Yowie Hunters

I have a guilty secret. I love watching Animal Planet. In particular I love watching Mountain Monsters and Finding Bigfoot. I have to admit that watching Mountain Monsters is more for the entertainment value than from a desire to see whether creatures of folklore actually exist. Anyone who has managed to sit through a whole hour of this show would have to agree that it is pure side-splitting comedy….Or, that could be just me and my warped sense of humour. However, I also enjoy Finding Bigfoot even if it has copped it’s share of bad press as well. So imagine my delight when channel surfing a couple of days ago and I came across the Finding Bigfoot ‘Down Under’ episode. 

Unfortunately we were only able to watch the last 45 minutes of the show but enjoyed watching the team (Bobo, Ranae,  Cliff and Matt) chase Australia’s Yowie. It was of more interest as a lot of it was shot around the Gold Coast hinterland (not far from where i live) and areas north of Brisbane.

I was doubly impressed last night that as the Garden Gnome was doing his usual channel surf (I’m convinced that this is programmed into the male genetic makeup) we hit upon a re-run of the show, managing to catch it at the very beginning. The GG (being the amazing man that he is) allowed us to watch it again.

For those of you wondering, the Yowie is the Australian equivalent of the Sasquatch/Bigfoot/Yeti/Abominable Snowman and is apparently more of an orange colour (although some who have sighted it state that it appears more of a glossy black).

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I’ve always been a little fascinated with the unexplained and the legend of the Yowie is a great one. The Australian Aboriginal people have stories of the Hairy Man and stories have been told of living in harmony with them in the past. Although I haven’t personally encountered this creature, I have heard stories from family members who have (or know of people who have).

My father in law tells the story of a man who used to go into the hills around Running Creek to cut timber. He often stayed for a few nights in a hut in the bush. My FIL used to do fuel deliveries to properties and got chatting to this man one day who was telling him that he refuses to stay overnight up at the hut any longer. When asked why, he told the story of a creature that scared him half to death one night. Now the Australian bush has many noises and creatures that are scary, including koalas (who growl), dingoes (who don’t bark but do yip), wild dogs (that bark), emus and flying foxes. This man was used to the creatures and sounds of the bush so for him to vow to never stay overnight again, it had to be something out of the ordinary.

Then there is the story my brother in law told us one evening about the time he was in western Queensland and was driving lonely roads late at night. He got tired so pulled over to have a sleep but was awoken by a growling and a figure beside the car. He started up the car and the creature took off into the bush at the side of the road.

I must admit that my knowledge of Yowies has been mainly of the chocolate variety up until recently. We still have a large container filled with animals that we put together from little eggs found inside them.
However, the Teen and I have been reading up on sightings of the Yowie around our area (well within 50kms)and weare interested. Of course when the Garden Gnome suggested we spend a night up on his sister’s block and see what we find… Well, I guess you could say we grew chicken feathers. lol

So what do you think? Believers or not?