TRAVEL// Grunting fish and barking owls

The liminal conversations you have on the edge of time and space.

Often these conversations are navigating the new territory of meeting a stranger, finding your footing, or finding common ground.

These are the kinds of incidental conversations that can spark a whole new train of thought, a new discovery, or a new appreciation of the wackiness of the world.

That’s how I ended up having a conversation about Sooty Grunters.

Not having heard of a Sooty Grunter before, I was of course intrigued by the name – which had me conjuring a small chimney-dwelling animal who isn’t afraid to get down and dirty (and occasionally grunts from the effort).

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that a Sooty Grunter is in fact, a fish. And apparently a delicious, firm, white fish – much like Barramundi (wild of course, not farmed). And that the fish in question, must have been rather sizable because the fillet that had been gifted to my conversational opponent, was quite a slab of fish.

A day later I found myself on the receiving end of yet another fascinating tidbit.

I was wandering the botanic gardens in search of plants….and happened across a gentleman who was circling around a group of trees. Apparently the gentleman in question (he seemed very excited) had been talking to one of the staff and a particular bird had been spotted.

…..

A bird that barks.

An owl.

An owl that barks.

…..

Which is exactly how I was sucked into the vortex…in search of this mysterious barking owl.

I was reliably informed that the barking owl had been known to inhabit a select few trees in the gardens and tended to pipe up around 4 in the afternoon.

Of course I’ve no idea which trees I was supposed to be looking in…or what exactly a barking owl sounds like. The best impression I could come up with was sort of a cross between a grunting koala and a wailing possum.

But as I dawdled along, stopping to swot mosquitoes from attacking my toes, taking photos of the strange and unusual plants…I heard a strange sound.

Perhaps what one imagine a barking owl *might* sound like.

Sadly however, I didn’t manage to spot it, so it could have actually just been a dog…or kids playing tricks.

Oh well.

…..

*Note, I have subsequently googled both Sooty Grunters and barking owls to clarify my understanding of these not-so-mythical Australian creatures.

Sooty Grunters are also known as the classic ‘Black bream’ and the slightly more unfortunate ‘Blubberlips’.

Barking owls are also known as ‘winking owls’ – which means if I ever see an owl in the wild looking a bit conspicuous and trying to flirt with all the other birds by winking and woofing at them, at least I’ll know I’ve fulfilled my life’s destiny.