Location: Pilliga Expedition, New South Wales
Date: Oct, 1999
by Zee Malota
Day 1
My trip to the Pilliga started a day later than everyone else as I had to work on the first day of the trip, so I ended up spending about 6 hours on my bike to get there after leaving work and arrived at about 1 am - I was VERY tired. So, Straight to bed. Dean turned up from the field at about 3 -4 am and I woke myself up and joined him for a drive to the field.
It was about a 30 minute drive form the campsite to the part of the scrub we were on, we turned off the main road onto a very large dirt track and pulled over nearby. Dean turned off the engine and turned on a tape of a crying baby - this should be good bait.
It was still dark but morning was on it's way, and in that spot there was nothing - not a crack, not a single sound, apart form the crickets and the occasional tweet form a waking bird...
After a little more driving and looking around the sun was making an appearance. I was seriously fugged, Dean was probably the same, so we made the executive decision to head for camp and get some sleep.
Day 2
I woke at about 9:30 am, rare for me to wake up with only 3 or 4 hours sleep - but it showed just how excited I was about being a part of this trip. Everyone was getting themselves set up, getting on the cammo gear, getting ready to speak to reporters - everyone was getting ready for something...
First call of duty for the day was to go out to the scrub and let the reporter and the cameraman form the news crew get some footage of us looking like we are searching for yowies. Not that you have much success in the daytime. Anyway, once the news crew had finished up, Steve and myself had a good poke around - the place was what I would see as absolutely perfect for a Yowie. There was water, plenty of 'roo tracks (food), a small cliff about 5 - 8 meters above an open grassy area that would be perfect for ambushing roos, and a tunnel to get under the road and onto the other side..
Now this is what had me. And this happened over and over in the entire trip - for me anyway... There was no sign of yowies in this spot. Period. No tree bite. No footprint. no musty lingering smell. No markers - nothing. I thought that the tunnel was a sure place to see a print, I pretty much ran for it once the news crew left - and apart form roo tracks, there was nothing.
So off we went to where Dean and I had been the night before. We pulled over and started looking around. Now this was midday, nice sunny day, not a cloud, so you had a good view of the area. There was scrub but it wasn't really thick, and again, no sign. We did a lot of scouring in all directions, but zilch. If it weren't for the reports I've heard from a lot of people and the reputation the place has with the truckies, I would have got on my bike and headed for home... But we were here for a reason, and I had only one night, I was determined to do my best to make sure we found/saw something...
We went further up the dirt track (there are a few pics of this road - a night time one from deans car and also a few daytime ones... It's just long, straight, and very sandy...) We pulled over at what we thought would be a good site to set up camp for the night and waited for the others. The team arrived in dribs and drabs and a few of us went out to have a look around and see what areas may be worth staking out, and see if we can find any evidence of the bigfella. I tagged along and we stopped at several spots that looked good. We found all the right things - water, sources of food (wild pigs, roos etc...) but again - no sign of the big guy. A little further investigation of the area turned up a dam... "THIS IS IT" I thought!!! Plenty of tree cover, lots of water, animal tracks... this must be a good spot. I virtually bolted to the scrub to search for track and markers and tree bites and anything. But again. nothing.
Slowly night time came, we were now all at the main camp eating BBQ chicken, and darkness was coming, and everyone was setting themselves up. Dean had the camera rolling, making sure to get as much footage as he could, Phil was setting himself up, Ash and a few others were checking out the maps and seeing where the teams would be headed, Steve and Phil put up a roo carcass for bait in a couple of places near the camp. Darkness was total and pretty soon you either needed an IR video camera or a torch to see anything, the moon has not yet risen and it was pitch black. A few of us were hearing things, the odd crack hear, a snap there, it sounded like the bigfella may have come to the party after all. The dead 'roos strung up in he trees were sure to get attention if they were around, and it did seem like it was working...
Time passed, the teams split up and handbags were disposed of (those who were there will know what I mean...) and the hunt was on.
I stayed near base camp initially, I got hold of the video camera with the array of IR LED's, and the thing is magic for seeing in he dark, but I had a real problem adjusting myself to it, I couldn't orientate myself with what was in the viewfinder and what was in front of me, I found myself not being able to distinguish between what was directly in front of me and what was 20 or more meters away, worse still, the viewfinder is real bright - so all my night vision was gone for about 10 minutes in one of my eyes (and it really screws the other one up too..)
However, judging by the reflection of the IR light form human eyes, and going on what I have been told about the size of yowie eyes, I think it would have been easy to spot a yowie staring from between a few leaves the eyes should have looked like 2 golf ball sized flood lights staring back. But I didn't see anything of the sort. Seeing as my video camera skills weren't up to spec, I will say it is more likely my fault.
There was a fair bit of movement around me, and I must say, when the other guys went for a walk, I did find myself very edgy, not sure if it was anticipation and adrenaline or the feeling of being watched. But still nothing concrete.
From here I'll fast forward a few hours to where a few strange things did happen. I was sitting by the campfire, no one else nearby (not awake anyway...) and I was hearing a lot of rustling and movement, getting very close for my own comfort, I held off with the spot light as long as I could, until I felt that something may be a bit too close, at which time I would shine the light where I thought something may be, but each time, nothing, no hairy blurs, no glowing eyes, no crashing of trees trying to avoid a seriously bright light. Dean arrived back about 20 minutes later and we went for a walk into the scrub, at one point, I heard something from behind me, quite a way back, but it was nothing I've heard before - not scary, but different.. it was a deep "whoop" sound. Like someone literally saying "Whoop" but in a really deep voice. I only heard it once and Dean didn't hear it, though he did tell me that the sound was definitely something he had heard yowies using before. Further trekking into the bush showed up nothing. Whatever was making the noise was gone. Though I wont discount possums in trees as being the source. The "whoop" sound got my attention though...
Dean and Nat went for a drive to the dam I had seen before, he had an interesting encounter there that he told me about, but I wont go into that here, I'm sure he'll run though it in his own report.
The 4 (Ash,Richard,Trevor and Gary Opit) who had gone off to another part of the scrub returned empty handed by this stage, and it was about 2 am. Time to go for walkies to have a look at the single bit of true possible evidence. Richard (I think was his name - long hair like me...), Trevor
and I went for a walk to have a look at a tree that looked like it had been twisted, and looked like a real possibility of being some sort of evidence. We had a good look, and heard a sound that I can no longer explain, but it did not sound like a roo or a possum, it was actually heading away from the camp, and I had a feeling that maybe whatever it was was trying to lead us away form the camp to allow the other one to take our food or whatever... I walked back to the camp as fast as I could, and hit the spot light as soon as I was close enough, but again, nothing...
This was really frustrating me, it was about 3 am, and there were sounds, but nothing concrete. The other thing is that the whole time, I smelt nothing, you can usually smell the big guy from a way off, but I did not detect a hint of that smell...
Pretty soon after this Dean returned from the dam that he was staking out and came back with some promising news - something had growled at him from the bushes, and I was pretty keen to go and have a look, it would be sunrise again soon and I wanted to do everything I could do, to at least get something!!!
In the car and off we went, we arrived at the damn and started looking around in the scrub, searching for anything, but once again nothing. Even after searching the area around the break of dawn, I could still see no signs.
The rest of the team were staying a few more days, but I had work commitments, so had to head off. I was a little disappointed that so little happened (to me anyway) and also the lack of evidence concerned me a little. However, the area - to me - still looks like perfect Yowie habitat. But, I did not see or hear too much that would convince me that there is a Yowie(s) there. However, some of the other members of the team did have much more interesting experiences then what I did, so I am reserving judgment on this area for the moment.
Z...
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