Bindis!!!!

[Muddypause]

Wikipedia has some interesting details about these creatures:

"At night their blood-curdling cries can be heard as they devour any animal or human that venture near their abodes. Their favourite prey is human women."

I'd say you were pretty safe, Nev.

[Wombat]

Stew,

Imagine getting to the pearly gates and explaining to Saint Peter that you were eaten on suspicion of being a woman?

I still think the answer was to get the hell out (which is what I did!)

Nev

[ina]

Nev - in your late teens, do I assume correctly that large quantities of alcohol played a part????

Ina

[Wombat]

Surprisingly enough no (dont back away!).

I used to own a Suzuki 4x4 and was offroading with my brother and a friend, (both in Landrovers) in the Blue Mountains. It was early hours of the morning (1-2 am) and they were half way up a steep incline, I was parked down by the river with my motor off watchting their lights as they made their way up. I noticed that there was something large coming in my direction, it did not make any (vocal) sounds but it was moving thought the vegetation and not around it, making a fair bit of crunching noises. I sat there and listened for a few minutes and thought that maybe I didn't want to find out what it was. So I was in the car and up the track as fast as I could go - didn't make it out of low range the entire time, wasn't taking any chances.

To this day I still don't know what it was.

Nev

[ina]

Weird, and could be quite frightening, I suppose, although being in a car and to a certain extent protected might have helped.

I was followed by something which I think was a bat once, cycling along a loch at night (way home from the pub, but NOT drunk!!!), full moon shining in a clear sky, some strange bird calling over the water, and then this swishing sound backwards and forwards over my head - no wonder there are all those ghost stories about Scotland!

Ina

[Muddypause]

I noticed that there was something large coming in my direction, it did not make any (vocal) sounds but it was moving thought the vegetation and not around it, making a fair bit of crunching noises...

To this day I still don't know what it was.

That could have been the shorter-trousered Steve-Irwin creature, an animal that proliferates in the wilder Antipodean regions and on television sets throughout much of the English speaking world. Mostly noted for its mating call, this can typically vary amongst:

"This-little-beewdee-is-the-most-poisnus-snaaak-in-the-howl-wirld",
"Wun-wrong-moove-frum-me-an'-oim-a-gonna" and
"Juss-lookat-thows-incredible-fangs-ready-to-sink-their-venom-in-me"

Lately, this creature has widely been seen as a pest and a nuisance in many places, though so far, research has failed to show any significant consequences from its actions.

[Wombat]

Ina,

One reason for my trepidation was that the Suzuki was a soft-top

Stew

Fair enough! They are rare but embarrasing.

Nev

[ina]

We seem to have got away from the subject of bindis - since bunyips obviously don't eat them, is there any animal that will? If there is, I would suggest keeping a few of them in the yard or where ever those weeds are a problem. I'm always amazed at what my goats will eat (apart from all the stuff they are not supposed to): thistles, thorny bushes, sometimes nettles.

Or maybe bindis are useful for keeping bunyips away from your property?

Ina