Location: Noojee, Victoria
Event: Possible Yowie Encounter
Date: February 26, 2012
Early Sunday morning, my friend John and I were sitting around our camp fire talking. I heard a sound similar to a kookaburra, however it sounded distinctly mammal - it had a more softer/rounded sound than the sharpness of a bird. Straight after, I heard six loud thuds on the ground, it sounded like tree trunks thudding on the ground, it stopped - and I heard the kookaburra-like call again. I indicated to John if he heard the sounds, and he had heard the second K-L call.
My other friend Mark who was sleeping in his tent at the time, came out after the second sound asking what it was. We didn\'t know, and he went pale because he\'s heard about the yowie before and recognised the call. In a panic, Mark and I grabbed our extra meat, 16 sausage halves and 2 burger patties - walked about 100 metres from the camp site and threw them as far as we could into the bush.
There was a strong musky scent around the camp site by this time (kind of like the smell of cat spray), and Mark was genuinely scared and went back in to the safety of his tent. We had the distinct eerie feeling that we were being watched, and after a few minutes of feeling like this we started hearing more of the loud thuds on the ground.
There was also the sound of the sticky ivy you find in the bush, being dragged across something akin to hay(we think it was just dragging along with the yowie as it walked), and crunching twigs and branches. We then heard a soft echoing whistle, similar to the sound you\'d make calling your dog or cat, just distinctly animal - near the area Mark and I threw the meat.
After approximately half an hour when John and I were talking again, a branch suddenly landed and rolled about ten metres away from where I was sitting. John thought it was a fallen branch, but I\'ve played cricket for 20 years and I know when something has been thrown. It was a scary experience, I have a feeling throwing that meat potentially saved our lives.
Some key points:
We felt like we were being watched by something abnormal and BIG. Our instincts had us going into shock.
We all separately and together heard and felt the noises. The ground shook as we heard movements.
We firmly believe it was a yowie - we\'ve never felt the presence of anything like it before.
The camping site is near the Bunyip state forest
Mark was fast asleep, and upon hearing the Kookaburra-like call he woke up straight away.
We heard it near the river, it sounded like it was walking through it. The water was rushing loudly as normal, but then would stop and be a quiet trickle. Perhaps it was getting a drink.
Please contact me if you require further clarification, I will be more than happy to talk.
The loud thuds we heard could not of been tree trunks as there was a distinct difference, they sounded more like an elephant with REALLY soft feet. The time from the first lot of thumps to the second lot was roughly 2 minutes apart, when they would stop it would make a loud but soft sounding \"hooting\" type noise that did not sound normal. The distance sounded about 200mtrs away.
The area was fairly dry and the dirt was very solid, no rain for a week or so.
We (me and my camping buddies) think the thumps were \"something\" walking at or near the river as that’s where we believe it to have been.
We did not inspect the area in daylight as we packed up the tents and went motor bike riding before returning home (back to Melbourne).
I believe the weight of the animal to be near 200kg+ as my friend was trying to re-create the walking and he\'s 6, 2\" and is 100kg and it was not even close. It did sound like it was walking on 2 legs from the 6 thumps we heard but could be wrong.
The branch that was thrown would of been roughly 50-60cm long and weighed roughly 2-5kg, it did roll/bounce a bit so I\'d guess it to be thrown from roughly 20-30 metres away.
I hope this info has been helpful for you, the area is where we go camping alot and we are planning another trip for sometime in the next month, however with allot more care and a video camera.
Thanks for taking the time to read my encounter.
P. Stewart
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