the footage you can see them spiral, duck, dodge and weave in an attempt to dodge each other’s strikes.
Fortunately for the homeowners they remained in the enclosed pool area while this was going on. On the other hand though, the winner will have the right to breed with the nearby female. This means there are going to be some baby snakes getting around in the near future. We’re not sure about you but that doesn’t sound like a particularly successful result for the homeowners. Once again… they’re probably better off simply packing up their life and moving.
Invaders from Portugal
Nearly everything that comes from Europe and reaches our shores is awesome. Parmesan cheese, Ferraris and that loveably stern French chef Manu are just a few examples. Some of the things that find their way to us from the Old World though aren’t exactly charming… such as the Portuguese millipede.
Native to Europe, the Portuguese millipede is an invasive pest by any definition. They can grow up to 350 pairs of legs during their two-year lifespan and they mainly reside in southern Australia. Their diet consists of leaf litter, fungi and decaying wood, which they feed on after emerging during the spring rains.
With no natural predators, these millipedes have been allowed to multiply and reach almost plague proportions. If you live in South Australia or Victoria, you would have noticed this already. More so for the distinctive smell that they emit when they’ve been squashed. This means that killing them is more of an inconvenience than a matter of life or death.
The real problem is the many hundreds of thousands that swarm backyards, businesses and even public railways in this part of Oz. To the point that a large number of millipedes in Perth were blamed for a train crash after large numbers were crushed by trains, making the line slippery. The war on these insects were declared then and there, but to this day the battle still rages.
