Jumping Out Of My Skin

Expat Wife came close to certain death yesterday, or at least a stay in Karratha’s finest hospital. I was driving down the long stretch of road between Dampier and Karratha, flat, scraggy land on either side, when all of a sudden I saw it. A huge, man-sized kangaroo, right in front of me in the middle of the road. My heart leapt out of my chest as I went to slam my foot on the brake, but the giant animal merely looked at me for a second before bounding off, across the red, dusty terrain. As soon as it appeared, it had gone again and I was left wondering if I had just imagined the six foot beast I had come so close to colliding with. But the fear in the pit of my stomach was real enough and I moved on cautiously, scanning the horizon for other giant roos, whilst trying to take deep breaths and slow my thumping heart. It was the first six footer I had seen as well as being the first kangaroo I had seen in the middle of the day – they don’t usually emerge in the full heat and light of the day. In that sense I was unlucky but in every other way I was extremely lucky. Lucky that I hadn’t left a few seconds earlier or was driving that little bit faster. Lucky that the truck behind me wasn’t too close to me and so had time to react and slow down himself. Lucky that it was daylight, so the kangaroo wasn’t stunned by my headlights into standing stock still in the middle of the road. Yup, I was lucky alright but I really don’t want to have to rely on luck - I think it’s time we invested in a bull bar.