Location: Beerwah Queensland
Event: Yowie Sighting
Date: 1980
Hi Dean,
I would like to tell you about, what I believe, are two encounters I had with something strange in the bush. The first was in the bush behind Beerwah [QLD] in 1980 around April I think.
I was spectating at a car rally at about 10 or 11 pm and as I was riding a trail bike I could ride further up the road from the spectator point to get better photos. I had been standing by the road for about 20 minutes waiting for the first car when I was hit with a feeling of pure fear that I was being watched. I was never scared of anything the in bush before so I tried to put it out of my mind but I kept turning around to look at the scrub behind me.
Suddenly I felt rather than heard a low growling behind me [the scrub was about 10 meters from me]. I thought it must have been a wild dog and the only thing I had with me was my camera so I pointed it and ran off a few photos thinking the flash would scare it off. Well all hell broke loose with something huge crashing through the scrub away from me so I jumped on my bike and rode out of there as quick as I could and did not stop until I got home. I had the film developed that week but the photos showed just blurred scrub.
I went back to the same spot the next weekend mainly to find a pair riding gloves I had left behind and I worked up the courage to have a look around and was shocked to see what looked like foot prints running along the edge the scrub back from where I was standing that night. I reckoned it was about a meter and half between each print. The spot it took off through the scrub was very apparent so I walked in for about 5 meters and it was like a small car had driven through it with small saplings bent or broken over. For a long time after that I could not go into the bush unless someone was with me.
The second encounter was six years later when I was out trail riding around the Jimna [QLD] area .I had been out most of the day and thought I had better head home [Gympie] so I decided to take the Jimna-Kennilworth road to get back on sealed roads before it got too dark. The road runs through semi- rainforest so it was dark enough to turn the headlight on and the going was fairly slow.
I was about a third of the way along the road when I saw something that looked like a big roo up ahead in the middle of the road so I stopped about 20 meters before it and that's when I realised that it wasn't a roo. It stood about 6 feet tall and was totally covered in shaggy hair and it just stood there facing me. I could not make out any facial features but it's eyes reflected a blue colour in the headlight beam and it seemed to be turning it's head side to side as if it was trying to work out what I was and it was making sort of a grunting noise.
This lasted for about 15 to 20 seconds and then it just turned to the side and within 2 strides it disappeared down into the gully.
I eventually reached Kenilworth and stopped at the pub for a beer and when I picked the glass up my hand was shaking, not from fear but from excitement but I knew that I would not be able to tell anyone about what I saw. I have told this story to a few people over the years but was always told to stop drinking or whatever.
I have travelled over this road many times since but never seen this creature again.
I hope this story is of interest to you.
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