My last post on the Kangaroos was in June, when it looked like the young joey was going to emerge from the pouch for the first time.  However, from that moment, the kangaroos kept their distance from the house.  Then, late in July they left the property.  One morning, a different mob of five kangaroos arrived, but they only stayed for one day.   At the time, I was not sure if the kangaroos were  being challenged over their territory, or if the female kangaroo moved to a more remote location to protect the joey on its first few weeks venturing out of the pouch.  This prompted me to check what happened last year, when the first joey arrived.

Looking back over last year’s photographs, it seems the kangaroos were away for about six weeks, at the same time of year.  It was also at the point where the joey was beginning to emerge from the pouch.  Obviously there is a natural cycle occurring at this time of the year, but I can’t say for certain what that is.  I like to think that the female is protecting her joey, but that is projecting my human emotion onto the ‘roos behaviour.

This week, the original family returned.  I’ve seen the youngest joey out of the pouch and racing around like a mad thing, but it was on the opposite side of the dam. Unfortunately my lens isn’t good enough to get a good shot of it from that distance.  However, tonight when I was returning to the house after photographing the Mayfly Orchids, I came across mother and joey, quietly grazing in the transition zone between the house and the bush part of our land.

The older joey, or ‘Junior’ as we have dubbed him, did return with his mother, but I couldn’t see him tonight. Maybe he was simply hidden behind a tree.  With a bit of luck, they will come right up to the house again, and I will be able to photograph the three of them for a future post.