night drives and more kangaroos

[simt]

Hello all,
anyone else been encountering increasing numbers of kangaroos on their favourite night drives? I'm wondering if it's only happening in my neck of the woods or people are seeing it all over the place?

I live up in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. I like going for night drives. It only takes me about 20mins (legally) to get to St Andrews. From there I might go up to Kinglake or over to Diamond Valley, Hurstbridge, wherever the mood takes me.

However the last few months there's been so many more kangaroos around. It used to be that I'd see one or two up at Kinglake, but now I get bunches of them well before St Andrews. Having to keep a wary eye out for them takes much of the fun out of the drive. One of the reasons I switched to night drives from early morning drives was because all my favourite routes are also popular with cyclists - same issue. (...not endangering the lives of others...)
I'm wondering if it's because of the droughts affecting the inner eastern states. Or maybe these warmer summer months? About the only upside is that I've been taking my 10yo daughter on 'midnight drives' where we go and see how much wildlife we can spot on the roads. Kangaroos, rabbits, the odd wombat, echidnas (much bigger than I realised), and foxes. (Oh and a burning car.)

-Sim

[Soden82]

I wish we had that issue in the states. Seems better than the occasional deer and moose that come straying into the road

[JJH]

I'm not that familiar with the roads you drive but I'm guessing it's fairly rural. 'Roos are always a potential problem but I think you're spot on that the current warm weather and particularly the drought conditions we're all experiencing have just made the problem worse. There are many more around the Canberra area too, where I am. I've tended to avoid very early morning and after dark drives at the moment.

[m3jala]

Originally Posted by Soden82

I wish we had that issue in the states. Seems better than the occasional deer and moose that come straying into the road

Trying to wrap my head around running into a kangaroo here in DC suburbia. Munching on some grass in the middle of the road like nothing happened. Helicopter and tv crew yapping. You aussies have all the fun!

[BMWM3TS]

Originally Posted by simt

Hello all,
anyone else been encountering increasing numbers of kangaroos on their favourite night drives? I'm wondering if it's only happening in my neck of the woods or people are seeing it all over the place?

I live up in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. I like going for night drives. It only takes me about 20mins (legally) to get to St Andrews. From there I might go up to Kinglake or over to Diamond Valley, Hurstbridge, wherever the mood takes me.

However the last few months there's been so many more kangaroos around. It used to be that I'd see one or two up at Kinglake, but now I get bunches of them well before St Andrews. Having to keep a wary eye out for them takes much of the fun out of the drive. One of the reasons I switched to night drives from early morning drives was because all my favourite routes are also popular with cyclists - same issue. (...not endangering the lives of others...)
I'm wondering if it's because of the droughts affecting the inner eastern states. Or maybe these warmer summer months? About the only upside is that I've been taking my 10yo daughter on 'midnight drives' where we go and see how much wildlife we can spot on the roads. Kangaroos, rabbits, the odd wombat, echidnas (much bigger than I realised), and foxes. (Oh and a burning car.)

-Sim

Nah. Always Kangaroos round there. May be more visible searching for water. Very rarely I get to go on them but another car forum V regularly have Smt's from maccas at tecoma to marysville. And head off at 6.30am. The guys up front that can seriously steer come across roos early morning. A couple CV of guys g
Have hit them on th he run and one reconsidered a 5 buck while he has mounted on his front splitter does the trick. What time do you go on the runs. The last run in Jan, we only encountered one or two cyclists.

[arthurtwp]

Originally Posted by m3jala

Trying to wrap my head around running into a kangaroo here in DC suburbia. Munching on some grass in the middle of the road like nothing happened. Helicopter and tv crew yapping. You aussies have all the fun!

hahaha. be careful what you wish for. i can list 5 people i know whove had cars wiped by kangaroos.

i think a motorcyclist died cause a kangaroo inadvertently jumped into him trying to cross the road.

i myself have had a few close calls. one was a roo going across a 110kph highway. the dude saw me. stopped. panicked and tried to turn around (even though he was nearly through the other side). in doing so. stumbled. and fell flat. never felt my abs kick in so hard hahaha.

[BanjoPaterson]

Lots of roos around Red Hill/Mugga Way where we live.

A few years ago got into a Mexican standoff with a roo. Driving along a road (Black Mountain going from Belconnen to Civic -- for the locals) and a roo hopped into the middle of a 3 lane road about 150 metres ahead (about the same in yards). Luckily, the road was empty save for me and Skippy. I slowed and moved from the middle land to the right hand lane; Skippy jumped from the middle land into the right hand lane; I slowed further, now about 100 metres from Skippy and moved from the right hand lane across the middle lane into the left hand lane... Skippy followed suit and so, about 50 metres away. I came to a stop. There were a few other cars coming and they all slowed down to a crawl.

Skippy looked at the cars and then bounded back into Black mountain and me and about three other cars continued. Absolutely dozy animals. One shared brain cell between the lot of them.

[dean87]

Used to live Northern suburbs also.
Kangas at night were almost a daily occurance.
Hit 2 in my old E46, and many many close calls.

[simt]

Ha! Good to see it's not just happening to me. And also so many aussies on this forum.
For those who've never seen a kangaroo up close, I'll see if I can get a photo next time I'm out.
Also, I've got a modded exhaust - doens't seem to make any difference. I wonder if those car mounted whistles make any difference. (Not that I'd put one on my precious m3.)

[BMWM3TS]

Originally Posted by simt

Ha! Good to see it's not just happening to me. And also so many aussies on this forum.
For those who've never seen a kangaroo up close, I'll see if I can get a photo next time I'm out.
Also, I've got a modded exhaust - doens't seem to make any difference. I wonder if those car mounted whistles make any difference. (Not that I'd put one on my precious m3.)

Sighted one a 200k plus p car that looks out of place but owner has had a few costly encounters previously and hasn't had once since.

[BanjoPaterson]

Best story I ever heard was a young lady hit a roo in a Land Rover, but because she couldn't see anything she thought it'd gone under the car. She was oblivious to the fact she had half a roo body protruding from the front whilst driving down Northboune Avenue until she got to work.

This was a pub tale, so take it as you will. I do know my wife hit a roo and my old X5 drove well, so she thought it'd gone under the car until she stopped and found the front buckled in and the radiator a V shape. Car was fixed and sold. Still ran fine. Amazingly, airbags didn't go off.

[E90M3_Guy]

I've been looking forward to taking my car out of the city (Melbourne) for a run through some sweeping corners. The Kew Boulevard is nice and close to home but the risk of radar guns out in the bushes is too great. Same with the Black Spur. I don't really mind where I go but I was thinking of Warburton or Reefton or Healesville or Marysville. Something like that. However the roo situation concerns me. I would imagine that dusk is the worst time. Is there ever a good time? Midday when they're asleep?

Maybe I'm better off sticking closer to town around Mount Evelyn, Seville & Woori Yallock with possibly less wildlife but more traffic. I've seen cars destroyed by both roos and wombats and I don't want my M3 to join the list of victims! (I've heard of a wheel shattered into pieces and the wombat just waddled off down the road - but that's another story!)

[BMWM3TS]

Heard huh. When's the last time you did a tecoma to Marysville run. Cant relate to your post whatsoever. I am a member on another forum and have another euro car parked next to my m3 e90 that spends most of it's time under a cover with a semi flat battery . A few guys on that forum coined the term SMT years ago specifically around the tecoma to Marysville via black spur run and depart no later than 6.45am fairly frequently for a forum club run. Not uncommon to get at least twenty cars in a Congo or two. That run tests you and your car and the hazards are all part of the SMT experience. Drive back on the Reefton spur at about 3/10's compared to going up the Marysville at 8 to 9/10's. Moons were aligned and got to take the manual for a spin and joins the guys on the last organized run a month or so back. Different philisophly I suppose eg we all cant wait to get the car out of the garage put some km's on the car and bitumen and stone chips, radars guns and roos and wombats and sticks and leaves and damp roads and the odd cyclist are part of the course. Having inferior steering skills has its advantages ( I e back of the Congo line has itsxadvantages. ps when I'm back home and giving the car a wash before the cover goes back on, I,m physically knackered from the steering, but hanging out to go on the next one.. Ps speaking of waddling you made no mention of the ducks a few km out of Marysville that you need to watch. Each to their own I suppose. Those that hear and those that do. PS NOt many incidents over the years that I am aware of and the forum does have Smt etiquette rules. Licorice all sorts on the runs eg gt3/gt4/turbo up front and had a 356 at one stage down on power by about 300% to me in my revision mirror for a bit. Ps dont you only loose your license if your circa 25km cover the speed limit. ( near the back of a Congo and doing a bit of overtaking of slower cars has you out of sight of radar guns, road branches, stones etc and just need to be perhaps a bit disciplined on a few straights. ( hard if your boosted and been doing back to back switchbacks for 35 mins and you see a straight). Ps my dct m3 unlikey to see that run.