Are Wombats for Real?

I've been in Australia for over a month now, and I haven't seen the slightest sign of a wombat - not even a dead one - and after all the stories I've heard of how much damage plowing into an 80lb wombat going 100 km/hr can cause to your car, you'd think I would have seen at least one wombat roadkill carcass by now...

Despite the name, wombats aren't bats at all, they are this cuddly little bear creature that supposedly comes out only at night - I was starting to think they were a marketing gimmick, a creature dreampt up by the Ministry of Tourism, maybe the koala bear wasn't attracting enough tourist and they needed a new mascot?

Well, the other day I was out for a walk and took a detour through the bush, and I stumbled across a GIANT hole in the ground, several actually - wombats supposedly sleep under ground during the day and this looked like the central command bunker for the entire WOMBAT NATION or something.

So I take a picture of the hole but realize I needed to include something in the picture that would show how big the hole actually was, so I take off my shoe and set it in the mouth of the hole and snap some more shots, and then I put the camera down level with the hole and take another picture....

And when I preview the last picture, there are two eyes looking at me from the back of the hole.... It's the bloody commander of the WOMBAT Nation...!

So I am sqwatting in front of this big ass wombat hole with only one shoe on, and I'm wondering how much damage an 80 lb wombat could do to me if it got pissed off enough from the camera flash repeatedly going off in its face, humm... I guess I'm going to have to find out...

I can't look into the hole because its at the bottom of a depression so I put my shoe on and I make some plans to defend myself from the wombat's fangs and claws, because anything that can dig tunnels like these could easily rip your face off with its claws. I inch closer to the mouth of the hole, stick my arm in, and snap another shot...

The hole curves slightly and I can't get the entire wombat in the picture because its pitch black and you can't see anything to aim at, so I had to repeatedly stick my arm in and shoot, then look at the pic, each time I'm noting the adjustment I need to make, then stick my arm in again and shoot... The whole time I am listening for the faintest sounds of the beginning of a wombat charge... It took 55 shots to get most of the wombat into the frame, damn hard work, but well worth the effort.

So wombat's are real and they are pretty damn cute too...

Flight report:

Not as good as the wombat adventure, but it was good for an hour plus, but the west wind was strong and pinned every one down into one valley or another, except Karl Texler who got to 2600 and made it back to Mystic. Tommorrow looks lighter, stay tuned!