Why did the kangaroo cross the street?

We've been living a quiet life here in the suburbs of Canberra. We enjoy spending time at this beautiful home, as well as walks in the neighbourhood, and discovering the northerly part of Canberra.

We ventured into the city on Saturday, to enjoy a day at the 3-day annual cultural festival. We anticipated seeing colourful national costumes, international dances, traditional music and a great variety of food. Unfortunately it rained steadily the whole time, which certainly dampened the spirt of the festival. We saw about 80 countries represented with booths at the festival, but Canada wasn't one of them. We wondered why.

Although we feel like we're living much the same way we would if we were at home in Canada, each day brings us experiences we just would not get at home. That's part of what makes the house sitting so enjoyable. One of my favourite differences is the abundance of beautiful wildlife here. Note that I have not altered the colour in any of these photos; they were taken on different days at different locations.

Again, we are seeing so many galahs. On a recent evening walk we saw a group sitting on a curb near a roundabout. Just beautiful.

As I enlarge the photos, the images distort. It's difficult for me to capture photos of these birds at a distance with my phone. Perhaps just focus on the vibrant colours. The breast on the bird above caught my eye.

On a recent early-evening walk I saw about five different brightly-coloured birds on the nearby golf course.  The bird in the upper right corner has a vibrant red head and yellow belly. The bird in the foreground has the bright green tones on top and yellow underneath. I find it amazing to watch these birds in the wild.

I think this is the same bird again, but taken on a different day. These two are the same birds, but one is just in the shadow of the tree. Again, there were a few of them and when they flew away, their colours were brilliant.

https://au.pinterest.com/jmh645/birds-australian/

Earlier this week we went to a lake at a local park with Ollie-The-Dog. I stood under a tree and could hear birds above me. I looked up to see about 20 of these large sulphur-crested cockatoos. They were obviously used to being near people and weren't bothered by me at all. Just beautiful.

One morning Greg was working near one of the side gates to our yard. It took him a while to notice there were about 8 kangaroos munching away on the grass at the house across the street. He called me to come and see, and of course I brought the phone/camera with me.

I was able to get some good videos, which I'll be happy to share in person, but don't want to download now. One video clearly shows how the kangaroos walk. I was under the mistaken impression that kangaroos hopped everywhere, but that's not the case. 

After a while, one kangaroo cautiously crossed to our side of the street. Why did the kangaroo cross the street? I can't say for sure. He was a little too close for my comfort, so I retreated pretty quick!