Yesterday morning, I woke up feeling like rubbish. I ditched my planned run and went for a cruise walk in the bush near our house instead.
When I walk, I almost always follow my intuition, letting it pull me where it feels I need to go.
It pulled me down this path.
With no people in sight, I was happily strolling, listening to the birds and the crunch of the bark under my feet. I don't listen to music or podcasts as I walk; I want to be present in my experience and really be in the bush.
This means I get to spot things like this little one. (On the right of the path).
I tried zooming in a little bit so you can see it more clearly, but I only have my phone for photos, so they are what they are.
The wallaby (that is similar to a kangaroo; a different species but very similar is a good chunk smaller than a roo) was on the path where I had planned to walk. I didn't want to disturb it or send it bounding off into the bush if I could, instead, just turn around and go the other way.
This is what I eventually did, but first, I decided to sit on the ground, right where I was and watch it.
To give you an idea of the size, this little wallaby, standing in this position, would have probably come up to about my nose when I was sitting on the ground.
It was ridiculously cute. Even after seeing hundreds of wallabies in the last few years, I never get sick of seeing them. I love them so much. I just want to reach out and pat them as I do with the various dogs I see walking with their humans each day around our block.
Of course, the wallabies are wild animals, so I don't. And I couldn't anyway; they would just jump away.
At some point, I dragged myself away to actually get some exercise. I walked back the way I came and then picked a new side path. I'd been walking less than 3 minutes before I saw a giant wallaby (almost as big as a kangaroo) bounding on the path towards me.
I slowed to a stop and stood completely still, wondering what it would do when it saw me. Never looking directly at me and not even looking bothered by me, when it was about five metres from where I stood, it bounded off the path and into the safety of the trees.
It was amazing. First, the teeny, tiny wallaby that must have only recently left its mum's pouch and gained full independence. And then the big wallaby that must have been an old male, to be so big.
I felt so blessed.
Here is one last photo. This one gives you a better idea of what these guys look like up close. Aren't they gorgeous?!?!
