THE WALLABY TRACK WITH LIONEL MUSSELL

Murphy knows that kookaburras love sausages . We camped one year at a delightful place on the north Queensland coast next to a lovely couple from Kangaroo Island . John had just put his string of sausages into the pan over the open fire and before he had a chance to cut them , a blue-winged kookaburra swooped and made off , trailing his catch of half a dozen snags behind him . Bellowing bad things about the bird ' s ancestry , John took off after the thief and retrieved his dinner when the kookie decided to drop the sausages and fly to a more welcoming spot . Murphy has fun with dates sometimes . John was a keen fisherman who often used to share his catch with us while Grant , another keen angler camped nearby , used to do the same . In return , I invited both couples to come to dinner to celebrate Vi ' s birthday one Saturday night . I cooked something special , opened some wine and , feeling very pleased with myself , started to relax . That was when Vi informed me that it was our wedding anniversary and not her birthday at all !

Another time , on the Gold Coast hinterland , a young couple put their lunch plates on an outdoor table and turned to admire the view of distant high-rise buildings . Quick as a flash , an alert kookaburra dived and returned to his tree with a medium-rare steak that he proceeded to demolish with gusto , quite oblivious to the baleful looks he was getting from the owner of a plate with nothing on it but salad !

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